Media Streamers Choice = HELP !!

[jimcolyer]

Ok, first off, not sure if this is the right place to put this, so I have posted in two forums- apologies for this, we will see which gets the most responses, and I will add a link to the main from the other.

Right....

I am after buying a streaming media player to connect to my new sony HD ready LCD. In the UK, so needs to be PAL and available to the UK (altho not fussed about buying from overseas)

Main stuff for viewing is:

list=1][*]MP3`s WMA etc music files[*]Photos, such as JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF etc[*]Movies - DIVX, MPEG2, MPEG4, XVid, AVI etc[/list]
Streaming over conventional CAT5 (wireless not absolutely necessary, prefer wired connection) from a main `AV Server` PC elsewhere in the house.

Needs to be HD capable or HD ready (and not just composite output!) ideally, with RGB scart as a minimum, DVI or HDMI a bonus.

Not to fussed about a built in DVD player, but if it comes as part of the unit, its a bonus.

So far, had a look at (with review comments ive seen in brackets)

DLINK 320 (good, not great, but no HD)
Buffalo (HD ready, but not great reviews)
Hauppage (general consensus seems to be crap)
Snazzio (not reviewed)
Neuston (not HD ?)

Most of the reviews seem a little biased, and are coming from people that seem to be expecting the earth from a box that probably runs a cut down version of Linux and costs a few hundred quid!

People on here must have these, or know people that have these - come on guys, help me out on this please!

Many Thanks,

JIM

[pjclark1]

chipped Xbox running XBMC (Xbox media centre), you can get these for about £90
plays almost all media, and will browse your PC network for any files and media you have shared.
does not run hidef mpeg or wma, but does hidef divx
with a componant cable will run at 720p or 1080i

I aso have a Liteon 2010 netplayer that is very limited in comparison.

[DGtal]

I'm currently considering modding my Xbox but it looks a bit tricky, and I think the fan noise would require a fan replacement as well. The Pinnacle Showcentre 200 is another option (pinnaclesys.com).

[dan1979]

On the horizon and looking promising are the Zensonic z500 and the Kiss DP-600

[Stoke192]

I use a modded xbox using XBMC and can't fault it......it'll play pretty much anything you throw at it.
There's plenty of options available to mod your xbox hard or soft and if solderings a problem then there's plenty of solderless options also available.

Also if you plan to stream your media over a network then there's no need to upgrade the hdd.

If your worried about the noise from the fan or hdd then the hdd can be spun down during movie/music playback and the fan can be slowed down via options in the settings menu of XBMC.

[tscotsman]

I use the showcentre 200 and it plays everything i throw at it, including 720p/1080i TS files, great piece of kit.

[David PluggedIn]

Jim

you could try the xbox360, that has a remote capability on to a central WindowsMCE machine, we have it set up and watching Freeview live on the 360, connected via component video at 720p in to a projector. The downside is that 360s are hard to get hold of, and also fairly hot running and noisy.