Xerxys

It might look like an external hard drive ...

1. This box should have the ability to be connected to the computer by any means neccessary, preferably by high speed USB port.

2. This box should also be able to be connected to the Television set once again by any means neccessary, preferrably by HDMI.

3. Now, The box should also be able to store variable amounts of data. Any form of data. But preferably used for storage of massive amounts of data such as those required for media files. i.e. .wma, .wmv . mp3 .mp4 .mpeg .avi e.t.c, e.t.c, e.t.c

i) It should not only be capable of storing these media files but also be able to play (run) them.

The use iof this box, (by me and Xerxys only) wil be for playing downloaded media off the internet and playing them across the apartment from the computer to the TV's in both rooms.

I know Mac produced a similar gadget and I was really looking at the PS3 which may have similar functions but what do the rest of the TFPers think about this? And any suggestions mentioned or not is cool ...

Wrexify

Not sure about any gadgets built to do only this, but I use my Xbox 360 to do what you're talking about. It can share media with my PC over our home network or you can just plug a USB drive into the front.

If you don't want to do the streaming media thing, you can always transfer it right onto the Xbox hard drive.

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Jetée

I'm being facetious here, but I like this tiny box, and it meets most if not all of your requirements above (except it's storage is comparable to a USB stick rather than a true harddrive):

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Baraka_Guru

Xerxys, you are referring to Apple's Apple TV, which allows you to use iTunes to play stuff through your TV. I think you need iTunes running on a computer for it to work.

This is similar: WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 )

You need a My Passport HD. I think it connects to your TV and beams things from the HD. I don't know about multiple TVs though.

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vanblah

Just build a couple of cheap computers that connect to your TVs via HDMI. Set up a third computer with lots of hard-drive space (maybe even RAID or a NAS) and store all your media there; set up a shared folder on this computer. Make sure all three (or more) computers are on the same network (workgroup or domain if you have Windows Server).

That's what I do at home.

Xerxys

Thanks y'all, The apple TV, HDMP and Xbox/PS3 sound mighty attractive but vanblah almost has it spot on. Unfortunately I need the computers speed to be realtime in order to do a simple task like play a movie.

Also, The PS3/Xbox had the little perk of being remote operated. I know some TV cards that actually come with a remote sensor. If sucha box actually existed, it would mean that the TV itself could access it through some AV channel. Which means that I could use the TV's remote control to access the box's contents.

I'm thinking of contacting SONY and asking them how much it would cost to actually do this!!

vanblah

I play HD movies from remote hard drives all the time on my TV. I have a wireless pointer (instead of a traditional mouse) and keyboard on the computer that is hooked up to the main TV. But I can't access it with the TV remote ... which would be nice.

Xerxys

Got it.

Just wanted to bump this for everyone who thought that this might've been a good idea.

flat5

RogueGypsy

So what is it? Sony HTPC?

We need the specs man!

Capacity, interface, expandability, cost..........

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