The Nigerian Scam spam seems to have fallen off a bit. I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer for those funds to arrive.

My ReadyNAS NV has a DLNA server built-in. I played with it for a while. After scanning in the media files, Less than 5% were visible at the DLNA client (Sony XBR9). Only a few of those were playable. The organized directory structure of the media files was lost was lost. The files appeared in an unorganized list with no directories.

I normally use a Popcornhour C200 via NFS to access my media library. No streaming - just direct access. SMB is a little slower than NFS. I had problems with some of the 1080p media with SMB.

There was no mention of support for common networking protocols such as CIFS (SMB) or NFS file systems. I need the ability to navigate and play my networked media files just like I can through any computer attached to my network. DLNA was mentioned, but DLNA's file restrictions make the networking protocol totally useless. DLNA is defective by design.

It's nice to see that MKV files are supported, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to directly access the files over a networked connection.

Sometimes if the plastic on the connector gets nicked, the mating contacts will not engage. A little cleaning and trimming off burrs with an Xacto knife will usually fix the problem.

Hey, $499 for a new Denon AK-DL1cable is a bargain. Amazon is selling these cables for $9999.00 new and $999.00 refurbished.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000I1X6PM/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&condition=all

And don't forget to check out the amazing reviews for this product:
http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/product-reviews/B000I1X6PM/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Time Warner Cable March 16 slashed the number of channels available for live streaming on the Apple iPad — less than 24 hours after launching the TV Everywhere app.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/electronic-delivery/time-warner-cable-cuts-ipad-live-tv-access-50-23348

Mac Mini is double or triple the price depending on which version you get. I looked at Mac Minis before I bought the Popcornhour but at the time, HDMI wasn't supported. It is supported in the current version.

I'll rephrase: Popcornhour advertises that it will "Play Anything"

These are the formats listed in the specifications:

Supported Media File Formats

Video containers:
MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG, DAT, VOB)
MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
AVI, ASF, WMV
Matroska (MKV)
MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4

Video Decoders:
XVID SD/HD
MPEG-1
MPEG-2 MP@HL
MPEG-4.2 ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
MPEG-4.10 (H.264) : BP@L3, MP@L4.0, HP@L4.0, HP@L4.1
WMV9 : MP@HL
SMPTE 421M (VC-1) : MP@HL, AP@L3

Audio Containers:
AAC, M4A
MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
WAV
WMA
FLAC
OGG

Audio Decoders:
Dolby Digital
DTS
WMA, WMA Pro
MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3
MPEG-4 AAC-LC
MPEG-4 HE-AAC
MPEG-4 BSAC
LPCM
FLAC
Vorbis

Audio Pass-Through:
DTS, DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA
Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD

Other Formats:
ISO, IFO navigation
AVCHD navigation
Blu-ray** ready (requires addition of compatible BD-ROM and at least 2GB USB memory stick)

Photo Formats:
JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF

Subtitle Formats:
SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX
DRM

Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)
Janus DRM (WMDRM-PD)