MEDIA STREAMING/NETWORKING DEVICES- Advice please!

hi guys,uk eztv fan here,and i wondered if anyone can give me some advice on
getting a cool new gadget to play me eztv dloads on my telly!

im sick of converting everythin to dvd (video_ts), so am looking for other
ways to do it, so....

i just bought a media centre hard drive (sumvision 400gb - 120 quid on ebay)
and its great for the cash, usb\'s with pc and has analog video outputs to
your
telly , and a remote to operate the on board software to navigate and view
your divx vids.

however, it wont play hr.hdtv rips, of which i have many, and it won\'t play
back in 16:9 full height anamorphic, it plays back in letterboxed 4:3 despite
having a wide/ps/lb choice in output in the settings menu. so all my shows are
squashed on my ws telly, and half the screen is taken up by black bars.

i\'ve seen media streaming devices for sale at pc world and on ebay that
network rather than connect via usb/firewire, but i want to get one that
guarantees ws 16:9 fha playback and if possible, hr playback, and if it does
an optical or coaxial audio out for 5.1 & dts all the better, only really
looking for rgb vid outputs at best as i dont have a hd set, but if there is
one that will downscale 720p or 1080i to pal 625 then great.

i have a dvd player with divx playback, but i have same prob with that regards
the wscreen issue and the hr playback, besides i\'m fed up of burning discs.

lookin to spend no more than 150 quid if poss, or if any of u guys in the us
can point me to one that ships to europe, can go up to 250 dollars.

also - anyone know of a similar high definition device to play back 720p or
1080i via hdmi? either a networkin device or a stand alone player that will
playback mkv matroska files and .ts files? not too bothered about this one cos
its for a mate. has to be via hdmi tho.

cheers guys, sorry for the long post, most of u will ignore, but id be very
grateful for any advice whatsoever, and i can offer advice back on any other
tv related matters, ie what to watch, tech stuff, whatever.

lovin heroes, jericho and daybreak at the mo, cant wait for lost to come back,
and the shield season 6, anyone got any onfo on that one? gonna try out dexter
next i think.

heroes is goin on the sci fi channel over here eventually, which really isnt a
mainstream channel at all in the uk and probably only gets a maximum 200,000
viewers at any one time. its great that its available on torrents so readily
cos i dont think its gonna have the chance to kick off over here in the uk.

cheers you guys

uk eztv fan

i use my xbox 360 and run transcode 360, you need to use win xp mce though for
it work. because the 360 doesn't come with divx xvid support it basicly
transcodes on the fly from the computer to a format the 360 can read, i have
to say it does it with rather good quality.

if you don't own xp mce there is a new appliaction called tversity, which
basicly does the same thing but works from any windows computer. it requires
the recent upgrade to the 360 but this is a free download and should be done
automaticly.

the 360 doesn't yet offer hdmi output but does now do 1080p, 1080i and 720p
over component and when the hd dvd comes out i expect them to bring out a hdmi
connector for it.

oh and it also plays killer games but to be honest i use mine 75% of the time
as an extender

cheers dude, thats some top info, hadnt considered a console so nice one for
thinkin outside the box

go down to your local bestbuy store or whatever equivilant you have in your
area... take a notepad with you, and make a list of every dvd player model that
they have for sale..
look through the dvd player reports on h**p://www.videohelp.com/
find a dvd player that specifically states that it plays the xvid video codec
with the ac3 audio codec (xvid+ac3)... this is exactly what you need to play the
hr files correctly on a set-top box... do not settle for just xvid+mp3!

it will take a while and a lot of research to find one for xvid+ac3.. but it's
well worth the time spent when you come up with the perfect box...

if a store near you doesn't carry one at all... you may have to resort to
ordering one off the net... but just be sure you're looking for that xvid+ac3
compatability..

i use either my 360 (as stated above) or my modded original xbox w/ xbmc. both
are very easy to use with little setup.

i put together a media pc myself using a regular tower pc updated with an asus
video card with dvi and vga (dvi connects to my 42" plasma screen), surround
sound card that connects to my home theater system and soundagraph imon remote
control system. i connect to my other pc where i get the bittorrent stuff via a
devolo 200 adapter that allows you to network using your electrical outlets.

i stream then the video from my download pc to the media pc and watch it on the
plasma with vlc player. to play dvds i use windows media player as it decodes
closed captions.

a media pc is the easiest way to go although not the cheapest if you aren't a
hoarder of hardware, personally i just use my main pc with the right
attachments... using a pc eliminates all compatibility issues and the only
limitations really are down to the graphics card resolution and the sound card.

i use windows xp media center edition with a graphics card that'll do rgb output
(my pci express nvidia geforce 6600 does the trick). this connects to my tv,
and my sound card connects to the amp used for my tv sound. the official
microsoft mce remote control is under

there are two easy ways to do it...

i actually have a server running sbs2003 with a modified x-box on the domain.
it works real well once i figured out how to use the credentials i gave the x-
box. but before i came about this solution, i found a product called media
mvp, basically its just a little network player that attaches to your tv and
has a network connection. you dont need any special os and it has interfacing
menus. i was going to buy it and try it, but since i have the x-box, i
haven't needed to. i think it will only run you about $100

cheers for all your help guys, the media centre pc sounds like a good option.

perhaps someone can help with a problem ive got with my media centre hard
drive...

its a usb connection, and originally managed to get the pc to see it and
assign a drive letter, moved all my vids over, and now the pc wont recognize
it, and doesnt bring up any diagnostic problems. sometimes it will be assigned
a drive letter after plugging in only to automatically eject from the system a
few mins later.

any ideas anyone?

i use a dvico tvix to watch my divx ,xvid, mpg etc these days, as it also acts
as a usb external hard drive and operates off a remote to make life easy. it
plays most things no problems. check it out at dvico.com mine is a m3100 which
can output to hd 16.9 1080i or 720p but the new m5000 has better hd features and
can network to pc with cat 5 cable to play straight from it.
i used to just use my win xp os pc with a nvidia geforce 6200 with component
output to my 50" plasma screen and use a bluetooth mouse to operate it. this
worked fine too but i needed more hard drive drive so i bought the tvix and
fitted a 320gb hard drive.