Question 1

Hi is this suitable for European voltage ?

Accepted Answer

This unit charge from USB so it will work anywhere.  I you have a USB wall charger suitable for your voltage that will work fine, if not it can b charged from the USB port on your computer.

Question 2

My iPad is out of memory; however, I'm often in places where I do not have internet or hotspot accessibility.  Can I use a cord from this device (USB) and connect to my iPad to watch, listen, play items stored on this device on the iPad?

Accepted Answer

No cord needed.  Device broadcasts it's own wireless signal.  Just connect Ipad to device SSID and local storage will be available through device app (no internet needed).  Device can act as a wireless hotspot if it is connected to an available external wireless/ethernet signal, but this is not needed to see the local storage.  Neat gadget.  I put my kids movies on it for road trips.  No arguing over what to watch....they all can stream what they want independently to their tablets.

Question 3

Can this device play movies to the ipad when you are on a plane even tho there is no internet signal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can watch movies on the iPad. In order to do that you will need to follow a few steps:
1) Download the IOGear Mediashair app from the app store.
2) After the Mediashair unit is configured as an Access Point, make sure you can connect via Wifi in order to play. There two sets of passwords: one for the AP and one for "admin" access, basically, giving you permission to browse the media content. Keep those handy.
3) An SD card loaded with media. The Apple devices (Ipad,Iphones) will only play MP4, M4V videos.  Android devices will play pretty much anything. 
4) Final note, the only way to play the media is by using the Mediashair app. 
On my last trip, we had 2 android, 1 Ipad and 2 Iphone hooked to this unit on a eight drive down I-95. I used the included lighter adapter and every was a happy camper, except for me doing all the driving...

Question 4

Will this product work with a usb hub to extend the usb connections?

Accepted Answer

That is a great question.

I did not know, so I tried it, and yes it does work. What I did to test it was, I plugged the IOGEAR Device into a 4 USB bus hub that has its own power supply). The IOGEAR Device recognized both drives and I was able to play videos from each.

I really like this piece of hardware, when my wife and I took our 4 kids on a 2 week vacation last summer, I had this in the car hooked to a 750GB portable drive that contained endless hours of videos the kids could watch. All 4 kids could have watched different movies all at once as well. The thing that had them most excited was it created a wi-fi bubble in the car so they could play games on their ipads that they can all play on if there is wifi. No interet just wifi. This device is also good in hotels if there is no wireless internet, you can run a cable from the wired internet to the device and then it will allow you to access the internet wirelessly. A fantastic device for the money. I would give it an AAA.

Question 5

will this work as a wireless dock so I can keep my macbook wire free and still connect to a second monitor using a wireless mouse/keyboard?

Accepted Answer

no this is strickly to share media you can use it to add memory a storage device with an external usb hard-drive but it is not designed to recognize drivers for keyboards or mice because it has no ram built in to process that kind of device recognition to transmit those input devices.

Question 6

If I have a "flash" video on a thumb drive will the Iogear MediaShair allow me to play it on my iPad?

Accepted Answer

Hi, I believe so. I have regular .mp4 and .mov videos plus downloaded TV shows that I store on mine to play and they play just fine. I'm not aware of anything being different with the flash format that would prevent its being played (as long as you had the correct player for the flash!). To be absolutely sure, I'd recommend contacting Iogear directly. It's not fun when you get a new piece of gear and it won't interact with something you have!

Question 7

I'm planning to connect a webcam (720p) and access the video remotely too. It is that possible? any experience with that use? thanks

Accepted Answer

The short answer is no. I did a hard reset to be sure the GWFRSDU was as it came from the factory.  I plugged in an SD card, a USB flash drive and a portable HHD. They all worked.  I then plugged in a Logitech webcam to the USB port. It did not recognize the webcam.  I also tried a Canon PowerShot camera. It did not recognize it either.  The device plugged into the USB port must look like a file system to be recognized.

It uses Samba to handle the files.  If the device plugged into the USB does not look like something Samba can recognize, it does not work. The ability to add a camera to your own AP is a great idea.  I would like to see Iogear add this feature to a future firmware upgrade.

I hope this answer helps.

Question 8

Could I use this device to connect a usb HD and then use that connected HD as a wireless back up disk?

Accepted Answer

Yes you can, you will need to change the properties of the drive and turn the SHARE option on, then you can map that SHARE to any PC device and backup data to that SHARED HD.

Question 9

Can I download my pictures/video from my Iphone to the IOGEAR and save it on the SD Card?

Accepted Answer

You can upload files from the camera roll to the SD card in the MediaShair. Go to the iogear dot com site and search on "MediaShair" to get a page with the manual link on it. You should look over the manual to understand what this device does. The iOS restrictions are a bit confusing so devices connected via Wi-Fi or USB are not general purpose storage devices. You can only transfer files in the MediaShair App or the Camera Roll to the SD card in the MediaShair.

Questions & Answers