MediaDirect button (4.0) used as something else?

Hey there, I know this has been screamed about for quite some time, but the new MediaDirect 4 doesn't require a separate partition!

Does anyone have this?

Anyone figured out how to manipulate this yet?

My 3.5 doesn't work and they've sent me the DVDs twice and refuse to send me 4. Although they said they wern't suppose to send me 3.5 since mine came with 3.3.

 

Oh, source: http://support.dell.com/support/top...7F2608E006804EE040A68F5A2860BD&doclang=en&cs=

 

Pathetic IMHO. Dell shooting themselves in the foot. Homegrown app and you would think they would want to push their own 'free' product as a publicity tool. It makes ZERO sense to not upgrade people to v4.

Well, hopefully they pulled that buggy Outlook Addin plugin...

 

It's not that they dont wanna send you the cd, it's just that they dont have yet that CD to ship, some new computers may ship with it, but they dont have the CDs to send, its like Windows Vista new equipments are sent with SP1 but Dell doesnt have the CDs to ship to people...

 

Quite of few of them told me they wouldn't simply because my laptop didn't come with 4, so I can't have it.

Here's one of'em.

They enjoy leaving me hanging on a daily basis.

I hope you enjoy the read. :x

I censored it a bit to protect me from Dell's spies.

---

Jalalabee: "I was suppose to go through installation of Vista with them, said a previous rep, but they skipped that step and went to the idea of sending me mediaDirect 3.5, but I already have this."
Agent: "if you have it on your original specifications when you ordered the system then yes i can ship you out 4.0 but if you do not have it and you have 3.5 then i or no one will be able to do that."
Jalalabee: "Alrighty, well, can I send the system back to have it repaired?"
Agent: "well i do have that portion of your files up that the only thing that works right now"
Agent: "and you have DELL MEDIA DIRECT, 3.3,"
Agent: "and i cant send you 4.0"
Jalalabee: "I was sent 3.5"
Agent: "only 3.3"
Agent: "ok then i will check you notes and if you where sent 3.5 then that's the only one we can send you."
Jalalabee: "I had 3.3, i was sent 3.5"
Agent: "it seems reasonable since 3.3 is old"
Agent: "and yes 3.5 is the newest version we can send you for now."
Jalalabee: "But I already have a copy of it."
Agent: "Jalalabee in other words we cant send you the 4.0 since its the most recent one and you can only rev the 3.5"
Jalalabee: "How can we fix the system then?"
Jalalabee: "Can I have it sent back for repair?"
Agent: "well fix?"
Agent: "im sorry the depot only repairs hardware on system not software"
Agent: "and you will have to do that"
Jalalabee: "Is it not covered on my warranty?"
Agent: "we can guide you step by step"
Agent: "dell doesn't handle software warranty s its only for hardware"
Jalalabee: "Is it a faulty harddrive possible? or faulty software?"
Agent: "Jalalabee if its a faulty software then i can send you another CD and if you still have the same issue then we are doing something wrong"
Jalalabee: "Maybe I need 3.3?"
Agent: "we will have to start from scratch Jalalabee"
Agent: "why don't you contact us back when we have are system up and running?"
Jalalabee: "Alrighty, so I'll be sent another disc to see if that works?"
Agent: "so we can start with the process"
Agent: "no i cant send you no CDs now since we have no system"
Jalalabee: "ah, alrighty."
Agent: "ok"
Agent: "You’ll be receiving a transcript of our conversation via email. If you require assistance in the future, please visit us online at www.Dell.com/SmallBusinessChat or call 1-800-456-3355. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
Jalalabee: "thank you"
Agent: "We do appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing Dell. Have a great day!"

 

Hi, I want to ask if is some other way to get the MediaDirect 4, like downloading it from web or so. Or the only way to get it is buy a new laptop with MD4 installed?? Thx.

 

from what the dell rep told me (as I tried to get a copy of MD 4.0), he said that 4.0 is reserved for the Studio line

 

So everyone with Studio laptop should have a cd or dvd with media direct 4.0. Just make a copy and upload it on some server. I bought a Vostro with MD 3.3 then some time later a friend of mine bought same Vostro with MD 3.5. I just made a copy of his dvd I have MD 3.5. So if there is MD 4.0 on a disc with Studio just make a copy and f....k Dell.

 

This would piss me off. I bought an XPS M1730 with the BD burner and the Media Direct 3.5 software can't play some newer BD movies like Jumper. Updates to Media Direct 3.5 do not fix this.

 

Dell sucks.

J/k, but they are taking way too long to ship one laptop. Heck, they haven't updated the status since I bought it! I heard they overshoot their shipping date, but by how much? One day?

 

This sounds like a perfect argument to receive MD 4. I would call support on this.

 

Confirmed, This Media direct 4 is currently shipping with the Inspiron Studio Only, so dont expect that MD4 will be sent to you if you request it, all we have left is ask someone for the disks. Rip them and upload them to somewhere, if its a torrent even better.

 

I am going to have to look over the EULA of Media Direct to see what actions I can take. I did use the OS/2 2.0 EULA against IBM and forced them to give me an upgrade to OS/2 2.1 because 2.0 was poop. One of the remedies in the EULA was that IBM would not provide a refund but was supposed to provide a reasonable working solution (or something like that). After much haggling with them they agreed to send me 2.1. Maybe the same tactic will work in this case since I paid for blu-ray playback and the solution they have given me provides unacceptable playback.

 

Hello Everybody! I stumbled across this forum dialog by googling "Media Direct 4.0", and felt compelled to join so that I could dispell some of the myths and misinformation.

First of all, it may be Dell's policy to allow 4.0 only on the Studio Line. I'm not certain about that, nor have I heard it.

The fact is, all previous versions of Media Direct required you to load the software on a separate and hidden partition. It wasn't until I had one of my many notebooks have a problem from the factory, that I stumbled across the Media Direct/OS dilemma. For me personally, I have my own stand alone App for playing DVD movies, so it never became an issue until now. Additionally, as a matter of policy, I always reformat the hard drive upon receipt to rid the computer of all the CRAPWARE!

Having gone through all the aggravation of troubleshooting and isolating the problem for Dell (don't depend on Tech Support to do it!), I finally isolated the problem to an intermittent hard drive. Since I patiently followed their directions, which was to reinstall from disks after Dell Restoration failed to fix the problem, I was extremely PO'd to discover that you had to install Media Direct 3.5 prior to loading the Operating System and then complete the Media Direct installation after Vista was installed. That was some rather important information to have at hand don't you think? Who wants to have to start from ground zero again not to mention the vendors I had to contact to free the licenses that were already used once on those machines.

Anyway, after countless telephone calls to Mujibar and HOURS spent on the phone with Dell, I researched it only to discover what the rest of you in here have discovered; that it is a very poorly engineered design, and whoever signed off on this crap should be flipping burgers from now on. Software that boots and runs independently from the OS? What a grand idea! I could see these two competing for resources, couldn’t you?

After I researched it and found that 4.0 would install as an Application over the OS, I told Tech Support that I wanted it. They said “NO CAN DO!” to which I responded, “Look, I purchased not one computer, but multiple computers. The only reason I’m having to go through this exercise is because your product doesn’t work from the factory and you guys failed to adequately notify me of the necessity to install Media Direct prior to installing the OS. They said “NO”. I said “Fine, may I speak to a Supervisor then?” They said “Even the Supervisor doesn’t have the authority to send you 4.0.” I said “That’s completely unacceptable. Go find out who you need to talk to in order to send me 4.0.” He put me through to a Stupidvisor. “They said “NO”. I said “Fine. Who do you need to go talk to toke this happen?” In the end, he was to research and call me back the next day. Of course I never heard from him, so I got online and chatted with someone. At some point between my last conversation and the online chat, somebody told them to send it to me. So yes, I have Media Direct 4.0 in my possession, but I had to be extremely persistent, yet respectful and rational and patient. I’ve learned that hostility buys you NOTHING!

So here’s the deal, I installed Media Direct 4.0, and yes, it’s a stand alone application. The weird part is that when you press the House Button, it boots up into Vista (a security hole in my opinion). I just loaded this today, and it works (under certain restrictions). If you launch it with the button while the computer is off, it will boot Vista and run Media Direct 4.0 and play the movie, but it stops/pauses/breaks etc. making for a miserable viewing experience. If I push the button while Vista is running, the same thing happens. If I launch the Application from the Start Menu, it runs normally. Now, I need to preface this with the fact it’s on an Inspiron 1525 with the minimum dual core processor and 1G memory – not the most powerful computer in the world, but adequate for my 9 year old. It’s a sloppy solution, but it does work. I plan on doubling the memory to see how it impacts it and improves the performance. If that works, then I’ll do the same for the other computers which are identical. Speaking of performance, I changed the performance settings to opposite extremes, and it does help some. The built in graphics card, as I understand it, shares memory, so I’m thinking doubling the memory may solve this problem altogether. And as I also understand it, there isn’t any way for me to upgrade the graphics card in a 1525. We’ll see how this works out.

Hope this helps!

 

care to image it and upload it online so the rest of us can try it?

 

The thing is that no other computer ships with MD4 than the Studio Line, they just took the part number from an studio computer and they sent you the disc, and if MD4 is booting into Vista is not a security hole, that is the way it works, how would you run a program without having an OS installed? MD4 is more or less like an OS or relying on an OS. otherwise it wouldnt run.

 

Only ships with the Studio Line? Perhaps they did take the part number from the studio computer and sent me the disc. Either way, the point is that I got it and I don’t have a Studio Line computer. The point is, that if you are persistent enough, you can get it.

Care to explain how booting into Vista is not a security hole when I can access everything by pressing the “House” button? I have some experimenting to do, and haven’t tried it with a password protected setup yet, but if I can do that, it looks like a hole to me. If I have the time, I may take the intermittent hard disk, reformat it, and load just 3.5 Media Direct without the OS and see if it works to play movies. And to answer your question, I believe it is a stand-alone OS that carries nothing more than a media application just like a DVD player has a stand alone OS/Application. The fact is none of us knows until we take the time to experiment and find out. Anything that has a microprocessor has an OS of some kind no matter how primitive it is.

Alexnvidia, drop me a line and let’s talk about what you have in mind.

 

It looks like you are the only one with MD4 disc. Could you make a cd image (.iso) of the disc and upload it somewhere. A lot of people will be very happy and thankful on this forum.

 

"and load just 3.5 Media Direct without the OS and see if it works to play movies. "

It should. MD 3.5 is a standalon OS.

 

Yes Ghostwriter lot of people would benefit if you could upload the image of Mediadirect 4. My 3.3 stopped working and do what I will it wont work. Hopefully 4.0 should be OK for me.

 

Ghostwriter,
We would really appreciate if you could upload MD 4 for all of us here.
Thanks.

 

Heyy i got MD4 bundled with studio 15...

but it sucks... wats the usse... we already have a Windows media centre application similar to it.... and MD4 installs as an application rather than being any one touch OS...

Ne idea anyone ..how can we use MD touch button for any other purpose...

 

Could you please please please upload the image on www.mediafire.com (No registeration required)? Thank you so much!

Btw, do you mean that you can't access MediaDirect Express via the home button?

 

I just snagged an ISO of MD4 from a coworker who just got a Studio 15. Now I need to see if it will solve my Blu-Ray playback issues.

 

Um, you guys do know its illegal to do that right? Well, if you do upload it probably should use www.yousendit.com. It would be pretty cool.

 

In my case I would call it a grey area. Media Direct doesn't play newer Blu-Ray discs. I paid for a laptop with blu-ray playback capability, it should play them back without me having to shell out more money for either hacks or other software.

 

anybody willing to share a copy of MD4?

 

I installed MD4 as an application tonight. It seems to have fixed my problem with playing newer BD discs. I will need to re-partition my system to see if I can get the HOME button to run the new MD4. right now it still trys to boot the MD3.5 partition.

 

Yeah, PM me too if you have one =p

 

Anyone willing to help?

 

Pralix,
We would really appreciate if you could upload MD 4 for all of us here.
Thanks.

 

Just throught I'd let you know my progress with getting a MD4 CD (pretty good, just not quite there).

First chat session:

After not receiving an email I talked to another rep this morning, I was told this:

We just may have to wait a little bit longer.

 

No, rep is just going by what her documentation tells her. MD4 works fine,it is installed on the same partition as Windows and is no longer a separate partition of its own.

If someone really wants to share, just take the MD4 CD you have, rip it to an ISO file and upload it to www.yousendit.com.

To make an iso, just use this program:
http://www.lucersoft.com/files/free/LCISOCreator.zip

I take no responsibility for your actions.

 

If MD4 runs on Vista's partition why would it require reformatting? For the record, the MD4 docs say that MD4 can be installed from Vista (which means no formatting or partitioning is needed unless Dell really stepped up their game and somehow managed to partition your drive with Vista running).

And Forte, you have to sign up for yousendit to upload files over 100MB. Megaupload allows 1GB files without registration.

If anyone is going to share, make it into an ISO, compress it using WinRAR and split the archive into pieces of no larger than 1GB (for megaupload), 100MB (for yousendit) or 200MB (for rapidshare).

 

You will want to get rid of the old Mediadirect 3.5 partition and all traces of Mediadirect 3.5 before you install 4.0.

 

Vista Disk Manager...right click > Delete Partition. Right Click > Extend Partition. Done. Ahh, you might have to open up CMD and use diskpart to get rid of the extended partition. Either way it won't require even a restart.

 

However you choose to approach it, we need MD4 first which no one has uploaded.

With all the Studio owners out there, you'd think someone would... you know.

 

What would be very helpful (and not illegal) is if a Studio owner could check their packaging and find the white CD sleeve that the MediaDirect 4.0 CD was in and post the Dell P/N from that sleeve. Dell puts a P/N on every CD or CD sleeve and if I actually have a product number to give the Dell reps I may be able to get the MD4 CD...possibly upload it.

 

The point is, MD is not for sale. It is not something that can be ordered separately. It is something that comes with what you purchased.

 

Which is why you argue with Dell reps and get them to ship the CD. Complain about MD 3.5 just causing issues. I have had quite a bit of success and pretty much just need the P/N.

Forte, you can get Dell to ship you updated MD CDs. Sometimes it takes time...but eventually someone will give them to you.

 

Not sure if posting a link here would run afoul of the administrators...

 

Just post a link, this is an anonymous forum.

 

Meh...you're right, it probably wouldn't. So PM it? . No really though, MediaDirect is free software. This isn't about pirating (though I'm not saying that it isn't pirating as it technically is), it's about getting something that Dell owners deserve - the latest update of their free semi selling-point software.

 

Actually, I think Dell pays license fees to Cyberlink for Media Direct since Cyberlink is who developed the software for Dell. This is probably why Dell is reluctant to release it to everyone.

 

Correction! Dell releases MediaDirect for all Dell notebooks. But except Studio others have old version. So its only about changing to the latest version. Moreover the older versions are already uploaded for everybody to benefit without any problem. So why should uploading V4.0 cause any problem.

 

And we already payed Dell for MediaDirect. Like with most good software, usually you are entitled to updates for a certain amount of time.

 

PM me for a link. I will see how this goes. I reserve the right to stop providing links. I did not make this ISO. I provide no support if you break your computer by using it.

 

anyone got MD button to boot MD4? i installed MD4 but MD button does not boot into MD4 during cold boot.

 

a torrent with a seed for md4 would be nice.

 

I didn't try to get that to work yet.

Did it boot into the old Media Direct?

Did you zap your old MD partition?

This may be one of the reasons that Dell is reluctant to give it out to owners of the other laptop lines.