D-Link DSM-330 review

Performance
To test the D-Link DSM-330, we tried two different machines. One was an old Athlon 3200+ with 1GB of RAM with Windows XP as the operating system. The other was a far newer 3GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM with Vista. Try as we might, we couldn't get the DivX Connected software to work on the XP machine. It would install okay, but adding folders resulted in nothing showing up on the D-Link, and the software would forget the folders instantly. Sand, beach, wind -- frustrating. Luckily, the newer Vista machine was happier to cooperate.

The remote is compact and light with the buttons are generally in the right place

Once you have the software installed and the box plugged into your TV, it should find your network. Obviously, a wired connection is easiest, but wireless works fine, too. Indeed, it works a sight better than it does on the Apple TV, which we've never been able to persuade to work with a secure, hidden network.

If you can get off that beach and into the water, it's all really simple. The DSM-330 finds all the media you share via the connected software. It won't accept newer file containers like Matroska (.mkv and .mka) but presumably, this could be fixed with a simple software update.

However, on our Sony 26-inch HD-ready TV with the DSM-330 connected via HDMI, we did notice one important problem. The menu was distorted on the left hand side of the screen. This affected the last column of video icons, and thus prevented us from seeing what those clips were. Funnily, we didn't have this problem when we hooked the machine up to a 4:3 CRT TV from the mid-80s.

Fortunately, we didn't have any problems using either Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet. Wi-Fi won't be able to send HD material, but then you probably won't have much of that anyway. If you did, there's a chance the Connected software won't be able to do anything with it. The DSM-330 doesn't appear to have a buffer, so although video starts playing instantly, if the Wi-Fi gets disrupted, playback will stutter.

When it comes to picture and sound quality we have no complaints. The box can output up to 1080i, but most of the content you'll actually play on it will be lower quality than that. We found on our old CRT TV that the picture looked as good as broadcast TV from our Freeview box.

Sound was good, too. If you hook it up to your 5.1 amp, you might be able to tease 5.1-surround sound out of some files. On most files, this isn't usually present in any form other than Dolby Pro Logic. Still, that's worth having if you have the equipment to decode it.

Conclusion
There are lots of things we think are really cool about the D-Link DSM-330. It's a good idea, but it's a shame you need to have your PC on to use it, as it wastes power. For watching downloaded material on your TV -- in another room -- it does work pretty well.

You could get an Xbox 360 and use it as a media centre extender, but that solution won't work for everyone, and can be somewhat complicated to get working properly. If you want a media streamer at this price, you'll struggle to find much better.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday