Finally, something I can recommend: the Dlink DSM-510. Here's my story. Hoefully this will help other that plan to travel down this same path.
http://www.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2006/12/DSM-510.jpg

My wife bought me DSM-510 from Fry's around Thanksgiving for this Christmas. They had it on sale for $99, but the three that were left on the shelf were previously returned. I had an uneasy feeling about returned items and with Christmas so far away, I didn't want any problem after Christmas if I had to return it. So I opened it, to make sure it works. I did lots of research before hand to ensure that I knew what I was doing. I was going to ensure that the firmware on the unit was upgraded to v1.07. Problem was this unit was fubarred. It turned on with the Dlink screen and then went black. No video no nothing. The only way to get the unit to work again was to unplug it and wait acouple of minutes before plugging it back in. Regardless of what I tried. The Dlink screen would come one and something I could get alittle further into the next screen and then the video would go out. Back, to Fry's it went for a full return. I found out that this particular unit was purchased and returned twice. I told them not to try to resell this brick.

I went to another Fry's and found a new DSM-510 that have never been purchased. I got it home and unpacked it and plugged it in to the TV. It came on and went searching for the wireless network. I put in the wpa passcode was immediately connected. I had previously download TVerisity on my pc. Started the server and shared my media drives. I even went into the
Windows firewall and made an exception for Tversity. Everything seemed to work on the network PCs but the DSM still could not see the TVersity server. It turns out that the you also have to go into your router and open up the port 41952. After I did this the DSM-510 saw the server and all my share folders and files. I had set TVersity profile to DSM-510 and while i could see the share divx/avi files they were grayed out and inaccessible. After searching on the TVersity forums and here on avsforum, I got the answer from a thread by tonedeafdan. You have to change the profile.xml file in the TVersity software application.

Open profiles.xml with Notepad or Wordpad and search for DSM-510, and then find the line:

<mimetype value="video/MP4V-ES"><!-- MPEG4 video format-->

Now delete that line, down through the line:

<mimetype value="video/msvideo" rename="video/x-msvideo"/>

And replace with the following lines (between the cut lines):

-------------- cut line -----------------------------------------------

<mimetype value="video/avi">
<codec name="MPEG4"/>
<codec name="MP2" maxBitrate="320000"/>
<codec name="MP3" maxBitrate="320000"/>
<codec name="PCM_S16LE"/>
<codec name="PCM_S16BE"/>
<codec name="AC3"/>
<codec name="DTS"/>
<codec name="MP3" maxBitrate="320000"/>
</mimetype>

<mimetype value="video/mp4v" rename="video/avi"/>
<mimetype value="video/mp4" rename="video/avi"/>
<mimetype value="video/x-msvideo" rename="video/avi"/>
<mimetype value="video/msvideo" rename="video/avi"/>
<mimetype value="MP4V-ES" rename="video/avi"/>

---------------- cut line ---------------------------------------------

Then don't forget to save the file and restart sharing!

After I edited the profile.xml. All was good. All my divx/xvid/avi files came up in black on the DSM-510. Everyone of my movies plaved wirelessly without any problems, no glitches, no skipping, or locking up. I even took the DSM-510 to rooms on far end of the house and hooked it up to TVs in the other rooms with serveral walls in between on different floor and still was able to run The 510 and play a movie completely with no stuttering or locking. Likewise the I was able to play the photos, and music files without problems. Actually, I was so happy with the way this unit finally functions that we went back to Fry's tonight and purchased another DSM-510. Now I will have one in the theater room and another in any other room I choose. Fry's sale is still on through tomorrow night Tuesday. Its been $99 for two weeks. The regular price on these units is normally $199.

Summary: This unit is great for the money. Athough it is not recommended for the uninitiated. It is by no means just plug and play. Dlink has done a horrible job with there supplied server software and their firmware is never up to date. If you update the firmware to the latest v1.07 and use TVersity as the server with alittle modification then all will work well. Once you take the time to modify the setup for the way you want it will work flawlessly everytime. It does have an HDMI connection and you can also connect via RCA cables. :D:D:D

Hi

Do you have hdmi issue that I face with this device. I too bought this from fry's.
It doesn't stay in hdmi output. Everytime I shutdown the device, it goes back to composite output. Very unnoying. I tried with 1080i, 720p nothing helps. It always goes back to composite output.

I cannot play .vob files either.

Are you shutting down the device by power off only or are you disconnecting the power and and recycling (ie: resetting the unit). Regardless it shouldn't matter. Make sure you have the latest firmware. I am not having the problem you are describing. Once you change the option in the setup to HDMI it should stay. I know new right out of the box, the units are set to composite. Also, check to make sure your unit was previously purchased and returned by someone else after they screwed it up.

I don't have any experience with vob files. I generally play the DVD through the dvd player

My Sony TV has only one HDMI input and its in use... So i have to ask...

Does this device look "ok" via Composite? Will it display "wide screen" on a 16x9 tv that way? I'm not as interested in streaming HD type content... Or will I want to run out an also get an HDMI "switcher"?

From your post above, you suggest using TVersity on the "host pc" rather than the software supplied on the CD included by DLink?

Is it safe to assume that the editing of the profiles.xml is done when using the TVersity software, rather than the DLink supplied?

I've hooked it up to two different TVs and it look ok via composite on and HD tv. Just remember your connecting via RCA connections and the media content may not be HD streaming. But yes, it looks ok. There are setting to tell the unit the tv is 16:9. Do not even install the Dlink server software by Nero. I used TVersity on the host pc. The profiles.xml is in the computer under the TVersity program folder.

Well, I got it last night.. it was on sale, and I had a $24 gift card for CC not getting an "order online, pickuip in store" ready in under 24 min :)

I first set it up on my Sony 42" LCD Rear Projection via composite, upgraded the firmware from v1.0 (out of the box) to 1.07. And I took the DSM-510 back to the bedroom's 27" Sony TUBE too...

Anyway.. after discovering OPERATOR ERROR :(

On my Sony 27" tube, the videos I have look just as good as regular TV.... The photos look as good as on my PC screen.

Out on the 42" LCD RP TV... looks just like watching a 4x3LB movie using the TV's Zoom feature, or maybe a little better...

I also setup Nero 7 Ultra Edition (including the latest upgrade patch 7.10.1.2) on that PC since it includes MediaHome... Looks good too, it works, but slower to show pictures, and start playing videos... It also gives some "unsupported" messages when trying to play a few videos...

Have you guys tried a mkv file on this thing?
Does dlink release updates when new formats are out, or when divx gets updated?

I haven't been able to create an avi file that actually plays on the dsm-510. Has anyone else had success? If so, what software did you use to create the avi?

I haven't been able to create an avi file that actually plays on the dsm-510. Has anyone else had success? If so, what software did you use to create the avi?


I've been using handbrake. With codecs set to MPEG-4 Video/AC-3 Audio. FFmpeg encoder. DSM-510 plays these avi files without any transcoding on the server side. Generally, it seems if vlc can play the avi, then the DSM-510 will be able to as well.

I bought a DSM-510 around the first of the year and have been using it for a few months now.

Setup is as follows :
Toshiba "Regza" LCD with HDMI input
Old 3Ghz P4 Server (2GB DRAM) running TVersity 09.11.4
Silicondust HDHomeRun Dual HDTV Tuner
"Wired" 10/100 Ethernet interface ( 1080i on wi-fi won't cut it...)
I use a separate switch between the computer, HDHomeRun, and DSM-510,
which keeps most of the streaming video traffic off of my home LAN.

If you're considering the DSM-510 - the first thing you should do is
upgrade the Firmware to Revision 1.7 - it is pretty broken until you do that.

After installing TVersity, make sure to upgrade the "profiles.xml" as mentioned
previously in this thread. The default one is not optimum for the DSM-510.

If I find a video file format that doesn't work, I just use "MediaCoder" to
transcode to MPEG or H.264, or DIVX, those all work fine.

A 3Ghz P4 is pretty minimum requirement for transcoding any HD content,
and you'll get better performance with a newer dual-core, but heck -
this works and I had it laying around.

I really didn't like the sound of the computer when watching Videos,
even quiet fans were too noisy for me. The DSM-510 is perfectly quiet,
and I keep my servers down in the basement, where they can
make all the noise they want...

I would have preferred a hardware transcoding solution, but the DSM-510
was a very low cost (under $100 with rebates) solution, and using
TVersity - is even Wife and Kid Friendly to operate.

Also, if you are entering YouTube URL's into TVersity make sure they look like:
(i.e. http://www.youtube.com/v/"video_id_number" )
Then you'll be able to just click and play on your big screen....

Have you guys tried a mkv file on this thing?
Does dlink release updates when new formats are out, or when divx gets updated?
No, I've not figured out how to make MKV's play natively yet.
I think some profile editing and it might work , but I just use mediacoder to
dump the MPEG out of the MKV container file. Then they play fine...

I haven't been able to create an avi file that actually plays on the dsm-510. Has anyone else had success? If so, what software did you use to create the avi?
Mediacoder produces AVI files that play fine on the DSM-510,
I'm playing 1080i resolution from an old P4 machine with no problems.

Mediacoder is like a swiss army knife on steroids though -
it's easy to select a bogus combination of settings that produce an unplayable AVI.
Try using "default" on most drop down menu's, and only stereo to start.
Use a small file to start with (quick turnaround) and play with the settings
until you get it the way you like.
After that , it will batch convert whole filesets for you using those settings...