The Roku HD1000 isn't just another digital media hub. Sure, it can play your PC-resident multimedia files on your TV and stereo, but it displays digital photos and videos in true HD resolution—up to 1,080 video lines. That's twice what standard-definition media hubs deliver.

The HD1000 works with everything from your current standard TV to enhanced-definition 480p (480 lines, progressive scan) through 720p and 1080i high-definition sets. The unit is chock-full of features: four memory card slots in front for displaying photos directly from your camera's memory card, pass-through of component and S-Video signals, and front-panel keys that duplicate most functions of the 14-button remote.

It connects to your network via wired 100-Mbps Ethernet, or you can supply your own 802.11b wireless receiver (which connects to the unit's USB 1.1 jack). Befitting a high-end home theatre component, the $500 HD1000 offers the best fit and finish we've seen on a digital media hub outside of some $2,000 devices.

Digital photos viewed on 720p and 1080i HD monitors were dazzling in their detail. You'll want photo images of at least 2 megapixels resolution (lest the quality of the display outstrip the quality of your images), and the zoom feature shows off the advantages of 4MP-or-better cameras. Roku offers sets of Art Pack images ($69 per Compact Flash card), including classic art paintings, accurate clocks (Roku syncs with the NIST atomic clock), an aquarium, and nature scenes.

Digital video looked great in HD, too—if you can find any beyond Roku demos; even movies shot with DV camcorders (and rendered as MPEG files) aren't nearly HD quality. MP3 music playback wasn't any better or worse than on the leading products from HP, Prismiq, Linksys, and SMC.

The on-screen interface is simple and easy to read from a distance, but we were disappointed by the features absent from this first iteration of the product. It doesn't support audio formats other than MP3, offer audio playlists, or display album cover art.

You also can't play background music when running slide shows, and it doesn't preserve the directory structure when reading music or photos on your PC's hard drive. In other words, all your music is queued up alphabetically, rather than by album or genre. Ditto for photos: If you have them in subdirectories by date or subject matter, they won't necessarily come up that way.

The company plans to address such feature gaps soon, so HDTV owners should wait for the upgrade. For the rest of us, the media hubs from Prismiq and SMC are better choices.