Many readers will have come across DivX (www.divx.com) – it’s best known as a file format that can compress video into more manageable sizes. As a consequence, it became popular with file sharers who could use the technology to compress movies and TV shows into downloadable files for sharing on the internet.
It’s becoming an increasingly popular format, even outside the file-sharing community. Hardware manufacturers are hard-wiring it into devices like DVD players, and home-movie makers are recognising its potential for creating smaller video files that maintain high levels of quality. With the advent of High Definition (HD) television, the need to squeeze more detail into smaller packages has increased the importance of the format.
It’s in this area that this device from D-Link comes in. The first of a range of DivX Connected devices expected from a swathe of manufacturers, this innocuous-looking box slides under your TV, hooks up to your home network, and streams movies, photos and music to your living room – all in high definition.
Features
There are plenty of devices that’ll stream media to your TV, but it’s the HD element that makes this device stand out from the crowd. It’s geared up for the task straight out of the box with an HDMI cable that offers a single cable route to getting HD pictures and crisp audio to your TV set. If you’re still waiting to buy an HD Ready set you can use the supplied SCART or S-Video cables to hook it up to a regular television.
The other great feature is the interface, which is both smooth and attractive. This uses DivX technology and is created on the fly by the PC the device is networked to, taking all the processing power out of the box and relying on server software on the PC to do the hard work. The resulting images are, in effect, sent to the box as interactive video files that, as long as your PC and network are up to it, flip along at a decent rate. Video doesn’t have to be in the DivX format, though your computer will convert it on the fly – doing this in advance can help improve playback.
There’s also an online element, so you can watch content from DivX’s own Stage6 website (http://stage6.divx.com), which is like a high-resolution version of YouTube. Because the software comes from DivX, it’s all open so third-party developers and enthusiasts can create their own plug-ins. There are already options for viewing Google Maps, for example.
Performance
There is a mammoth range of screen set-up options available, including all the different scales of HD (720p and 1,080i), as well as regular TV versions right down to the most basic. The performance of the device leans heavily on the PC and network. Although it has 802.11g Wi-Fi built in, we found it significantly better when it was plugged directly into the router via Ethernet. The benefit of having the PC do the processing, however, is that things like movies and slideshows of high-res images should play better because they’re being optimised by your high-spec computer, which will be several times more powerful than any device you’d buy just to convert pictures and videos for watching on TV.
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Ease of Use
The interface is the best we’ve seen on a device like this. However, controlling what is essentially a PC file system on a TV via a remote control is still far from easy. This device still relies on files and folders, which you point to using the server software on your PC, then scroll through using the remote. Because the processing is being done on the computer, via the network, we found it lagged behind the button presses a little – it’s not like flipping channels on a TV. But it’s still neatly arranged, uses things like album art to make things look better, and has hot keys for switching to music, photos and videos.
Value for money
The price is excellent for something that offers HD-level streaming and includes everything you need. Less than six months ago, you would have paid more than this to get a lower resolution media-streaming box, though using the PC rather than building in all the processing gubbins probably helps reduce the price. It’s a great value way to use the extra resolution you’ve got on your HD Ready TV without having to throw too much more money at what was probably already a rather expensive purchase.
Verdict
With its neat implementation and decent set of features, this ranks at the top of the list of devices that’ll sit under your TV and communicate with PCs on your home network. If your Wi-Fi signal is sturdy enough, it should be able to cope, but could fall short if your network isn’t up to scratch – for best results, use wired Ethernet if you can. With a slick interface and lots of scope for plug-ins, there’s opportunity for growth, and HD television owners, especially those with a healthy collection of DivX content on their PCs, should lap this up.
Specifications
Network
* IEEE 802.11g wireless LAN specification
* One 10/100 Mbps LAN port
* USB 2.0 for direct acess to a USB drive
Video outputs
* HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)
* Composite Audio/Video
* SCART
* S-Video
* Component
Audio outputs
* RCA
* S/PDIF
* Optical
File formats
* Video5,6: DivX®7, Xvid with MP3 or PCM, WMV9 (transcoded on PC) 8
* Audio6: MP3 (Up to 360 kbps), WMA (transcoded on PC) 8, Playlist
* Image6: JPEG (grayscale, RGB & YCbCy only), JPEG 2000, BMP (Non-compressed)
Wireless
* Detachable antenna (reverse SMA connector, female)
* Security: WPA-PSK, WEP (64- and 128-bit encryption)
Management
* Easy setup wizard
* On-screen display with remote control for fast and intuitive management
* Trick modes: skip forward 30 seconds, skip back 10 seconds and virtual chapter points
Software
* Includes DivX® software to convert videos to DivX®
* Open DivX Connected™ platform supports 3rd party plug-ins and services
* Multi-server and multi-client support
* User-friendly software to manage your PC media
* Real-time monitoring and folder access protection
5 Advanced Simple Profile only without quarter pixel or global motion compensation.
6 Device supports file formats listed herein. However, D-Link cannot guarantee full compatibility or proper playback with all files due to modifications and/or variations that may occur in user-encoded files.
7 Plays all versions of DivX video up to 720p.
8 Transcoding performance varies depending on file type and PC performance.
