How much actual utility Seagate’s filter system can offer is going to depend on how organize your media on the attached storage. Seagate opted to base its interface on a tree hierarchy, just like you’re used to seeing in Windows Explorer or My Computer. In general, we prefer this method; it’s well-suited to those who always put media where it’s “supposed” to go. But the Theater’s filters don’t work on folders. So if you put all of your movies, albums, and photo events into their own individual folders, you’re still going to end up with potentially hundreds of folders on your USB drive, all of which will be visible regardless of what filter you select. Since navigation is done entirely through the four arrow and center Select buttons on the remote (or top of the Theater device) and there is no way to search folders by file name, that’s potentially a lot of time spent navigating every time you want to find a given piece of media. This can also be frustrating for music playback since the Theater doesn’t allow you to assemble playlists on the fly.
What's the alternative? An interface that simply scans the attached storage and throws all photos, for example, into a common photo area, which you can then browse. But if you’re dealing with hundreds of photos, that’s perhaps even worse.