Modix on cutting edge of home entertainment

The Modix, which costs $351, is easy to use but is noisy and setting it up requires some skill.

Simply put, this lunchbox-sized device represents the future of home entertainment for us all.

It's a future where the movies and programmes we watch are not played from DVD or video tape, but from a computer hard drive that is fed into our TV.

The Modix will take content downloaded from the internet via a PC and play it back on TV sets with even the most basic input connections.

For those delving into the treasure trove of video content on the web, it's a powerful entertainment device.

Modix supports a number of video codecs, including mpeg2, mpeg4, DivX and XviD. An hour-long DivX video file can range in size from 300 to 600 megabytes, depending on the quality it is encoded at.

The Modix will play mp3 files or view digital still jpeg photos, which can be rotated and set up as a slide show.

Video files downloaded from the internet are generally of variable quality. I watched several documentaries, short films and cartoons where the quality ranged from being similar to well-used video tapes through to crystal-clear, DVD quality.

Some of the video stuttered from time to time, especially during elaborate action sequences. It's hard to tell whether this is because of the video's encoding or the Modix's hardware struggling to keep up, but I'm more inclined to think the former.

For music and photographs, the device picks up the names assigned to files and displays them in a set list via the TV menu. It's no Windows Media Centre, but it's a perfectly good interface.

For audio files, take your pick - mp3 or wma, ogg or AC3. These are all fairly common file formats for music. The Modix can be plugged into a stereo system via stereo audio and optical digital audio outputs.

There's not actually much inside the Modix - a decoder card, a circuit board and some spare cables.

I can live with it in my lounge. Its inoffensive silver case blends in with the DVD player and VCR, and its illuminated blue and red buttons blink away reassuringly. The Modix does make a bit of a racket - as much noise as an Xbox or PlayStation console. The hard drive held within spins many thousands of times per second, creating friction and noise, which can be offputting during the quiet moments in a film.

The TV menu system is effective, controlled from the included remote control, and all of the settings can be tweaked, from screen format to colour, audio controls to resolution.

The Modix will also support high-definition files that give startlingly good picture quality. Full-length, high-definition movies are few and far between, but there are plenty of HD video samples floating around on the web.

There's a lot of functionality in the Modix, but its presentation is a little rough around the edges.

Formatting the hard drive, which is sold separately, involved downloading a file from the Korean manufacturer's website. The website can be displayed in English, but the dialogue boxes for setting up the Modix are in Korean.

The most frightening part of the process was being asked to click on a box of foreign characters to confirm the formatting of the hard drive.

Modix is lightweight and portable and comes with a nice black carry bag.

It's not perfect by design, but it has an attractive price tag and will put you on the cutting edge of digital content while your mates are still messing around with video tape and DVDs.

Modix HD-3510

* Pros: Simple to use, supports numerous file formats, including high-definition.
* Cons: Unit is noisy, set-up requires technical skill.
* Price: $351 (hard drive extra).
* Herald Rating: 7/10.