wireless media players, r u xperienced?

[mrgreenjeans]

Does anyone have hands on knowledge of the wireless media players? I've been researching and the best recommended I've located to date is the Pinnacle (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16882143001) model. I'm ready to go digital and get all those jewel cases off the entertainment rack. Thanks for any tips. :)

[Flewdefur]

My friend got the netgear version of the wifi media player (music only). Was very easy to setup, had both wired and wireless connections. Sound quality is about as good as you can get from an MP3 so it really only matters how good of a stereo you hook it up to.

Now i dont know if it really was the software or just his computer, traditionally my friends have problems with computer stuff but it always works flawlessly on my computer since i know what i'm doing, but the only downside to the player seemed to be the software. We did not like the server application. It would crash when importing large ammounts of files, and sometimes wouldnt load properly when his computer started. But like i said, it might have been an issue isolated to his computer.

G'luck with your shopping, i think these products are definitely worth looking into.

[Fightingpiper]

Why not do what I did and make yourself a media box with old spare parts. I put it in a nice wood case I got from a craft store with an old 32Mb ati all in wonder video card. I stream movies and music from my server to the media box in the family room which is hooked to the TV and stereo. Works great. You could go Mini Atx or Micro Atx and make a nice case.....

Just a thought on an alternative, although that pinnacle does look nice....

[Flewdefur]

media computers are great, but if all you want to do is stream some tunes or a video file or two, the media units are really a great solution. For the most part you can find them pretty cheap, my friend's netgear one cost 20bucks on sale at Frys. Besides the short term cost savings over building a seperate computer, the long term power usage of one of these small devices is much less than any computer. Additionally, there is less noise as there are no moving parts, almost zero bootup time, and the remote control is included.

It really depends on what you want to do, if you want something more like a tivo then media computer is a better option, but for a few streams these things can be just the ticket.