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Netgear Digital Entertainer EVA700
Price: £200 inc VAT

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: Andy Shaw

This review updated: 17/02/2007
Featured in magazine:
Issue 151
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Netgear
Tel: 01344 45 8200
Web Address: www.netgear.co.uk


If you've got broadband and a home network, there's a good chance that you've also got piles of media – photos, music and video – tucked away on a PC. This smart-looking device from Netgear is the latest kid on the block to have a go at streaming this content to your living room where it can be enjoyed at leisure through your TV set.

Features
On paper, this is an impressive device. Its size is the first thing you'll notice – having a low profile means it should slot nicely in with your existing home entertainment products. For best performance you can plug it in to a wired network (directly into your router via Ethernet or perhaps using a HomePlug adapter), otherwise, it also has the capability to connect to an 802.11g standard Wi-Fi network, though Netgear rightly suggests this won't pass muster for video streaming. It has a variety of options for connecting it to your TV too, from SCART to Component video, and a variety of audio ports including an optical S/P-DIF port. Meanwhile, most of the current audio, video and image formats are supported, though we found that older Windows Media Video files (encoded back when version 7 and 8 were state of the art) would need re-encoding to work on the system.

Performance
Performance depends on how you've got the device connected. As Netgear stresses, the 802.11g Wi-Fi standard used here is fine for pictures and music, but struggles with video of decent quality. You could get around this by compressing your home movies, but they're not going to look great on your TV. Connecting the device up with an Ethernet cable is far superior and results in smooth, decent quality video. Pictures and music come out well however you pipe them through to your TV, and thankfully there's the option of playing music and viewing a slideshow at the same time – something sorely missing from a surprising number of its rivals.

Ease of use
If you're using a wire-based network, set-up is really simple – just plug it in, set up the supplied Windows Media Connect (or any other UPnP (Universal Plug n Play) media server software, such as TwonkyVision – www.twonkyvision.de) and you're off. PCs with Intel's Viiv standard have an even easier ride, as these already have media servers installed and the Netgear device is fully compatible. Even for wireless users the menus on the device are reasonably easy to navigate, though you have to know your network's security settings and tap them in using the remote control, as if you were writing a text message on a mobile. Once up and running there's a simple menu-based navigation process you have to go through to find the things you want, though the more stuff you have, the more difficult it is to find. As long as the folders you keep your media in on your PC are well labelled and organised, you shouldn't have any problems here.

Value for money
For a brand-named device with top-notch features, this is good value for money. It'll do everything you want it to, as long as you're willing to wire it up, and handles media well. If you haven't got so many videos and just want to use the music and photo capacity, or are restricted to a Wi-Fi connection, there are cheaper options available that'll do the job, but this is a good all-rounder.

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