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Ever tried piping video and audio files from your PC to your TV and stereo? Then you know that the process involves hassles and headaches, and requires plenty of patience. But a new class of gizmos aims to make marrying the PC and home entertainment center simpler.

In a matter of months, a bevy of these so-called convergence devices will hit the market. One of the first is MediaPlayer, from Prismiq. Available today, the device is one of the first entries to unlock your PC's digital media vault for living room playback.

The $249 device is about the size of a hardcover book and plugs into a TV or VCR and stereo. It links to a PC by an ethernet cable, or wirelessly over an 802.11b network. It handles all your PC's music, video, and image files, and lets you surf the Net and chat on America Online's Instant Messenger from the comfort of your couch.

It will soon compete with similar products introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Sony's $199 RoomLink and Hewlett-Packard's Digital Media Receiver 5000 (priced at $199; $299 for wireless) are due out within months.

Also, TiVo is refining its digital video recorder to offer a $99 Home Media Option with expanded media-playback functions.

The premise is that your living room, rather than a seat at your desktop PC, is the optimal spot to kick back and watch videos or listen to music.

That's (Almost) Entertainment

In my tests the MediaPlayer was easy to set up, and it worked as promised. But the Prismiq device is immature and suffers from a lack of support for a wide variety of file formats beyond MP3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and unencrypted .VOB (DVD) files. A feature intended to let you view your photo collection is still not fully functional, even though Prismiq is shipping the product.

Prismiq representatives say customers will get free, automatic updates over the next couple of months to address these shortcomings, as well as to boost overall system reliability.

The upshot: MediaPlayer is still a terrific piece of hardware. You connect the device to your PC by using the built-in ethernet jack or by popping an 802.11b PCMCIA card into the back of the unit for a wireless connection. Prismiq says the product will support the faster 802.11a and 802.11g wireless standards with software updates. I tested MediaPlayer using ethernet cables that plugged right into my Linksys router.

The MediaPlayer hooks up to your TV via your choice of regular triple RCA A/V inputs or S-Video inputs (for better video quality). Also available is a digital audio output option for connecting to your stereo.

Creating a Jukebox

The MediaPlayer's software for your PC, called MediaManager, requires at least a 300-MHz PC with 128MB of RAM running Windows 98, Me, 2000, or XP. The software interface is stark and not intuitive. I had to take about 30 minutes to master MediaManager--quirks and all--until I finally could update and organize my media library.

Once installed, MediaManager scans your hard disk for media files it recognizes. You can also tell MediaManager to scan hard drives or CD/DVD-ROM drives connected to your home network. This feature lets you create a massive virtual library of music, videos, and pictures that span multiple networked PCs, all easily accessed via one TV-based interface.

Through MediaManager, you build standard playlists of music or video. Playlists are vital for this device, because the MediaPlayer's TV interface is not nearly as easy to navigate.

Interface Update Due

You can personalize the MediaPlayer start page that appears on your TV screen with stock quotes and weather updates tied to your zip code. News headlines and an unintelligible satellite weather map also greet you. Running along the top are the navigational tabs: Home, Music, Movies, Web, and Chat.

The MediaPlayer interface looks as if Prismiq took design cues from a DOS PC: It's a two-tone, graphical screen sporting a dark green background offset by a slightly less dull shade of green. Fonts, however, are acceptable and--more important--legible.

The Music tab opens a simplified version of the music library and playlists you created on the PC. You click on a playlist to launch it, but unlike the PC software this interface does not let you sort the music files. Consequently, you have no practical way to find a specific song--you must advance clumsily through each list of tunes, screen by screen. The system needs a search function so that you can scour your media library for songs, pictures, and videos.

The Web browser running on the Linux-based MediaPlayer is based on the open-source Konqueror browser. It's fine for simple surfing; I could check Hotmail but had to squint to read messages. But don't count on visiting sophisticated Web pages--the browser doesn't support advanced Java scripting or any streaming media. MediaPlayer updates will support streaming media, says Brad Kayton, Prismiq spokesperson.

You navigate the TV interface with a remote control that acts as a pointer, clicker, and pathetic keyboard; you enter text on an alphanumeric keypad similar to those on telephones. The Prismiq upgrade to a $50 keyboard is a requirement for anyone who plans TV-based surfing, chatting, or e-mail swapping.

Wish List

MediaPlayer's biggest problem is its lack of support for multiple video and audio formats such as Apple's QuickTime, Microsoft's WMV, AVI, and Divx. Even the supported MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats don't always play back. Prismiq says about 15 percent of MPEG-1 and -2 files are unusable because of a bad video encoding process. And if your MP3s have spaces in the file names, you may have playback problems.

"Stay tuned," Kayton says. Prismiq is working out the kinks, and updates will support the missing formats.

Prismiq is also looking to partner with SnapStream this year to offer TiVo-like functions without TiVo's cost. SnapStream's program plus a TV-tuner card in the PC will enable Prismiq users to navigate an electronic TV-listings guide and then schedule, record, and play back TV programs, just as they would with TiVo.

In its current state, Prismiq's MediaPlayer is a good fit for the PC hobbyist who isn't fazed by dealing with software hiccups, renaming MP3 files, and converting AVI video files to the MPEG-2 format. When Prismiq updates its software to address the various snags, MediaPlayer will have much larger appeal to mainstream PC users.

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