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Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Multimedia Hard Drives
Régis Jehl
Updated: November 13, 2009
Updated: November 13, 2009
Product Surveys, Tests and Guides
If you can't find the right multimedia hard drive or box for you here, go ahead and check the full range of tests in our multimedia box survey.
Autumn 2009 has seen the appearance of a lot of new multimedia hard drives and enclosures. Realtek chips equip the majority of these products and they all share faultless SD and HD video decoding.
That means differences between the products lie elsewhere. First of all, there's support for DTS and Dolby Digital sound: internal decoding of these formats is rare, as is support for HD formats of these audio tracks. The fiercest competition however is between the navigation interfaces on offer and advanced features.
A good interface is one that you can customise and that has plenty of functionality. For example, we like being able to view the photos in a folder via thumbnails or choose music by artist or album. Display of album covers is also a real bonus for music lovers.
Lastly, we hope to see more models that have the video jukebox feature. We expect them to include the option of creating a custom file for each film and series with full synopsis and cover. Right now, only the NMTs (PopcornHour at the head) have this feature.
That just leaves digital TV recorders and other devices that come with a HD TV tuner. The biggest change has been the arrival of models that can handle HD video. Until the middle of this year, most digital recorders really weren't very good at decoding. Since the summer, though, we've seen some more impressive options, compatible with HD TV signals. Now what we're waiting for is some enclosures with HD inputs.
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Best value |  |
We love it |  |
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Best of the best |
Our favourite
Rich functionality and doubles up as a Blu-ray/DVD player…
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PopcornHour C-200
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Top of the class, this model offers maximum functionality. It handles all video formats, including large HD files. If you add a computer Blu-ray drive, it also doubles as your living room optical disc player. It has a large control screen, an RF remote (IR optional) and can give a true film library interface, complete with cards on each film or series including full synopsis and cover. It really is the best multimedia player available this Christmas!
| Best value: Western Digital WD TV HD |
Budget network features: Xtreamer |
Double HD tuner: Wyplay Wyplayer |
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| A low-priced model that won’t disappoint: it will decode anything, large compressed HD files included. Link up your USB or external hard drive and you’re away! |
The Xtreamer can house a hard drive and has a network socket. Excellent decoding round things off very nicely indeed. |
The real strength here is the double HD tuner that allows you to watch and record TV channels. We also like the 802.11n WiFi, networking capabilities and HD video support. |
| Intelligent but not too pricey: HMB Movie Palace |
Recorder + HD TV: O2media HMR-600W |
Rich functionality: PopcornHour A-110 |
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| With high performance decoding, this model can also house a 3.5" hard drive. It is relatively modestly priced. |
Another very good digital recorder. Its HD tuner allows you to watch and record TV channels and its video sockets also make it a digital recorder. |
An excellent model that can play all formats and has excellent referencing. We particularly like the film library feature with cards for each film/series including synopsis and cover. |
Multimedia hard drives at a glance:
| Decoding | Connectivity Hardware |
Recording | Features | Energy Consumption | |
| PopcornHour C-200 |
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| Western Digital WD TV HD |
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| Xtreamer | |
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| Wyplayer Wyplayer |
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| PopcornHour A-110 |
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| O2media HMR-600W |
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| HMB Movie Palace |
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| Our Icons | |
Best value | |
We love it | |
Green | |
Best of the best |
