Free Your Media
Our intrepid entertainment fan checks out five new products that let you stream digital music, photos, and videos from your PC to any room.
There's a world of digital entertainment at my fingertips, yet it's all trapped in ugly PC boxes with 17-inch displays and tin-can speakers. At the same time, I have thousands of dollars invested in high-end home entertainment equipment sitting in my living room, and none of it is worth a dime when I want to watch or listen to anything in my digital media library.
But finally, my PC and my home entertainment gear are getting a chance to make a love connection. With the latest digital media receivers, you can access your PC-based music, pictures, and video on any audio or video device in your home. You just need a wireless home network. (You
All of the devices I tested for this article can handle audio, video, and pictures, but that's where the resemblance ends. The first products I looked at were basic digital media receivers for simply sending multimedia files from a computer over to your TV or your stereo system. In that category I tested products from D-Link, Philips, and Pinnacle. I then ventured into the world of Media Center PCs and assessed an HP Media Extender. And finally, I checked out a fancy media server manufactured by ViewSonic that can deliver multimedia content without any help from a computer.
Cheap and (Mostly) EasySetting up a digital media receiver is a cinch. Each unit comes with PC-based server software that indexes your media files and then streams them on demand to the device itself; the receiver hooks up to your audio system and/or to a television through common connectors. Digital media receivers feature analog A/V connections (RCA audio, composite video, and/or S-Video) and, in many cases, component video and digital audio (coaxial, S/PDIF, or optical) hookups. Make sure that the device you purchase includes all of the outputs you need; some models, for example, provide only one set of RCA audio outputs.
Each product gives you a setup screen on your TV to step you through finding the network connection and server. If you have to enter IP addresses or an encryption key, be sure to write everything down in advance. And don't forget: Your PC must be running to stream content. If it decides to take a nap while you're jamming to Led Zeppelin in your living room, you will have to interrupt your air guitar solo to wake it up.
I started out testing D-Link's MediaLounge DSM-320, connecting it to my stereo system with the included RCA cables and then plugging it into my TV set with a composite video cable (the DSM-320 provides digital-audio and component-video outputs, too, but my equipment lacks them). When I turned on the receiver, the quick-start wizard found my wireless network and located the D-Link media server software that I had already configured on my PC. Later, I installed the server software on a second computer and was able to use the television setup menu to switch between the two servers.
Setting up the DSM-320 was easy, but getting it running wasn't. Some of my multimedia folders contain hundreds of files, and the unit was often painfully slow to list their contents on screen. The remote control was a bit sluggish, too: Even at close range and having inserted fresh batteries, I sometimes had to press buttons several times before the system responded. After that, however, the D-Link unit performed well, streaming the Vincent Price movie
The DSM-320 can also support Windows Media Connect software. None of these devices play protected Windows Media files, however, which is an obstacle if you like to download music from Web sites such as Napster and Musicmatch On Demand. Installing Windows Media Connect fixes that problem. If you spent your last paycheck on Napster downloads, this could be a major selling point.
Philips's Streamium SL300i works much like the DSM-320. Right off the bat, though, I ran into a problem with this product--the Streamium couldn't locate my network, even after I entered the needed information manually. I was able to resolve the difficulty using an age-old troubleshooting technique: I went into the kitchen, made a grilled-cheese sandwich, ate it, and then returned and tried again, this time successfully.
From there, the Streamium performed beautifully, giving me the opportunity to digest my meal to the mellifluous sounds of Black Sabbath. (Perhaps the Streamium knew what was coming.) I did discover one quirk, though: You have no way to page through long file lists.
Streamium works with a number of Internet services, including Live 365, Musicmatch, IFilm (previews and short movies), Launch (music videos), and Yahoo Movies (trailers only). If you're as hooked on any of these online services as I am on Rhapsody (which it doesn't yet support), you'll like this device. On the downside, the Streamium lacks the component-video and digital-audio outputs that the D-Link provides.
By the time I got to our third digital media receiver, Pinnacle's ShowCenter, I was ready for another sandwich. With this unit, however, I didn't have problems--all the receiver needed from me was my wireless network's SSID (service set identifier, or the network's name), and it did the rest. ShowCenter also did a good job finding and playing content.
ShowCenter's PC-based server software delivers more than its competitors, allowing you to do things such as burn CDs or DVDs and export Winamp-compatible playlists. The software can also copy and convert incompatible media formats--most notably Windows Media video files--into one of four ShowCenter-compatible video formats. Like the D-Link, ShowCenter supports analog and digital audio output, as well as composite and component video.
ShowCenter does have an Achilles' heel: It provides no support for Internet-based streaming-media services. However, at press time Pinnacle said that it was planning to release an upgrade to make the device support both Rhapsody and Shoutcast-based Internet radio sites.
Not everyone is interested in streaming video and pictures to TV, of course. If you are merely concerned with playing your Bob Seger digital music collection and dancing around your house in your skivvies
And if you're troubled by the growing collection of boxes you're amassing in your living room, you might be interested in a DVD player or other component that has built-in wireless support. One option is Buffalo Technologies' $349 LinkTheater Wireless Network Media Player, which combines a progressive-scan DVD player with the ability to stream high-definition content to your HDTV. In addition, D-Link offers a version of the DSM-320 containing a DVD player for $269. Other manufacturers, including KISS Technology, GoVideo, and Lite-On, sell similar combination devices.
Extend Your Media CenterIf you own a Windows Media Center PC, you probably know about its digital video recorder feature and the ability to pause, save, and play back TV programs. Unfortunately, most digital media receivers aren't designed to stream TV from your Media Center.
Media Center Extenders work like other digital media receivers in that they connect to your television or stereo and stream content from a remote computer; however, they can also stream most types of Media Center content, including TV programming (live or recorded) and other Windows Media-formatted files. Extenders also allow you to operate the same remote control and interface as a Media Center PC. That's great, since most of us don't need another gadget to lose in the sofa, nor do we want to learn how to use new software just to watch
HP and Linksys, among others, make Media Center Extenders. If you have an Xbox, you can use the $80 Media Center Extender for Xbox. I tested the HP Media Center Extender X5400 with an HP Media Center PC, and setup was a snap. I connected the receiver to my TV using composite video, and then the setup wizard asked several basic questions, including the wireless network's SSID. To complete the process, I simply installed software on the Media Center PC for managing the Extender.
The X5400 did a fine job of streaming various files to the TV and stereo system in my bedroom, playing music files and Monty Python reruns smoothly off the Media Center PC in my living room.
Bear in mind that Extenders won't stream content from the PC's DVD or CD drives, nor will they play copy-protected programs you record--certain premium-channel movies, for example. Plus, Extenders don't allow you to access the Internet or your Windows desktop on your TV. Nevertheless, if you own a Media Center PC, Extenders are the way to go.
Get AmbitiousWith no fewer than four computers in my home, and a 200GB portable drive floating among them, I've been fighting a losing battle to keep track of my digital content.
Enter networked media servers. These devices marry the storage and software features of a computer with the connectivity of a digital media receiver. Such servers either include or enable you to attach a hard drive, creating a single point for storing and managing media files. They work with PCs or on their own--an attractive proposition for people who don't want to keep a PC running all the time.
ViewSonic's Wireless Media Network has two components. The WMG120 wireless gateway has a built-in 120GB hard drive that acts as a single repository for media files. The unit also includes an 802.11g wireless access point, four ethernet ports, a USB print server, and two USB 2.0 ports for adding storage. Meanwhile, the WMA100 wireless adapter connects to your audio/video components and delivers the streaming content stored on the wireless gateway.
Unfortunately, the product impresses more in theory than it does in practice. One weakness is the scant, sometimes mystifying help files and documentation for setting up the WMG120, which is designed to replace your existing gateway. Even though I found setup no more difficult than usual for this type of hardware, I pretty much had to fly solo. No setup wizard appears to guide you, and I didn't find the quick-start guide all that helpful. If you lack networking experience, you may want to think twice about buying.
After I set up my gateway, things got easier. I connected the WMA100 to my stereo system and TV using its analog-audio and composite-video ports. Since I configured the gateway as a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server, the WMA100 adapter found the server right away.
Once you get the two devices talking, the adapter can pull content off the WMG120 or from a PC that's running ViewSonic's server software. The device supports the SMB networking standard, so it appears as a networked drive volume on most desktop operating systems. Sure enough, my Windows machines were able to find the WMG120 and mount it as a shared drive; I then copied my files from my computers to the server's audio, video, and image folders (the software can't automatically sync your content).
I started streaming a few ancient digitized home movies that turned out to be suitably surreal for the late hour at which I was working. The ViewSonic hardware served everything up without so much as a hiccup. I do wish, however, that for the total $798 price tag the ViewSonic software offered several additional features in the vein of Pinnacle's ShowCenter--for instance, the ability to convert unsupported file formats. Also, though the ViewSonic system will stream Internet radio, it has no partnerships with content sites like Live365.
By the time I finished all of my testing, I was sprawled on the floor: All the time I'd spent on my sofa had made me sore in strange places. So what did my foray into streaming digital media reveal? At this point, the ViewSonic doesn't provide enough media management features, hard-drive space, and user guidance to justify the cost. Go with a digital media receiver instead--of the ones I tested, I was most impressed by Pinnacle's ShowCenter. And of course, if you have a Media Center PC, an Extender is clearly the best choice.
Matthew McKenzie
