Hi there everyone. I am hoping someone can recommend a good media streamer to buy for the following criteria described in the thread title. My desired scenario is as follows:

-I have a large collection of 1080i .mpg movie files that were recorded from cable onto a TivoHD, and then transferred to my PC. In the transfer process the files were changed from a .tivo file to a standard .mpg file, while keeping their 1080i resolution and 5.1 channel audio. No transcoding was done.

-The highrise condo I live in has a nicely set up home theater room with a widescreen 1080i projector and 5.1 audio setup with nice B&W speakers. There is a spare component video input and digital audio input on the room's A/V receiver, that I could use to connect a media streamer. This would give me the ability to watch HD movies from the big collection I have slowly amassed from the HD movie channels, in the nice theater room.

The box would need to play back movies from an attached hard drive , or from an internal hard drive, since it would be down in the theater and not connected to my network. And since the projector does not have a digital input, the box would need to be able to play the 1080i mpg files out of a component output, not HDMI.

Ordinarily the Western Digital TV would be perfect (small, plays back from a 2/5" portable drive), but it does not have component output. Their new cheaper box has component but does not do 1080i, and their new fancier box that does component and 1080i is not out yet.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any advice anyone has!

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any advice anyone has!

Any of the Popcorn Hour/Egreat 34a variety will fit the bill...maybe egreat because it seems more compact and with better design....

Are either the popcorn hour or Egret boxes available to buy in a common big-box type retail store?

One other goal I forgot to mention was that I'd like to try and buy locally, so that if the box does not work as planned I can return for a refund without hassle. With mail order, you have to ship it back, usually end up paying for shipping both ways if you return it, etc.

One other thought I had (if I have to spend $200 anyway and there's nothing appropriate at the $100 mark) is to get an AppleTV since it is small and has an internal drive. I know there are a lot of hacks for it, is there any easy one people know of, that would let it play 1080i mpeg files, and output the dolby digital sound out of its optical output?

Thanks!