I am about to complete my new media server with 8 Terabytes (yes, 8,000 Gigs! :) ) of online storage, which is connected to all rooms via a gigabit network.

I would like to buy mediaboxes for playback in the various rooms, but would like something based on Broadcom's 7440 chipset, as I feel that this will give me the best compatibility with all video formats, including my online backups of HD disc formats.

Does anyone know of any boxes that will do this?

I have an PMS HD Media Box, but am not satisfied with it's compatibility nor stability, but want something like this package but based on the 7440.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Alternatively, any Media Boxes based on other VC1/AVC comliant chips would be good news too.

A few that may work are as follows, though I suspect the 7440 may have a more complete feature set - something I only spculate on:

Genesis FLI8638 (can't do dual stream PiP - used in Samsung BDP 1000)
Conexant CX2418X
Broadcom BCM7411
Broadcom BCM97438
Sigma SMP8634, or SMP8635
STMicroelectronics STB7100, or STB7109

Can anyone throw me a bone here? :)


P.S. Does anyone know if the Netgem Netbox 7600 HD can be used as a network player for this?

Read the hexus review of the Evesham Iplayer for more info on that french streamer, basically it's a pile of poo.

No probs there :)

Any others I could consider?

Would love to have something in each room that could play just about anything over the network...

The pioneer elite blu-ray player can stream video over the network, and it uses the sigma chip. But i'm guessing that's not an option for you rdjam.