The newest lineup in the Monsoon Multimedia is the sub $100.00 Vulkano Flow. We got a chance to do a hands on review of the new Flow and found that not only was the setup easy but the video quality is on par with the more expensive Pro and deluxe models.
If you already own a Vulkano Deluxe or Platinum you know that you can set up the device through its setup menu on your TV. The Vulkano Flow is designed solely as Place Shifting device so as expected you set it up through your computer.
Once you have your new Vulkano Flow you need to determine where your new toy will be housed and what you will be connecting the Vulkano Flow up to.
You can use most any device, DVR, Cable box, satellite box that you wish to watch remotely. Monsoon Multimedia has hundreds of remote device codes available to make it easy setup your particular model but if you can’t find your model listed it also comes with a remote control learning program. We will show this later in the review.
The Vulkano Flow Connections
The Flow comes with either HD or SD connections you can use to connect to your video source. You can use Component or a Composite connection. HDMI input s not available on the Flow or any other Place Shifting type of device due to the restrictions HDMI can or will place on the content you are viewing.
Click on Picture for a larger image
As you can see there is in/out connections for HD as component and SD as composite. There is also a red/white audio connection for either video input along with the Power and IR Blaster connections. If you need to pass the video through to your TV there are also output connections.
In our testing we used a TiVo S3 and it allows multiple outputs at one time. We connected the HD output from the TiVo directly to the TV and used its SD output to connect to the Vulkano Flow. Doing it this way we did not need to use the video out connections but SD (composite) is only at 480p. If you will be watching mainly from a mobile device this works fine. If you intend to view mainly from a computer and want to have the higher resolution that component connections provide then you will want to use the HD component connections.
There is also a connection for a USB device and there is some black tape covering a SD card port. It is not unusual to see extra non used ports like these on gadgets these days. Sometimes they may there for future enhancements or for repairing or updating firmware. Other times it is just a matter of using similar hardware platforms for different devices that have the ability to utilize such ports. For whatever reason they are on the Vulkano Flow we did not try to plug anything into them so we don’t even know if they are connected internally or powered on.
Connect Vulkano Flow to Network
The Vulkano Flow comes with both a wired network connection and a wireless one. The simplest way to set it up for your network is to plug-in a network cable from your router and run the setup program. Once done you can unplug the wired connection and use the wireless setup.
If you don’t have any way to run the initial setup by connecting it directly to your router you can use the supplied cable and temporarily connect the Vulkano Flow directly to your Mac or PC’s ethernet port. Once done you can unplug and move it to its final home.
Install the Vulkano Program and Setup Wizard
The Vulkano setup wizard is installed when you run the Vulkano PC player program. As with most devices these days there is no software included in the box with the Vulkano Flow. This is done intentionally so when you install the software you get the latest version available.
You must download the latest software from http://myvulkano.com/players.html. Download the software for your computer and then ‘run’ it to install the program.
Run Vulkano Setup Wizard
Once you have downloaded and installed the software you should be presented with an option to run the Vulkano setup wizard. You would just check that box and click on finish and it will start the setup program automatically. If you wish to set up later there are menu options to do so.
Vulkano Flow Setup Steps
When you run the Setup for the first time you may see a ‘Checking for updates’ screen. It runs for a few seconds and double checks that you are running the latest software.
If it finds any updates you should go ahead and install them. In our case and probably most others there will not be one founds because you just downloaded the latest from the website.
Finding the Vulkano on your Network
Once the update check was finished the setup program looked for and found our Vulkano Flow. If yours is not ‘found’ then you need to check your connections. Remember you cannot do the initial setup via wireless. You must be plugged into your router or your PC.
Choose your Password
Once found you will be shown and need to choose a password for your Vulkano Flow. This is done so that no one but you can log in and view your Vulkano and it’s attached devices. You don’t want someone ordering Pay per View without your knowledge!
We used a simple 4 character password but you can use anything between 4 and 16 characters but be sure it is something you can remember. If ever lost or forgotten you will need to do a hard reset on the Vulkano Flow and go through the setup program again.
Loading Info
Once you have chosen a password the setup program will load all the information and check your Vulkano Flow’s firmware.
Loading Network
See next page for more steps.
Join the Vulkano Flow forum discussion on this post here.
