D-Link DSM-510 review

Most media streaming devices look like DVD players or hi-fi components in order to better blend into their living room surroundings.

D-Link's DSM-510 takes a different approach, though - it looks more like a wireless router. It's the smallest media streaming device we've ever seen, measuring only 31x111x143mm. It may not stack neatly with your hi-fi components, but it could stand inconspicuously next to your TV.

Its small size limits the space available for video and audio outputs. There's an HDMI interface with support for resolutions up to 1080i. A 3.5mm mini-jack outputs composite video and phono stereo through a special lead. A SCART adaptor is also provided, but there's no RGB support, so CRT TV owners are stuck with poor- quality composite video. If your HD TV doesn't have an HDMI input, you should look elsewhere, as the DSM-510 doesn't have a component video output. An optical S/PDIF is provided for outputting digital sound to a surround-sound amplifier.

The DSM-510 is easy to set up and works with any UPnP server, including the one that is built into Windows Media Player 11. It's also compatible with Intel's Viiv technology, though this standard never really took off, and we doubt that many people have a Viiv-compatible PC and router to take advantage of it. You can connect the DSM-510 to your network via 802.11g wireless or by using the wired Ethernet port, but there's no Draft-N support. Alternatively, you can attach a portable USB storage device and play content from that.

The interface is clearly laid out and quick to navigate. All the common video file types are supported, including DivX and XviD. However, we were disappointed by the lack of support for super-efficient H.264 encoding. Cleverly, the DSM-510 will also recognise and stream TV recordings made by Windows Media Center. Video quality was good across all our test files, as long as we were using the HDMI output.

This DSM-510 supports a wider-than-usual range of image formats, including TIF, GIF and PNG, as well as the usual JPEG. We appreciated that thumbnails are shown, as well as basic slideshow options. Photos are scaled to fit your TV's resolution without any jagged edges or artefacts.

Music support is impressive, too. There's the usual MP3 support, and playlists are recognised from almost any media player except iTunes. You can also play Wav, WMA (with or without DRM protection) and Ogg Vorbis files.

This is not the cheapest media streaming device we've seen and it lacks new features such as Draft-N wireless. However, it has a terrific interface and file support, excepting H.264, is excellent. If you don't need that, the DSM-510 is a fine choice. Vista users should wait until next month, when we will be reviewing the new Linksys Media Center Extender.