I thought I'd let you folks know about a pretty neat looking product out there called the Avel Linkplayer. They mentioned it on the Screen Savers the other day and it was almost exactly what I had been looking for, so I put an order in for one. It just arrived at the office today and I'll be checking it out a bit tonight. Features that stood out to me were:

-networkable, with capability for server software to sit on multiple machines at once
-plays a good amount of file types, from DivX and XviD to WMV HD (MDA WMVs to be added in a future firmware release)
-has USB 2.0 port for connecting Avel's storage devices, or any external hard disk, thumb drive, or card reader (as long as it's FAT16/32, unfortunately)

Some downsides include:
-for some unknown reason, the US version of the Linkplayer lacks the DVI port on the Asian version. This is inexplicable, especially since the US version has the Japanese D4 connector They include a D4 to component cable, but it's short and I want to be able to pick my own cables! Small consolation is the free D4 to Component adapter that they will ship to all current US owners.
-USB only on the front- it would be fantastic to have 2 or even four ports evenly split between the front and back, so you could have external hard disks more permanently affixed to the unit. However, I'm still uncertain as to wether or not a disk that's attached to the unit can have data written to it over the network. I would guess not.
-Don't get me wrong, I'm not xenophobic or anything, but companies like this who are trying to sell in the US should at least make some attempt to translate their documentation - or at least their website - correctly. My favorite line from the website is

Quote:
Our LinkPlayer has D4 to Component cable in the package, so you can enjoy a large screen (with component input) by this cable. No reduce performance. Don't worry.

Thanks, but I will.

Anyway, it should be an interesting little device. I know the KISS players have been mentioned here before, but those devices were just too expensive for me, and they just weren't the distinct device I was looking for. I also realize that a few months ago I was singing the praises of the Play@TV networked media player. Well, I still think it's a nice little device, and when I get an apartment, it'll probably get hooked up to my bedroom TV, but this is what's going in my home theater.

I'll just post a little followup when I've experimented with it. If anyone wants me to test something out, just let me know.

Quote:
Photo Resolutions Up to 2048 x 1532

That kills it for me right there. 3.1MP only? That's my must-have feature: HD slide shows. The Roku looks interesting, but I want the segment to mature a bit more.

-Zeke

I thought that was pretty bad too, but I tried loading some of my images that were 2272x1704, and they loaded fine. A little slow, but this was over the network and over the USB card reader (pretty cool). I'll have to try a picture disc. Anyway, those files worked fine, and that's before the firmware upgrade (which was pretty cool - the device can go find a new firmware on its own and install it without the need for a PC).

Looks interesting. Do you know how much are those network disks (I suppose they are seen as 'regular' Windows SMB exports, not something (even more) propriatery)? I tried to find out by clicking 'buy now' on their site, but it only said "We said 'US only'; your IP shows you are from Croatia!".

That's lame! Well, it's $300 for a 160GB drive. Not great, I guess.

Thanks for reminding me of KuroBox. Looks like a cute little Linux box. I think I will try and buy one when they start shipping to Europe. In the meantime, poor man's NAS needs can be solved via Linksys NSLU2, which is available off the shelf locally.

I think they ship to Europe. A coworker of mine ordered a Kurobox last time I was at work and he lives in England... I don't know if he has received yet though, but I'll find out next time I go to work (in mid-january)...

Stig

The KuroBox is just a Linkstation without a HD. The origins of the KuroBox was basically because they had a bunch of older revision Linkstations which they wanted to sell off so somebody decided sell them as a Linux kit. The demand was so great they actually made it into a proper product now.

If you can get a Linkstation in your country then just use that. It'll cost more because of the HD.

Thanks for all the info, guys! Time to go back to Google, read the reviews and decide what is it actually that I want

There's a huge thread about this player on AVSforums here.

Yeah, I tried reading through that, but started losing my mind due to the length and the stomach-turning color scheme the AVS forums use. I did get through the first few pages, which is what informed me of the difference between the US and Asian players.

I'm still playing around with it, but I'll post my impressions soon. I'll just say that it's a very nice device, and a worthy DVD player replacement.

The colour scheme reminds me of the wacky one that used to be in Windows. It was optimised for the old orange monochrome plasma display panels in laptops but if you ever plugged in a proper monitor then you'd get the true colours.