Viewsonic VMP70, Perfecting USB Media Playback on HDTV

Not everyone wants to deal with the complexity associated with setting up NAS and tweaking network settings just to show high-def movies on his HDTV. The easiest way to playback the media is undoubtedly a player with all the necessary HD format and USB drive support. WD TV HD is insanely popular because it works seamlessly with MKV and H.264. Now, other solutions have emerged to perfect the USB media box. Viewsonic VMP70 is one of them.

The Viewsonic VMP70 can read literally every video codec out there, including DivX/XviD, H.264, VC-1, WMV9 and RMVB. In the audio department, OGG is most welcome among anime fans; built-in DTS decoding is here for those without an amplifier; and FLAC will be appreciated by audiophiles. Unlike the WD TV HD however, the VMP70 doesn't read HFS+ so Mac fanboys can skip this one altogether. Virtually all the buttons are moved to the remote so don't lose it or the VMP70 just becomes a 1 lb. paperweight. As of this writing, Viewsonic is offering a special holiday pricing of $98.99; street price should be pretty much the same even after the promotional period.