Mainstream HD Streamers
If you expect to stream a lot of movies and videos, or if you want to maintain a central music and/or photo library, and if you also want deep playback and navigation features, consider a mainstream high-def streamer like the Apple TV Take Two or the Netgear Digital Entertainer HD.
Apple TV
The Apple TV Take Two was the top-rated choice in our recent chart of streaming devices, thanks to its easy-to-use interface, internal storage capability, and new-found independence from your PC.
The Apple TV can play back all your protected iTunes Store purchases, as well as home movies and other videos converted to H.264 and stored on its built-in hard drive.
High-def rentals are also available, and can be streamed directly from the iTunes store. Music and photo support is excellent, as you would expect, and you can easily create great slide shows set to music.
The downside is that relatively few HD titles are available, and the box is presently limited to 720p playback. You'll also need to convert most non-iTunes Store videos to the H.264 format. This process can be automated, but is still time-consuming.
Netgear Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000
Next up in our chart of the Best Streaming Media Players is the Netgear Digital Entertainer HD.
The Netgear device is pricey, but it can do a lot of fancy tricks even if you have only Windows XP. It puts out a full 1080p, and was the only player to support both Apple and Windows Media DRM-protected files.
It can integrate with an HDTV tuner/capture card attached to your PC, to act as a digital video recorder and player. And it can also stream video, photos, and Internet radio from a variety of popular sources, including YouTube, Flickr, and Shoutcast. It lacks any internal storage, but it can stream from a UPnP NAS drive. It's by far the best streaming option for Windows XP users who lack Media Center.
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