Linksys Wireless B Media Adaptor

One of the first adaptors for streaming music and photos.

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Price: £151.58

Manufacturer: Linksys

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Pros:

Streams digital photos and music to your TV and Hifi over wired or wireless network.

Cons:
Doesn't handle video files; Windows XP only.

Verdict:
Quick, silent and easy to access, it works well, but doesn't handle video and, as it is the first of many, it may be worth waiting.

Gordon Laing., Personal Computer World 18 Aug 2003

An increasing number of people have growing music, photo and video collections on their PCs, but it's not always desirable or convenient to play them in the office or back bedroom. Most people would prefer to play them in the lounge, especially using existing TV and Hifi systems, but few would tolerate a noisy, ugly PC in their front room.

While some enthusiasts solve this catch-22 with good-looking, silent PCs, a more elegant solution involves new set-top box media adaptors that connect to your TV and Hifi, then simply stream the photos, music and video from your PC over wired or wireless Ethernet networks.

Over the next year, we can expect to see a great number of these adaptors, with varying capabilities, from both consumer electronics giants and traditional IT manufacturers. One of the first is the Linksys Wireless-B Media Adaptor, costing £129 ex VAT and operating with PCs running Windows XP only.

Unlike some forthcoming products, the Linksys Wireless-B Media Adaptor won't handle video and is designed to play photos and music only. It can decode MP3 and WMA audio files, M3U and ASX collections, along with jpeg, tif, gif and bmp images. As its name implies, these can be streamed over an 802.11b wireless network, but there's also a 10/100 port for wired Ethernet connections. Multiple adaptors could be connected to the same network if desired.

Connection to your TV is with either composite or S-Video, while audio is delivered through a pair of stereo RCA jacks; sadly there's no RGB video or digital audio outputs. Linksys supplies AV cables but, since they end in separate connectors, Scart users will need to provide their own adaptor plug.

The device itself is a smart-looking compact box, about the size of a thick paperback book, which can either stand vertically or lie horizontally; the adjustable antenna on the rear should be pointed upwards for the best reception. It's powered by an external mains adaptor and operated by an infra-red remote control.

In order to stream media to the device, you must first install the supplied Media Manager utility on your PC. You'll also need to have the Windows .Net framework installed, but this is on the CD as well, saving you a lengthy download.

The Media Manager utility specifies which folders should be available to the device and defaults to My Pictures and My Music. These can later be changed or supplemented, although obviously your PC has to be left powered-up to act as a server. As new files or folders are added, the Media Manager pauses to create an updated content library database; given 20 songs and 10 photos, this one-off process took around five minutes using a 1GHz Celeron.

The second step is configuring the device itself. If you're using a wireless connection, you must manually enter the SSID and operation mode, along with its channel and encryption key if necessary. This is considerably easier using the supplied PC utility and a temporary wired link rather than the TV interface; Linksys supplies an Ethernet cable which can be removed after the wireless settings have been configured.

Once configured, the device reboots, finds the required services and is ready to use after around 25 seconds; during operation it runs silently. The TV interface is clear and simple, offering Music, Pictures or Help. Navigating each option with the remote is simple, although there's often a slight pause with each key press.

Like PC media players, the artist's title and track name can be displayed, and you can also view photos or run a slideshow while listening to music. Images can be zoomed-in up to four times and scrolled around, although this execution is a little sluggish compared to connecting a camera directly.

All in all, it works pretty well, and it's certainly useful to be able access your PC's photo and music collection from a friendly silent device without a noisy computer or network cables in sight. That said, this is the first of many forthcoming media adaptors, some of which additionally boast support for Divx and mpeg video files. Future DVD players may also stream photos and music.

It all depends on what you want to stream, how much you want to spend and how long you want to wait. If you only want to stream PC-based photos and music to your TV and Hifi, then the Linksys Wireless-B Media Adaptor will do it today and isn't bad for £129 ex VAT. But not-so-early adopters or those wanting video should wait and see how the market develops.

Contact:Linksys 0870 041 6624
www.linksys.com

Specifications: