D-Link, DivX link up on DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player

First came the GejBox, then came Connected, and now the DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player is checking in as the final version of DivX's first foray into the hardware realm. Hooking up with D-Link, DivX has announced its first piece of kit designed to "enable the seamless streaming of media from digital devices directly to the television set." Additionally, the DivX Connected platform -- which includes built-in support for the Stage6 DivX video service -- will indeed be open, thus allowing "consumers to access media content and services from the PC and internet through a range of consumer electronics devices." Reportedly, the device is slated to hit the UK, France, and Germany in Q4 of this year, but details surrounding a pricetag and availability for the rest of us remain undisclosed.

[Ben @ Aug 31st 2007 8:34AM]

As an owner of the DSM-320, I have my reservations about how this box will perform. Over a wired connection, video is a little bit skippy and barely watchable. The box I have supports most media formats I throw at it... DivX, XviD, WMV, etc. I'm hoping this deal with DivX won't block out some of those other formats.

[Rob @ Aug 31st 2007 8:44AM]

Wait, did you just say "Over a wired connection, video is a little bit skippy and barely watchable." Man that's bad. So pretty much indicates that this box is not worth the money then. At least the one you own.

[Ben @ Aug 31st 2007 8:49AM]

In all fairness, the one I own is like 2 years old. Hopefully they've stepped up to the challenge of making a better media extender. Who knows... I think it's better to stick with XBMC for a while.

[Glenn @ Aug 31st 2007 12:40PM]

As someone who has been testing DivX Connected, I can easily say that I have been streaming SD and HD (1080i) without a problem. I am not using it wirelessly, so perhaps someone else can comment on that.

[porfitron @ Aug 31st 2007 12:42PM]

I'm part of the beta, and I can tell you that the video is not skippy using the firmware and server software DivX provided. I believe the box is really just the shell, providing the connectors, etc, to get you hooked up to your TV. The box also does the decoding of video/audio, but the GUI and heavy lifting is done by the "Connected" software on the PC(s) serving your media. In the beta, Xvid/DivX has been supported all along, and I believe I saw a message for more formats to be rolled out shortly (probably in prep for a D-Link release). Hit me up with any questions, and I'll answer them the best I can.

[Dave @ Aug 31st 2007 4:57PM]

What are the PC requirements for the Connected software? I've run some media streaming solutions before and the bottleneck seemed to be processing capabilities on the PC which led to skippy video.

[porfitron @ Aug 31st 2007 8:17PM]

I don't know what the prescribed minimums are, but I'm running 2 beta servers... one on a Dell P4 and the other on a laptop. The Dell has the following profile: P4, 2GHz, 1GB RAM... I had some issues at first, but they were solved by updating the drivers on my graphics card, which needs to have the latest OpenGL support, and even then, the problems I was having were not with the Video/Audio playback (always studder-free), but with some UI performance. After I updated the drivers, everything was completely smooth.

[pagercam @ Aug 31st 2007 5:00PM]

I'm part of the beta as well. It doesn't have skips or dropouts, its worked well for me and I only have a wireless connection so it could only be better with an Ethernet connection. Having the internet and main video decode on the PC allows for a lot of options that won't be possible with the embedded processors in other media players. I have another media player and the connectedness of being able to stream from Stage6 is really great the other player supports many formats but really wants you to transfer files to local HDD before starting,streaming is weak. SW and firmware are still beta but getting better with every release.

[pagercam @ Aug 31st 2007 5:01PM]

I'm part of the beta as well. It doesn't have skips or dropouts, its worked well for me and I only have a wireless connection so it could only be better with an Ethernet connection. Having the internet and main video decode on the PC allows for a lot of options that won't be possible with the embedded processors in other media players. I have another media player and the connectedness of being able to stream from Stage6 is really great the other player supports many formats but really wants you to transfer files to local HDD before starting,streaming is weak. SW and firmware are still beta but getting better with every release.

[Michael @ Aug 31st 2007 11:56PM]

I had similiar problems with a competing product. My Pc uses a small program that tell the unit attached toi the TV what files to share...another feeds the files from the pc when requested by the unit. This maybe similiar to yours.

There are certain things I can't be doing on the pc while it is streaming data. This goes for other pc's on the network also. You only have so much bandwidth. Another thing is processor power and the ability of the HD to supply multiple requests from different sources.

This took some playing and some expense to correct.

What I did was add a 10/100 switch to my network. I connected the switch to the Internet router. I connected my PC, my 2TB network storage box, and the media server to the switch. All other pc's in my network go directly to the router. This stops other pc's on the network from affecting the bandwidth requirements of the media server.

As long as I limit what my pc is doing everything goes fine. I can check email or do normal surfing. Where I see my biggest problem is when I try to encode a movie using my pc while it is trying to stream a movie. Next problem is copying files from my pc to my storage device where I store all my movies.

Note that the movies I stream are not actually stored on my PC. If it were I may have a second hard drive that only contains movies to do the same thing. Also My pc would be able to do less other things while a movie is streaming.

An alternative to my switch idea if I were storing the movies on my pc would be to add a second network card and use a cat-6 crossover cable going from the pc directly to the media box. If the media box supports 10/100/1000 MBps then with the right card you could achieve 1000 MBps movie stream and get no jitter. The new card and the media box would need static IP addresses since it wouldn't be connected to a router. a cat-5 crossover cable might work but is not rated for 1000 MBps and may have errors in the data stream.

[dpettipas @ Sep 2nd 2007 1:21AM]

I,mm also in the beta & the box works great HD video is smooth, great picture, sounds great
I,mm running a intel daul core with 2 gigs of ram & a 256 mg gforce vid card. The tv is a 26 inch view sonic lcd

[Ray Knapp @ Sep 2nd 2007 2:24AM]

How do you get into the beta program? I have a couple dsm320's and had one of the hd dsm 520's. I returned the 520 because I could not get the surround sound to work with the 520 no matter what I did to it. I am looking for an HD media player and would love to be on the beta Thanks Ray

[KEROLiUKAS @ Sep 3rd 2007 10:37PM]

The beta is closed. There was a time when you could sign up, luckily, i did...Too late now.

[Telstar @ Sep 13th 2007 1:37PM]

Does this have gigabit ethernet or crappy 10/100?