Media Servers/Streamers - HD video

Muzz in short ... yes.

I had some freinds over on thursday night and plugged in a portable hard drive into the back of my dvico 4130 (USB 2.0) and streamed (effectively) a 1920x1080p file in .mkv format.

(USB 2.0) has a bandwidth up to 4.8Gbit/s whilst ethernet is anywhere up to 1000mbps...

I think going forward (at least in the short term) streaming of True HD files via network cable is a no-go but with 500gb Hard drives around $100 who cares.... just transfer the files to where you want to watch them!

HDDVD Capacity :15Gb single layer, 30Gb dual layer

Blueray Capacity: 25Gb single layer, 50Gb dual layer

Lossy compression could bring it down to any size you want but the quality would suffer and really what would be the point? (just use a DVd then).

By being able to connect to external storage, you can in part future proof a bit though you will need to upgrade or buy new hard disk (NAS).

If the unit you buy supports 1080p and HDMI, then you are probably safe on the graphics and connectivity fronts for a while. Network at 100 or 1000mb/s should be adequate for a while yet.

As with anything computer based, there will always be something bigger, better and more wonderful down the track but if you can be happy with what you have then it shouldn't be a problem.