so it's the same as...
...a Western Digital MyTV? The WD seems a beter deal to me and has better file support plus longer time out for firmware updates.
Seagate's new FreeAgent Theater media player product relies on sneakernet to cart digital files between a PC and the TV. In the home, the network is not the computer and networked storage is not the norm, although many, if not most, PC-using homes now have a broadband link with a broadband router acting as the Internet gateway …
I bought a WD TV HD in December. It does the decoding, but uses external storage (2 USB ports) It has HDMI and Composite connections so ideal for new HD TVs. It's a small discreet box that I think looks quite nice.
The one thing it lacks is network capability. Well, so really smart people have hacked the Linux on it and have added support for networking so it can read network shares....
Check out the following for the latest.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1100062
So, for £100 it does all the local media stuff with external drives. Add a USB network adaptor and the updated firmware and you can use it as a media client over your network.
I expec this space is going to get very crowded this year as drive manufacturers want to sell more bigger drives and as the chip sets catch up with the media codecs.
"Seagate's FAT Media player is a device to organise and play digital media files."
"It has no in-built storage ... "
So no 500GB units!
If you want superb, get an Apple TV. Storage, network, connections, looks, organisation, flexibility, etc. Just don't lose the tiny remote!