You forgot mention it can stream from SMB. Actually the 2009 batch of mediaplayers run linux on a mips based CPU. They can also function as a slow(2,5 MB/s-5MB/s) NAS.
I myself have a mede8ter with a 2 TB drive builtin. It plays all the downloads without transcoding and possibly with the PC off. A HD of course makes a small sound and the thing might have a fan (not sure). Since it boots in a short time i turn if off to get rid of any whirring. You can buy such boxes without a HD (xtreamer, AC playHD mini) to have more silence.
Price? about 99 euro for a diskless streamer, my mede8ter (without disk, with ALL cables) 139 euro, for a disked station like the popcorn A200 220 euro.
(and forget those cheaper pre-2009 streamers, they are underpowered and don't eat averything you throw at them.
PS, despite the fact these boxes run linux, they have large binary blobs so i would not consider them open source NMT's
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Price? about 99 euro for a diskless streamer, my mede8ter (without disk, with ALL cables) 139 euro, for a disked station like the popcorn A200 220 euro.
(and forget those cheaper pre-2009 streamers, they are underpowered and don't eat averything you throw at them.
PS, despite the fact these boxes run linux, they have large binary blobs so i would not consider them open source NMT's