Guys, you got to try one of these!

[kingaaa]

I posted last week about this device , http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=14m10 . I've had it a couple of days now and all I can say is what a fantastic piece of kit! It's so simple to use and the picture quality is fantastic. I've also transferred some MP3's and the sounds to is outstanding through a good amp.It is such a hassle free experience, just create some sub-folders on the external drive, i.e. kids movies, action movies ect..ect.. and transfer your files from your original hard drive - no converting which has 2 advantages, time and space. So far I've only used the standard white - red - yellow left/right/and video conectors but the quality of the picture is dvd quality.What I was most suprised by was the size of the unit, it's tiny! about the size of a portable dvd player, just a little thicker.and the remote stores neatly under the base.It easily fiths on a dvd shelf under your tv.Fantastic.

[UncasMS]

how excactly do you connect this device to your tv?


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stupid question, sorry

didnt see the pdf at first

[toomanycats]

Other than Ebay I haven't found a US distributor.

[kingaaa]

how excactly do you connect this device to your tv?


++++++++++++

stupid question, sorry

didnt see the pdf at first

There are 3 different ways to connect to the tv, last night I hooked it to the tv with a euro-scart lead, and ran the sound through my a.v. amplifier via standard stereo cables.The quality was top-notch.

[kingaaa]

Other than Ebay I haven't found a US distributor.

There is a site dedicated to the U.S. , http://www.argosyusa.net/index.asp , but I cant see anything about distributors on it?

[anonymez]

Video media formats, DVD-Video, DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x, Xvid, SVCD, VCD 1.1/2.0, MPEG-1, MPEG-2
Audio media formats, MP3, WAV
Image media formats, JPEG

is what's stopping me from buying something like this to do away with the HTPC. my problem with these devices is they're not future proof; ie. extremely unlikely it'll be able to play mpeg4 asp above 720x576 res, no avc, mp4, mkv, aac, flac, png support. HD content is especially important here now the displays are so affordable. however since it's appropriately priced it may not be such an issue. portability is certainly a plus

waiting for one that supports HD mpeg4 avc+aac and flac playback, can't see one coming out anytime soon though

[kingaaa]

anonymez,there are so many functions to this, and for the price of a dvd player I dont think you can go wrong.It supports every video/music and picture file I have, and if eventually a more advanced unit comes along, it will be handy for storing the likes of music, home movies, pictures ect...ect.. I cant see a drawback at all.

[jm1647]

I'm checking the Media Gate MG-35 out. Comes with or without a HDD, and plays files off a network also. The is a site with a forum where they are also hacking the firmware for this .

Media Gate MG-35 is a perfect portable entertainment box with MPEG4 playback
The MG-35 has a 10/100 Ethernet port * so home PCs in the same subnet can be easily accessed
Has a USB2.0 slave port. It provides an alternative way to download digital contents from the PC.
Can be provided without 3.5-inch HDD. In this case, it can be a low-cost DMA* without HDD
Can be configured in collaboration with web-based movie distributor as a set-top box or media gateway to access, play and/or download the legal movies from the website directly without home PC
DMA* - direct memory access, a technique for transferring data from main memory to a device without passing it through the CPU. This enable the MG35 to read media from a source (home PC, laptop) and play it immediately.

Specification:

USB Interface
480Mbps USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 Compatible)

Network Interface
10/100 Mbps LAN (RJ-45)

Model Color
Silver

Material
Aluminum

Stackable
No

Dimension 57 x 150 x 185 mm
Power Source
External Power Supply

Input Power AC
100-240V 50/60Hz 0.7A

Output Power DC
5v 1.5A/12V 1.5A

OS Supported
PC Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP
Mac OS 9.0 or above
Linux 2.4 or above

Network Interface
10/100 Mbps LAN (RJ-45)

HDD Type
3.5" IDE HDD

HDD File System
FAT32, NTFS

TV Type
PAL, NTSC

Supported Formats
Movie MPEG 1,2,4(MPG,MPEG,AVI,M2V,DAT,VOB,IFO)
DivX, XviD (except GMC, Qpel option applied)
Music MP3, OGG Vorbis, WMA, WAV
Photo JPG (JPEG)

Video Output
Composite
S-Video
Component Y
Pb
Pr (480p, 720p, 1080i Progressive Scan)

Audio Output
Stereo (L/R) / Digital Coaxial
Optical (DTS Pass-Through Only