8. NetGear Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000

The NetGear EVA8000 is a standalone device designed to stream audio and video content from a PC to a TV set. The HD in the product name is no misnomer: the unit can handle HD video as well as conventional video formats, plus Internet radio, digital music and photos. It searches out, finds, and catalogs all the digital media on a home network and constructs an accessible media library around your collection. It even includes a built-in HDMI interface that supports output video resolutions of up to 1080p.

This NetGear media box could easily pass for one of the company’s Internet appliances or routers, but that’s not what it does.

As you’d expect in a NetGear product, the EVA8000 comes ready to network. It includes a 10/100 Ethernet interface with RJ-45 port, and supports 802.11 b/g with a dual 2 dBi antenna for enhanced wireless reception. It supports WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK encryption, and also conforms to the Digital Living Network Alliance and Universal PnP AV specifications, which means it’s a reasonably capable media server in its own right. Digital media files supported include MP3 up to 320 kbps CBR or VBR, WMA8 and WMA9 up to 192 kbps or VBR, WMV up to 1080p, and Internet radio via streaming MP3 or WMA. Video formats include MPEG 1/2/4, AVI, WMV and Xvid. Audio formats include MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC and FLAC. Photo formats include JPEG, BMP, PNG and TIFF. Playlist formats include WPL, ASX, WAX, WVX, PLS, M3U and RMP.

The unit measures 2" x 17" x 10" (5.1 cm x 43.2cm x 2.5 cm) and weighs 4.4 lbs (2.0 kg). Its outputs include HDMI, composite video (RCAx1), component video (RCAx3), coax (RCA) and optical (TOSLINK) digital audio, and stereo analog audio (RCAx2). It also includes two USB 2.0 ports and an S-Video port (plus a SCART connection in those parts of the world where it’s required). The unit is packaged with a remote control and an Ethernet cable, plus RCA stereo audio and composite video cables.

It takes a bit of time and effort to get all the media shares on your network recognized - particularly if they run on Linux, though Mac and Windows stuff seems to do very nicely - and the unit can even act as a DVR if one or more of your PCs is equipped with a TV capture card. With a $400 price tag, this spiffy box might be a bit pricey for some, but if any of your back-to-schoolers are real media-heads, this gift’s sure to be a big winner.

For more information on the NetGear EVA8000, please check out its product page.