This seems to be significantly cheaper and more full-featured than anything comparable. I've looked around (including at the AveLink players) and haven't found anything other than a full-on HTPC that will both stream and store (on a hard drive) all those video formats at HD resolutions *and* has a built-in DVD player. I can find DVD players that will stream but not store, and media-centric NAS devices that will store and stream but not play DVD's.
Looked into just building a low-spec HTPC from scratch but it still comes to at least $400-$500 when all is said and done, at minimum. And that's *before* throwing any software into the mix (Windows, a proper DVD decoder, etc.).
If I'm just missing something and a product like the one above exists in this country, please let me know. I'm currently trying to make do with an old Gateway streaming DVD player that I bought off Ebay, but I do want local storage built in and I don't want to pay for a real PC.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeff @ Mar 19th 2007 10:52AM
This seems to be significantly cheaper and more full-featured than anything comparable. I've looked around (including at the AveLink players) and haven't found anything other than a full-on HTPC that will both stream and store (on a hard drive) all those video formats at HD resolutions *and* has a built-in DVD player. I can find DVD players that will stream but not store, and media-centric NAS devices that will store and stream but not play DVD's.
Looked into just building a low-spec HTPC from scratch but it still comes to at least $400-$500 when all is said and done, at minimum. And that's *before* throwing any software into the mix (Windows, a proper DVD decoder, etc.).
If I'm just missing something and a product like the one above exists in this country, please let me know. I'm currently trying to make do with an old Gateway streaming DVD player that I bought off Ebay, but I do want local storage built in and I don't want to pay for a real PC.