Luckily, QNAP has launched the new QNAP NMP-1000P Network Media Player, which can support pretty much every kind of video and audio format you’ll ever come across, and decode it using a super-quick 667MHz audio/video decoder from Sigma Solutions.

That’s not the half of it, though. in order to do such trickery, the NMP-1000P needs to get its media from somewhere, and thanks to the magic of Ethernet and Wi-Fi, it can suck it up either from your PC or the Internet.

So what does the QNAP NMP-1000P Network Media Player actually do?

In layman’s terms, this means the NMP-1000P will playback any video and any tune you can throw it, and either send it to your HDTV, your home theatre system, or your hi-fi (depending on whether it’s a video or audio file, obviously!)

Any of your videos or tunes can either be streamed through the NMP-1000P from your PC, or simply stored on its internal hard drive for later use, in which case you won’t need to switch your PC on to play the file.

But what if you don’t have much media on your PC? No problem, the NMP-1000P will also stream content directly from the following Web apps:

• Mediafly
• Apple Movie Trailers
• CNN
• SHOUTcast
• Internet radio service
• Flickr
• Picasa

It’s even got a built-in FTP client and BitTorrent client, so you can download media from other computers connected to the Internet, and all without turning your own PC on.

What can you connect it to?

Round the back, it’s like a swiss-cheese of connection sockets! The NMP-1000P comes with the following ports:

• USB
• eSATA (for external hard drives)
• HDMI v1.3a (for connecting to your HDTV and streaming 1080p movies)
• Audio out
• Component Video
• Composite Video
• Analog stereo out (for connecting to your hi-fi)
• SP/DIF (for digital connection to your hi-fi via optical cable)

Add to that the built-in Wi-Fi receiver, plus the Ethernet port, and you can see that the NMP-1000P really will connect to anything – and is just about the geekiest gadget you’re ever likely to buy for your home media setup.

It gets better, though. If you think that’s geeky, just wait until you see what video formats it supports!

What media types can it play?

Video files are complicated beasts, and if you have a video that’s encoded in a format that your hardware doesn’t support, you won’t be able to watch it. Worse, the video itself will be encoded using a certain format (such as MPEG), and will then be contained in a container (such as AVI), which contains other files such as titles, playlists, subtitles, and other meta-data. Again, if your media player doesn’t support the container, it won’t be able to play the video.

With the NMP-1000P, though, it’s not a problem. Here’s the list of video formats it supports:

• MPEG1
• MPEG2
• MPEG4
• XVID
• H.264
• H.263
• WMV9
• VC1

And here’s the list of containers:

• AVI
• MPEG/MPG
• VCD (ISO, MPG, NRG)
• DVD (VOB, IFO, ISO, NRG)
• WMV
• ASF
• TP
• TS
• TRP
• M1V
• M2V
• M4V
• M2P
• M2T
• M2TS
• BDMV/BD ISO
• MTS
• MOV
• MP4
• RMP4
• MKV
• MOD
• 3GP

Phew! That’s pretty much every video format and container you can think of! And that doesn’t even include the list of audio and picture formats supported!

Like I say, the QNAP NMP-1000P really is a geeky but of kit, but if you need a media player that will connect to anything, decode anything, and stream anything using wires or wireless, you really should give this little box serious consideration.

[Source: SlashGear]

You can stream your tunes from your PC, your mobile phone (naturally!), an MP3 player (via USB) or even directly from the Web. In short, anything with a USB connector or that supports UPnP can connect with the Nokia Home Music System.

As far as connectivity goes, Nokia’s little box supports both Ethernet and Wi-Fi for Internet and PC streaming. It also comes with an FM receiver, and will connect to dozens of Internet Radio stations.

It has a great looking display, which will display the contents of the connected device, and you can control your playlist directly from the Home Music’s LCD screen via a remote control, rather than from the connected device.

There’s even an SP/DIF optical connector (for digital connections) and RCA line-out (for analogue connections) to hook up to literally any Hi-Fi ever made, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and, as if all that wasn’t enough, a 10W built-in speaker, just in case you haven’t got your Hi-Fi switched on yet and you really need to hear that new tune from Timmy Mallet!!!

Frankly, I’m in disbelief. This has to be the media streamer that has everything – looks, all the connectivity you could ever need, and exactly the right level of features to make it a must have. I’ve been after a media streamer now for some time, and I think I’ve just found it! Shame it’s not going to be available in time for Christmas, but I’m sure I can persuade the Easter Bunny to give me a Nokia Home Music system next year, rather than the half a hundredweight of chocolate he normally leaves!

I’ve been excited by Nokia’s new N97 phone that was also announced today, but this is just the icing on the cake!

[Source: Nokia]

Sony must also love the Giga-Juke, as they’ve just released three new models, one of which might just be the world’s most garish Hi-Fi, as it’s all decked out in violent pink! Fortunately, there are other colours available as well, as you’ll see after the jump.

The new Giga-Jukes are offer more on board storage, with up to 250GB on offer, and also offer CD and MD decks (remember those?!) for playing music conventionally. However, they’re a bit weedy when it comes to power output, only offering 26Watts per channel, and there’s no news on whether it has Wi-Fi or not, which in my view, was the original Giga-Juke’s killer app. It does offer network streaming over Ethernet, though.

The new Sony Giga-Juke (NAS-D55HD) release date is October 20th (currently in Japan only, but that might change), priced $1055. This seems pricey, given that the original Giga-Juke (the NAS-50HDE) is the same price, but offers Wi-Fi and a whole load more.

[Source: Gizmodiva]

Better still, it also comes with DLNA-support and Ethernet, enabling you to share your videos with any DLNA-equipped device that’s also connected to your Ethernet network. Add 24fps playback speeds and HDMI 1.3 with enhanced colour, and you have one seriously feature-rich DVD player. Looks cool, too!

The Pioneer BDP-95FD release date is October 2007, priced around $1000.

[Source: Electronista]