Best Products for Streaming Audio and Video With Ease
Want to watch your movies in the bedroom or listen to your albums in the kitchen? We identify which devices do the best job of streaming PC-based video and audio all over your home.Lincoln Spector, PC World
Netgear's Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000 (top). The Apple TV (bottom) ships with either a 40GB or a 160GB hard disk.
It's easier than ever to liberate your collection of audio, video, and photo files from the confines of a PC--so you can enjoy it at the level of comfort and quality that your home theater setup provides. Streaming media players, also known as digital media receivers, connect to your TV and surround-sound speakers and, via an interface on your television, let you stream multimedia files from networked PCs, hard disks, and (in some cases) the Internet.
Products Reviewed in This Story
For this roundup, we evaluated the following seven digital media adapters:
Features Comparison Chart
For details about the seven streaming media players in our review matched head-to-head, see the features comparison chart, "Best Streaming Media Players."
Beaming and Streaming Without Screaming
Complementing our product reviews are brief discussions of several issues relating to streaming media. We cover the following topics in these sidebars:
The Magnificent to Pretty Good Seven
Clockwise from top: D-Link DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player; Mvix Wireless HD Media Center MX-760HD; Ziova Clearstream CS510 High Definition Network Media Player.
I examined seven media streamers in all--from Apple, Buffalo Technology, D-Link, Mvix, Netgear, Ziova, and ZyXel--to determine which are easy to set up and use, which play your favorite formats, and which please the eyes and ears.
I conducted most of my tests with Windows XP, but I also performed some compatibility testing with Windows Vista. I tested each device's support for wireless and ethernet networking, but I used ethernet to score performance because 802.11g Wi-Fi lacks the bandwidth and reliability necessary to manage many videos (especially HD content)--even though draft-802.11n routers like the D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit router I employed can improve the performance of 802.11g devices.
To gauge picture quality, I ran several short films and trailers at standard definition and high definition (720p, 1080i, and 1080p). I played them on a 1080p-capable Sony KDS-50A2000 LCoS 50-inch HDTV. When possible, I connected the media receivers via an HDMI connection (for the Mvix I used a DVI-to-HDMI converter, and for the Buffalo Technology model I employed a D-4 to component conversion cable). For my audio appraisals I relied on an optical S/PDIF connection, except to evaluate the ZyXel, which uses coaxial S/PDIF output only for digital sound. Audio tests included 320-kbps .mp3 and 128-kbps unprotected .wma files (I converted the .wma file into a 128-kbps .m4a file for my tests of the Apple TV).
Big-screen menu: The Netgear player's main screen.
Our Best Buy goes to the Netgear Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000. Though it was the priciest option at $350, it went way beyond the competition in versatility. It supports a wide range of video formats, can play both Apple and Windows Media DRM-protected files, works as a digital video recorder, and even lets you check your e-mail and watch YouTube videos on your television. It also outputs up to a full 1080p resolution for HD content.
Big-screen menu: Apple TV's YouTube interface.
The Apple TV, which placed second in our group, was the only other device capable of playing back iTunes purchases. It's extremely easy to set up, and it returned great-looking video (though only at resolutions up to 720p). It can play anything iTunes can, but that means it won't play Windows Media or formats popular with online file sharers, like DivX and Xvid. By the time you read this, the Apple TV will stream specially converted YouTube videos directly, as well.
Six of the seven players support HD video to some degree, but as yet there really isn't much true, legal HD video out there. You can download movie trailers, some video podcasts, and a few short films (usually designed to show off the technology), or you can convert recorded HD content yourself--but that's about it so far, unless you happen to own an Xbox 360 (see "You May Own a Streamer, and Not Know It").
Buffalo Technology's LinkTheater Wireless A&G Network Media Player produced sharp and vibrant photo slide shows.
Each unit can create photo slide shows, usually with an option to use one of your music files as a backing track. And speaking of music, fans of Internet radio--audio streamed directly from the Net, sans PC--will have to settle for the services, such as Shoutcast (used by the Netgear and the Ziova), that your device supports. The D-Link works with such services as Live365 and vTuner, and the Netgear model permits you to enter the address of an .mp3 or .wma music stream manually.
Beyond streamed content, most devices include USB ports for playing back files stored on external hard drives and thumb drives. The Mvix even lets you connect a USB DVD-ROM drive and install your own internal 3.5-inch IDE hard disk, or you can pay extra to have one preinstalled. The Apple TV comes standard with either a 40GB or a 160GB internal hard drive (I reviewed the 40GB model), and you can copy music, video, and photo files to that drive, using iTunes. Unfortunately, however, the Apple TV won't play media from flash drives or hard drives that are connected to its USB port.
ZyXel's DMA-1000 Digital Media Theater lacks Wi-Fi, but it streams good-looking video (up to 1080i) over ethernet, and it has an HDMI connection.
Other than the ZyXel DMA-1000, which lacks Wi-Fi, each device supports 802.11g wireless networking. But if your home's geography allows it, a wired ethernet connection gives the best results. What looks smooth when viewed over an ethernet connection can stutter and pause without the cable. The already-out-there-but-not-yet-finished 802.11n Wi-Fi spec promises some improvement, but the Apple TV was the only draft-n device in our group.
Getting It All to Work
You'll find a huge number of audio and video formats floating around, and no player can handle them all. That said, .mp3 audio support is universal, and support for unprotected iTunes music (.m4a files using the AAC codec) and unprotected .wma music is common, too. Video is trickier. Many devices support Xvid video, for instance, but some require the accompanying audio to be in .mp3 format, while other players may support Xvid video using AAC audio as well. If you have a preference, consult our features comparison chart for detailed info on video-, audio-, and photo-file format compatibility.
The Apple TV handles compatibility problems in a simple and convenient, but limiting way. It uses iTunes, on either a Mac or a PC, as a proprietary media server (software that organizes content and sends it to your streaming device). If iTunes can play the file, so can the Apple player. If iTunes can't do it, neither can Apple TV.
Every other product (except the Mvix) comes with software--usually Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) media servers that organize media, send it to the streaming device, and control what folders get presented to it. Nevertheless, you don't have to use this software, since the devices can see shared folders on a network and play files from them. But if you use this method of accessing your media, the streaming device's on-screen menu will probably just show you files in folders, whereas music and video accessed through a server will be organized by genre, performer, and so on.
Windows Media Connect (WMC), Microsoft's UPnP server, is built into Windows Media Player 11; it's a download for XP users, but standard in Vista. WMC adds a very nice feature: It allows some players, including the Buffalo Technology, D-Link, and Netgear models reviewed here, to play protected .wma files bought from services like Napster and MSN.
Beam Music Around Your Home
The Sonos Bundle 130 multiroom music system.
Network music players specialize in sending .mp3 and other music files from your PC to any stereo in the house. In most cases, you install server software on a PC, set the streamer to work with your Wi-Fi network, and then simply plug it into your stereo. Many streamers also play Internet radio directly from your broadband link--no PC required.
Sonos's ZonePlayer products are among the fancier audio streamers. You can set up multiple ZonePlayers, each one plugged into a different stereo located in a different room. To manage them, you use a remote control equipped with a 3.5-inch LCD screen.
The $1000 Bundle 130 consists of two ZonePlayers--one with a built-in amplifier--and a controller. But one of those ZonePlayers must connect to the network via ethernet, which means that only one can stray far from your PC or router. Cheaper yet still stylish options include Roku's $200 SoundBridge M1001 and Slim Devices' $300 Squeezebox. Less expensive again are Apple's $99 AirPort Express Base Station with AirTunes and Linksys's $70 Wireless-G Music Bridge. Both use software to divert music wirelessly from your PC to the devices themselves, which in turn connect to your stereo--a very simple way around DRM and compatibility issues. The only problem is that you have to run to the room where your computer is to change your playlist.
The cheapest solution of all? Use a $7 Y-adapter audio cable with a stereo miniplug (like the one on your earbuds) on one end, and left and right RCA connectors on the other. Plug the RCA connectors into the back of your stereo; when you want to listen to music, plug the other end into your audio player or notebook.
Lincoln SpectorStream From Networked Hard Drives
Buffalo Technology's $200, 250GB LinkStation Live.
The media streamer concept has an obvious flaw: For true convenience, you must keep your computer on and networked at all times. This wastes power, and if your media is stored on a notebook, your family may be disappointed when you take it to work. Plus, lots of media files can make even huge hard drives seem small.
The solution: network-attached storage (NAS)--an external hard drive that plugs into your router via an ethernet port so that any computer in your house can access it. Such drives consume less electricity than a PC running continuously--less than 20 watts for some NAS models, versus roughly 120 to 400 watts for a typical PC. And if you turn the drive off, it comes back online much faster than a PC when you power it on again.
Many modern NAS drives function as UPnP-compatible media servers. If the box says the media server is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) certified, that means it's UPnP compatible.
An example is Buffalo Technology's $200, 250GB LinkStation Live. Once it's connected to your network, it becomes accessible to any computer and compatible streaming device. You configure it by using a browser, as you would a router.
One limitation: It can't serve protected iTunes or Windows Media files to any device except a computer already licensed to play them. Still, the LinkStation Live also works as a USB print server, and it comes with a backup program.
Several NAS drives in our most recent Top 5 chart have built-in media servers and software for organizing music, photos, and movies. Our top pick is Infrant Technologies' ReadyNAS NV, a 1TB model.
Lincoln SpectorRestrictions on Cable TV Recordings
CableCard ready: Sony VGX-XL3 Media Center PC.
Why stream from a PC when you can connect one directly to your TV? Some new Media Center PCs, such as Sony's VAIO Digital Living System VGX-XL3 (pictured), can play anything that a home media streamer can, and they can record and play back premium cable TV content without requiring a cable set-top box.
The $3300 VGX-XL3 is one of the first PCs to ship with ATI's TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, which has a slot for a CableCard for decrypting premium content (like HBO or Showtime) and recording it. Media Center PCs without the card (or a cable set-top box) can't display or record premium content.
But Sony product manager Xavier Lauwaert warns that you can stream protected recorded content only to the Xbox 360. Moreover, once you've installed a CableCard in the PC, the content restrictions will prevent you from recording TV shows to the VGX-XL3's Blu-ray drive.
Any PC that uses the ATI product carries the same set of restrictions. The ATI card works exclusively with PCs that run Windows Vista, and it's the only PC-based TV tuner that's approved for use with a CableCard. "A content protection layer has been built around [ATI's] solution," says Lauwaert. "We're definitely locked into that card."
Like many other Media Center PCs, the VGX-XL3 has Intel's Viiv certification, meaning that it can share certain content among Viiv-certified devices (like Buffalo Technology's LinkTheater Wireless A&G Network Media Player). But Viiv has no relation to CableCard, so forget about bypassing the restrictions associated with the ATI tuner to stream HBO shows from your living room to your den.
Alan StaffordYou May Own a Streamer and Not Know It
Mass Appeal: The Nintendo Wii console.
If you own a game console or TiVo box, you're ready to start streaming media from your PC today.
TiVo's free Desktop software for Windows lets your TiVo box stream .mp3 and photo files, but to send movie files to your TiVo, you'll need additional software like TiVo's $25 Desktop Plus or the unofficial but free TiVo.Net package. The latter is trickier to install, but it can transcode video formats on the fly. Series2 and Series3 TiVo boxes can search for, and download, movies from Amazon's Unbox service, too.
Nintendo's Wii can play .mp3 files and display photos via its SD Card slot, but the alpha version of Red Kawa's free Wii Media Center X server software streams files from your PC wirelessly. The company also provides free tools for converting videos into the Wii's preferred .flv (Flash) format. Though Red Kawa, Orb Networks, and other developers have equivalent software for Sony's PlayStation 3, a recent firmware update for that console now lets it stream nonprotected music, movies, and photos from networked PCs running a DLNA media server such as Windows Media Player 11. And this is cool: PlayStation Portable (PSP) owners at a Wi-Fi hotspot can now use the PSP's Remote Play feature to stream content from their PC at home, via their Internet-connected PlayStation 3.
Then there's Microsoft's Xbox 360, including the new HDMI-equipped Elite model reviewed on page 57. The 360's own Media Center interface mirrors and seamlessly syncs with Windows Media Center-equipped PCs, allowing you to stream music, video, and photos--and to schedule and stream TV recordings if the PC has a TV tuner. The revamped Xbox Live Marketplace even has some TV and movie downloads in high definition. Finally, Microsoft plans to let partners offer Xbox 360 users live and on-demand, high-definition Internet TV (IPTV) by early 2008.
Danny Allen