If you want to pump your television viewing experience up to the next level, you might be considering some sort of PVR, or set top box. It’s called a Movie Cube, but I’ve no idea why, because as you can see in the picture above, it’s clearly not a cube. Still, I can overlook that because the specs are surprisingly impressive.

It contains a 500GB hard drive, which will hold 600 or so feature-length movies. It’ll record TV, like a PVR, as well as convert your old videos and DVDs into digital formats – useful for people who don’t like maintaining a vast library of DVDs.

Best of all, it’s networkable, with Ethernet and Wi-Fi built it. That means you’ll be able to stream your content over the network from your Windows or Mac computer. You’ll be able to enjoy all those episodes of Heroes that you’ve downloaded off Bittorrent on your big-screen TV, rather than your little laptop screen.

In terms of formats, it’ll play back MPEG, DivX, XviD, MP3, WAV, and JPG. It’s got a lil’ screen on the front in case you’re streaming stuff to a stereo without your TV on. It’ll upscale video to 720p, has extensive subtitle support, even on DivX files, and has upgradable firmware. All-in-all, a tremendously useful little box.

I’m getting one in for a proper review, so keep an eye out for that. If you’re convinced just by the above, however, then it’ll be available to buy from Dixons in December. It’ll cost £230. Seems, on paper, to be a decent price for a decent device. I’m looking forward to playing with it in person.

Emtec

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