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Toshiba launches telly-connected media drive

Why wasn't the new Apple TV like this?

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Toshiba has at long last launched the TV-connected hard drive it showed us in a backroom way back in February.

Then, the StorE TV+ had a specification sheet with rather a lot of 'to be determined' labels on it. Now, it's all sorted: 2TB of hard drive storage; HDMI and component-video ports; SD memory card slot' two USB 2.0 ports; 802.11n and 10/100Mb/s Ethernet connectivity; and a 2in LCD screen on the front so you don't have to turn the telly on just to play some music.

Toshiba StorE TV+

The format support is impressive, including Ogg and Flac on the audio side - plus all the usual suspects - and MPEG 1, 2 and 4, H.264, VC-1 codecs - plus AVI, WMV, MKV, MOV and MP4 containers - for video.

All that's missing, it seems, is DivX/Xvid, but it will handle 1080p output.

An array of subtitle formats are supported too, fans of foreign film will be pleased to read.

The black 206 x 160 x 47mm box comes with its own remote control - and the knowledge that it gets right what the Apple TV got wrong.

The Toshiba StorE TV+ goes on sale later this month for £200. ®

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Latest Comments

"All that's missing, it seems, is DivX/Xvid"

So "all that's missing" is the video format that (I presume) the vast majority would wish to watch? Well played Tosh, well played.

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Toshiba box

Are you insane? Why on earth would I want that lump anywhere near my telly?

Why don't you point out the Apple exchange rate of £1=$1?

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What you mean to say is;

What the Apple TV gets wrong in your not particularly humble opinion.

So where do I get my TV/Film content to put on this thing? I either illegally download it - no further comment necessary... or i quasi-legally rip my dvd's to it... a process I'm not unfamiliar with... but wait? by the time i've ripped and transcoded a DVD I've spent about two to three hours on the process ++ whatever amount of time it takes to copy the content across to the device (which i assume to be an insignificant proportion of time, but anyway).

On my Apple TV, if i want to stream content off my Macbook to the tv I have to press a couple of buttons and wait a few seconds... The contents took a few minutes to download on iTunes over my 50 meg cable and cost, on average, £2-3 less per film than the dvd version did anyway...if we're talking HD tv series, a quick spot check of ten different TV series' I have on iTunes, compared to those same titles on blu-ray reveals I saved approximately £300 on just ten series. I've got a lot more than ten.

So the new Apple TV costs £123 less than the old one did and doesn't come with local storage - no loss - I never used it anyway. I'd much rather have an Apple TV than this thing.

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