Buffalo brings LinkTheater HD media streamer to these shores

Buffalo let loose a pair of LinkTheater HD media streamers in Japan late last year, and it looks like it's now finally decided to bring a little of that HD-streaming 'round here. Unfortunately, for some reason, it's only decided to bring over the wired-only LT-H90LAN model, and not the WiFi-packin' LT-H90WN model that our Japanese friends get to enjoy. If that's not too much of a trade-off for you, however, you can expect the same 720p and 1080i output as before, along with support for streaming of a wide variety of content from both Macs and PCs, as well as USB hard drives and DLNA-compliant media servers. You'll also get HDMI output, with some component video and optical audio connections thrown in for good measure -- and, of course, that 10/100 LAN port. Look for this one to start hitting all the usual sources this month for $199.

[Via Gearlog]

[Gav Posted Apr 1st 2008 4:58PM]

Anybody else think this looks like a VCR?

[Chrono951 Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:40PM]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Itchy Posted Apr 1st 2008 6:00PM]

Totally! When I scrolled down, the first thing I saw was that pic, and I thought to myself, "Who's making VCRs?"

[jsparrott Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:02PM]

Or you can just part with $399 for a PS3 and get 720/1080p streaming home theater (from DLNA) plus blu-ray plus a nex-gen console. Sure it's twice as much, but you get about 6 times the bang for your buck.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:01PM]

It didn't bring the WiFi version because they are banned from selling WiFi kit in the US, thanks to an Australian injunction.

[psyclotron Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:02PM]

cool! a buffalo bills frickin laserdisc player!

[Rice090 Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:04PM]

sounds cool. and im liking the new background engadget ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:05PM]

I read somewhere else that it doesn't play XVID and DIVX. Lame.

[psyclotron Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:14PM]

old hat. all i care about is MP4/h264, personally.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:16PM]

who cares

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 1st 2008 5:44PM]

Wired AND not even gigabit LAN... geez. lame. Though I bet they save a tone of money on the VCR cases they got from Panasonic. Ugliest Media Streamer ever.

[aubreyq Posted Apr 1st 2008 6:20PM]

I like the retro-VCR look. Now if they could bring the price down to about $130 or so...

[MitchV Posted Apr 1st 2008 11:23PM]

Popcorn Hour does all this and also plays 1080p... and it's cheaper.

www.popcornhour.com