This is a multimedia hard drive that sits in a robust, brushed-aluminum case.  The front panel couldn't be any more stripped-back, with just a single on/off switch and four LEDs.

There's no screen, which means you need to switch on your TV even to access your music.  A full-size remote is supplied, identical to the one found on the HMB 130.  It's pretty chunky and not very refined.  At least the buttons are in a sensible position, meaning it's easy enough to use.

The interface is rather lacking in originality, and is fairly obviously the standard option that ships with the decoding chip with no refinement.  That means the onscreen menus look exactly the same as on the HMB 130 or the Emtec Movie Cube S800 to name just two other multimedia hard drives.

Moving through the menus is fast enough, although some functions are more responsive than others.  Videos and photos are previewed in a separate panel, and while that's better than a simple list of files, it's still nowhere near as useful as the kind of thumbnail-based interface found on the Western Digital WD TV.

Another frustration is that you need to wait for the preview of a video clip to load before you can view it in fullscreen, which then entails waiting another few seconds.


Compatibility

The decoding chip is the same Realtek model (the RTD1262PA) as found in the Movie Cube S800, but for some reason, the firmware used by ICY BOX is at least version behind Emtec's.  Even when we updated the firmware ourselves, though, we couldn't persuade the IB-MP3010HW to read either MKV or MP4 files.  In short, the multimedia compatibility is even worse than on the S800.

The formats that are supported include MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (DivX 6, XviD, ASP).  There's no WMV compatibility, and AVC and H.264 aren't supported either.  Given how popular this last format in particular is, we can't fail to be disappointed by a device that boasts about its HD compatibility.  Equally, the only container formats on offer are AVI and DIVX.

Next come music files: MP3, WMA and OGG are on board, but for photos, only JPEG and BMP are available.  Finally, a whole host of subtitle formats can be read, including SRT, SUB, SSA, SMI and IDX.

Connectivity

The video outputs on offer are very traditional, with composite and component video, SCART using the supplied adapter, and HDMI.  Things are less solid when it comes to audio, because there's only the composite outputs previously mentioned, with neither coaxial nor optical out.

An Ethernet port allows you to connect the IB-MP3010HW to your home network to stream content from another computer, or copy files on to it using the NAS protocol.

You can also connect to your network via a wireless connectivity, but you'll need to use a USB key to power this connection.  Fortunately, though, ICY BOX include one so this model essentially comes with WiFi built in.  It's a nice bonus because if you don't want to use it for the IB-MP3010HW, you're free to use it on any other device of your choosing.  

Composite and component cables also come in the box, along with aSCART adapter.