Mede8er MED400X

Better value than the MED500X, the Mede8er MED400X media streamer is built on the same basis but without the internal drive. For file playback, you have to use the network, the USB sockets or the SDHC card reader. The same software is used as on the 500X and we've taken this opportunity to take a closer look at version 4 of the Mede8er firmware.

Casing and remote: sober and unaffected

Here Mede8er have produced what is a very compact and particularly sober looking media centre. The casing combines aluminium and quality matte plastic, with just the façade showing a bit of gloss. An on/off LED is visible but there's no control screen.


There's passive cooling of the various components and the centre is therefore very quiet indeed. The remote is fine with nice handling: most of the buttons fall under your thumb quite naturally. There is however no backlighting, nor fluorescent buttons.

The default navigation interface is identical to almost all media centres based on the Realtek decoding chip. Mede8er have just added their graphics styling (blue and black) and their own icons.


You can only view files in list format. Preview mode can be activated to allow you to see a miniature of the file you're hovering over. This can be practical for photos, but scrolling is slower. Indeed fluidity isn't always up to the mark and quitting or launching files can lead to latency of up to two seconds.

The preview indicator does give the MED400X an advantage over the competition however. It works with all types of file - audio, video and photo - and kicks in as soon as you've been previewing for more than 10% of the length of the file (a few seconds for photos).


You can always remove the little logo manually if you like. If we wanted to split hairs, we could say that it would have been nice to have a 'not yet finished' box that would come on as long as the preview bar hadn't been exceeded by 90% or more.

Compatibility: No format problems

Multimedia decoding is well handled. DTS and Dolby audio tracks can be decoded to stereo or sent to an external amp (bitstream) via the HDMI or optical outs. There is no multichannel PCM however. No issues with HD versions of these formats.


There are no slowdowns with playback of high throughput HD 1080p videos such as Avatar or 2012. Maximum speed is 50 Mbps, which means even the most extreme cases can be handled. DVD and Blu-ray backups are properly supported with subtitling and the various audio tracks remaining accessible and only Blu-ray RIP and ISO menus being lost (no problem for DVDs).

There's a 24p mode for the display of videos that use this. This mode starts up automatically and it's a shame that 23.976 Hz hasn't received the same treatment.

Connectivity: network and SDHC

In spite of its size, the MED400X offers plenty of outs: HDMI for HD televisions, composite for SDs. Audio can be sent via the HDMI, the composite or the optical to an audio amp should it not have an HDMI in.

Networking is ensured by the Ethernet 100 Mbps connector. Folders shared by computers are accessible through the browser and 1080p video playback is fluid (50 Mbps max). You can access wi-fi using a USB key.

Two USB ports allow you to link up your USB keys and external hard drives. Note however that this is one of the MED400X's weak points, with it struggling with MKV/x264 videos over 34 Mbps. Some videos may therefore be jumpy during peaks, as we noted with our 2012 file. There's an SDHC card reader on the left hand side of the device.