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The Ads Tech Media-Link Entertainment Receiver allows you to stream movies, photos and music from your computer to your television or hi-fi. It can be connected to a PC via a standard Lan Ethernet cable or wireless network connection. You'll also need to buy a wireless network adapter for your PC, as one is not included.
This is one of relatively few devices of its type to include a digital DVI port. This allows you to achieve very sharp image quality while viewing photos or movies, but you'll need a fairly modern TV to make use of it.
Older televisions aren't left out though: the Media-Link has standard component connectors and, for audio enthusiasts, digital audio connectors that provide superior sound quality on compatible televisions and stereos.
The Media-Link Entertainment System supports various video formats including MPEG 1, 2, 4, DivX, MOV and AVI. However, as it uses the rather slow 802.11b wireless communication method, video playback is often jerky and unreliable.
Even if your existing wireless network uses the faster 802.11g standard, adding the Media-Link Entertainment Receiver will result in a significant drop in network speed.
This won't affect the speed of your internet access, but transferring ordinary files between PCs over the network will become slower. Using the Media-Link with a wired connection is a faster and more reliable method.
We had mixed feelings about this product. It's excellent for streaming music to a stereo, as this can be done over the slow network connection, but is not ideal for video streaming.
Ads Tech has a faster 802.11g version of the Media-Link but, based on our experience with this model, we find it hard to recommend.
See also:
All Home Entertainment
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