Storex MyTV Box

The MyTV Box is Storex's new multimedia gangway. On paper it's mouthwatering: HD video playback via the network or USB, SDHC card reader and internet services. On sale for well under £100, is the little Storex black box worth its salt?

Design and build: nothing new to report, same as the competition

Compact, the box is also elegant and well-finished with a black, brushed aluminium casing. No screen here however, unlike on the StoryBox Ultimate. There's still a fan, however, to extract the heat given off by the decoding chip. It makes a sort of crackling noise. A bit strange to listen to.

The remote is only just ok. The plastic is fine, but no more. The buttons are well placed and it sits well in your hand. Of course, at this price, you don't get a backlit remote.


The menus are the same as ever. Storex haven't developed them themselves and make do with the kit they get from Realtek, the decoding chip manufacturer. Nothing original here then, the same drawbacks as with almost all entry level media centres.

You can't display music album covers, visualize photos in mosaic form or create a video jukebox. Worse, it doesn't read the tags on MP3 tracks. The strict minimum then. Certain users will get used to it and it is responsive and easy to get a handle on.

Compatibility: not bad, with DTS support

This machine can decode almost all current HD (and SD) video. We liked the fact that you can use it to decode audio DTS tracks and Dolby Digital (PCM mode). This means you can send stereo sound to the TV loud speakers or a 5.1 signal to an external speaker set. Bitstream is also supported for those who want to use their external amp.


With high bandwidth video, however, maximum speed is 38 Mbps via the USB and this falls to 28 Mbps for the cabled network. Anything over that and the image is jumpy and it becomes impossible to view films properly. There shouldn't be too many problems with the USB link, but when you're using the network cable, you'll have to make do with 720p or SD films.

DVD and Blu-ray backups are however well-supported. Only RIPs are recognised for Blu-rays (forget the menus however), as ISO files are only compatible wth DVDs.

Connectivity: SDHC reader, USB socket and network

The video and audio outs should cover all needs. HDMI, composite, optical and coaxial connections are all there. There are two USB hosts on the right hand side of the box and these provide the link up with USB keys and external hard drives. Remember, the MyTV Box is a multimedia gangway and there's no internal hard drive option. There's also an SDHC card reader.

Network support is via an ethernet 100 Mbps connection. Wi-fi is optional, via the connection of a wi-fi USB key. You can therefore access shared folders on networked computers or access USB peripherals linked to the media centre from your computer. Unfortunately, this last solution isn't very stable and you can expect constant crashes.