Accessories

Unusually, the Veebeam HD wirelessly sends whatever is on your PC (or Mac) desktop to a distinctively sculpted black box, which is, in turn, connected to your TV. The device sports a composite AV output for your set and an HDMI socket. There’s also an optical digital audio output, which will give better quality PC audio (especially from music) if fed into your AVR. Your computer must run Windows 7, the Vista turkey that preceded it, or Mac OS 10.5/6.

A speedy and convenient means of backing up data and distributing multimedia files, the well-built DS410 can accommodate an impressive total of 8TB in its four drive bays.

It’s a sad truth, but the average living room isn’t suited to sub-bass. Room modes (aka standing waves) can create havoc with the lower frequencies, and can contribute to a response that is often far from smooth. However, insert this useful device between the amp’s LFE output and your sub’s line-level input, calibrate the listening area with the supplied mic, and a series of test tones will allow the 8033 to analyse the response and apply correction, so that the overall LFE response is as flat as possible.

There’s little point in wall-mounting an ultra-thin flatscreen TV if the bracket is so bulky it makes the set stand out from the wall; hence the demand for thin and flat wallmounts.

Sling Media’s Slingbox PRO-HD is finally available in the UK, after being on sale in the US for over a year. Its key advantage over the original Slingbox Solo is HD support; where the original model was restricted to only streaming standard-definition, the PRO-HD is capable of streaming 1080i hi-def via component. In addition, Sling Media has added a Freeview tuner to enable users to stream over-the-air broadcasts as well. This is a handy feature that allows those who don’t have a set-top box to still enjoy the convenience the Slingbox provides.

Many of us now store photos, music and video on our PCs to stream to our TVs over a network. But doing so does have its flaws. Using a PC as a media server means coping with operating noise, power consumption and susceptibility to malware. A far better proposition is to copy content to a NAS with inbuilt media server, such as this inexpensive Verbatim MediaShare. The PC can then be turned off, until it’s needed again.

The VMP74 is Viewsonic’s second so-called ‘full HD Network Media Player’, and as the name suggests, it offers full 1080p output for video. The device itself is a small, lightweight and glossy plastic box that fits discreetly into a TV stand. It’s pretty unassuming with just a power indicator LED on the top. Around the back you’ll find an HDMI port for rigging the streamer to your HDTV or projector. This is the only option for hi-def video, although a 3.5mm AV port enables you to use fuzzy, old school composite video (alongside stereo audio). There’s also an optical digital output. On the non-audio/visual front, there’s an Ethernet socket for networking duties (no wi-fi option here), plus USB and eSATA ports for connecting external hard disks and other USB storage devices.