Pinnacle's ShowCenter 200 bridges the audio-visual gap between PCs and TVs.It plugs into your home network (or directly to a PC using the supplied 'crossover cable').

Flexibility; HD support

Some HD jitter; No DVI/HDMI output

To enjoy the 200's pi¨ce de résistance - high-definition video streaming - wired Ethernet is a must.Formats supported by the 200 are 720p/1080i WMV,720p MPEG4 (eg DiVX/XViD) and 720p/1080i MPEG2.HDTV playback is restricted to the component outp...

Hi-Grade's Digital Media Station (DMS) may not have the sleek finish of some of its rivals, but the machine is a good match for conventional home entertainment kit - looking much like a high-end DVD player. It's quiet too. After an initial whir on start-u...

Quiet

Analogue tuner

The DMS II is a high-spec machine, with a very speedy 3.4GHz Pentium 4 processor and 512MB of DDR RAM. It also has a large hard drive - 250GB. Ideally, you'd want to plump for the upgraded version with the digital tuner card. For this price, its analogue...

Middleware boxes designed to wirelessly stream media content from a PC to a TV are fast becoming essential digital home accessories. A gaggle of IT companies, including Linksys, Creative and Adaptec, have already shipped 802.11b and 802.11g boxes that can...

A versatile wireless streamer, Integrated LCD panel

No WMA or AAC support, Sluggish, Often fiddly to operate

The Streamium certainly works and we like its flexibility, although only limited music streaming is supported on a Mac. But consider this: is streaming really the best way to access your digital content? The SL400i, for example, can only operate when the...

Easy to set up and use, a practically wirefree operation,

It won't play your PC-based MP3s, SACDs or DVDAudio

No doubt about it, the MusicCAST is the shape of future hi-fis to come. Yamaha's execution is brilliant and its rivals will have a tough time trying to beat it

If you like the idea of a Media Center but want to dabble without incurring great expense, Pinnacle has an answer, but can it deliver?

Easy to set-up and use; low price; TimeShift TV delay

Limited functionality; no expansion; analogue only