Can be used as a media extender from your laptop, or as a stand alone media player.
The HD Theater 300 was built to handle three key functions:
- Extender – With the SageTV HTPC software installed on any computer in your home you can use the HD300 to view Live TV, recorded TV, DVD Movies, Blu-ray movies (with AnyDVD installed), videos, music, photos and online content from any TV connected to your HD300. You can do nearly anything using the HD300 that you could do with a full-blown HTPC with less complication, no noise, little heat, and little power consumption.
- Media Player – The HD300 and the HD200 before it includes a media player/standalone mode. This allows you to stream your media from a PC, external hard drive or NAS to a TV. It doesn’t include the DVR/TV Time-shifting functionality. but it does nearly everything else. This functionality is similar to what you get with a PopCornHour, WDTV and other media players on the market.
- Placeshifter – Another use for the HD300 is as a placeshifter. If you’re away from home, take along the HD300 and connect it to a TV and the internet and you can stream media from your home HTPC. This is done by transcoding the content from the server based on the connection speed between the server and placeshifter, but it’s pretty nifty when you have a good connection. And the smaller size of the HD300 makes this a much more viable option
Only wanting $130. Absolute bargain. Player is less than a week old.
