Zensonic's Z500 Networked DVD Media Player
Most people don't know it, but you don't have to wait for Blu-ray or HD-DVD to get their asses in gear if you want to watch high-definition DVDs right now—there are actually a few DVD players out there that support Microsoft's new WMV HD format, which manages to compress high-definition video onto a regular red laser DVD. The picture quality obviously isn't going to be as completely amazing as what you'll probably end up getting with Blu-ray or HD-DVD, but you also won't want to have to wait a year. Anyway, the latest manufacturer to get behind WMV HD (aka WMV9) is Zensonic, which just announced its new Z500 Networked DVD Media Player. Besides being able to play regular DVDs, the Z500 also supports playback of WMV HD, DivX, XviD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and QuickTime MPEG-4 video files, and has built-in 802.11g WiFi so you can stream audio and video files over your home wireless network. Better still, it even has a USB 2.0 port if you want to play files stored on an external hard drive. Should be out early next year.
