Storey's Mpix 385HD sports a fairly classic 'shoebox' design, unlike, for example, some Icy models which are upright.

This little black box doesn't feature a screen, offering just a few navigation buttons, making it unsuitable for playing music without first turning on the TV.

Fortunately, though, it comes with a full-size remote which feels comfortable in the hand, but its backlit buttons are so small that they tend to get stuck, which quickly becomes annoying.

No HD Compatibility

With an ESS ES6430FAA chip inside, we weren't expecting any miracles, even if Storex have plastered their packaging with labels proudly claiming its High

Definition performance, and even adding those golden letters HD to the end of the model number of this product.

That's all well and good, but the Mpix 385 only actually supports Standard Definition video ... and even then it hardly offers a huge range of formats, making do with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (DivX 6, XviD) and MP4.

A broader selection of audio files are handled, including old favorites MP3 and WMA as well as AAC, OGG and Dolby Digital.

The one image format, JPEG, will usually be enough for most digital photographs.

Subtitle files for foreign movies are poorly handled, with just SRT, SUB, SSA and SMI available.


Extras: HDMI and a memory card reader

The outputs on offer are fairly paltry, but all the basics are there.

There's just RCA, with a SCART adapter included, and a single HDMI port, which you'll need to enjoy your photos upscaled to High Definition (see gray box).

If all of this is a little disappointing, then the Mpix 385 does have another trick up its sleeve: a built-in memory card-reader for accessing photos straight off your digital camera.

Two separate slots are available, one for Compact Flash and one for SD, covering the two most common memory card formats available today.

A USB port also allows a second external hard drive to be daisy chained onto the first, or to look at photos stored on a friend's thumb drive.

Handily, this USB port is situated on the front of the case, rather than at the back, meaning you can quickly change from one USB device to another.

All of the cables you'll need to use the outputs on offer are included (RCA, RCA to SCART adaptor, HDMI and USB).