Acer MG3001-P

Media streaming devices are a good compromise if you want to play media from a computer on your TV, but don't want shell out for a full Media Center PC.

The Acer MG3001-P is a good example and will stream both music and video from computers on the network as well as create slide shows of your photos.

The back of the device is promising with a good range of connection options.

In terms of video you get component, scart, S-video and composite, while audio is handled by analogue RCA plugs and a digital optical output.

Connection to the network can either be wired or wireless - the latter being easier to set up.

Indeed, we had some trials connecting the MG3001-P to our test PC with the wireless connection, as it erroneously reported that no wireless networks were in range.

A power cycle solved the problem and revealed the wireless networks, but some firewall tweaking was still required to make the computer visible to the device.

Some confusion also occurred thanks to some rather vague error messages.

At one point we were informed the server could not be found, but were not told if it was the DHCP server for the network address or the server software with the content.

However, once it was finally up and running it worked fine.

Surprisingly, the MG3001-P can only connect to wireless networks using wep security and not the more secure WPA - something Acer should address sooner rather than later.

The server software must be installed on every computer on the network that will share media with the MG3001-P. This can have several users set up to share files, but there's no password protection available.

A useful feature is the USB port on the front of the device.

This lets you plug in a standard USB key and play content directly, therefore avoiding any bandwidth problems.

To its credit, the MG3001-P can play a wide range of media including mp3, wma, avi and mpeg4.

Compared to similar products such as the Showcenter 200 from Pinnacle, this Acer is reasonably good value.

But, as always seems to be the case with wireless media streamers, the set up can be fiddly - especially when you use the wireless feature.

See also:

Slimdevices Squeezebox 3

Stream high-quality music around your home in style  20 Feb 2006

D-Link DSM-320 media player

Stream audio and video around your home  16 Feb 2005

Philips Streamium SL400i

A wireless streaming device that's very easy to set up, but expensive  14 Jan 2005

Pinnacle Showcenter

Stream media to your TV and stereo.  29 Jun 2004

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