For now, the MediaSmart TV looks like the better choice for accessing a shared storage device like a MediaSmart server or standard NAS drive.

PLUS

• Full-featured TV, with good image quality
• Easy, effective way to browse media files

MINUS

• Minor crushing of dark tones in video

To exploit a device like the MediaSmart Server, one needs a compatible client device. And what could be more compatible than HP's own MediaSmart TV?

The MediaSmart SL4278N is an attractive 42-inch LCD panel, with full 1080p high-def capability. Image quality is excellent, considering the midrange price, the main limitation being the typical LCD compression in tonal range at the very dark end. Overall, however, colour and contrast are excellent.

At the back, the MediaSmart TV features the usual component-video, composite-video, S-video and HDMI inputs. Where it stands out is in the inclusion of both a wired Ethernet port and Wi-Fi wireless, for connection to a home network.

The built-in setup worked first time without a hitch, detecting my network and devices attached to it. Using a Windows Media Center-like side-scrolling interface, I was quickly browsing the content I'd placed on the MediaSmart Server.

I had no trouble playing MP3 music and AVI video files, though music in the popular FLAC lossless format did not show up. I also discovered that the Maxtor Shared Storage II drive still on my network worked just as well at serving up this content as the MediaSmart Server.

It was with photos that the MediaSmart TV really came alive. My digital images looked spectacular, especially when zoomed-in slightly to fill the wide high-def screen. The ability to easily view photos with friends on the living-room couch would be my number-one reason for wanting this set.

For the sake of completeness, I also wanted to test the MediaSmart Server as part of a complete Windows Media Center environment. This meant configuring the Media Center software on my Windows Vista system, then setting it up on an Xbox 360 - the one Media Center Extender that most of us are likely to have on hand.

Setup was easy on both the PC and Xbox: a simple guided process that asked just a few pertinent questions. The most notable twist is that you need to copy a unique eight-digit code from the Xbox to Windows in order to set up handshaking between the two.

In short order, I was able to display the Media Center interface from the Xbox 360. It looked identical to Media Center on Vista, but ran rather sluggishly, with much-delayed response to my remote-control inputs.

The Xbox 360 was unable to directly access content on either the MediaSmart Server or the Maxtor Shared Storage II. This is by design: as a Media Center Extender, it talks only to a PC running Media Center.

However, as long as a storage device is configured as part of the library in Media Center, it becomes accessible via the Xbox 360. Thus, I had no trouble playing MP3 files or viewing photos stored on either the HP or Maxtor server. However, AVI video files would not play. Again, there seemed to be no obvious advantage to the WHS device over the Maxtor NAS.

While the Media Center Extender solution seems workable, and does offer some interesting features when accessing things like stored TV content, it still seems to need some fine-tuning. For now, the MediaSmart TV looks like the better choice for accessing a shared storage device like a MediaSmart server or standard NAS drive. It works smoothly and offers a very natural way to access media content in the living room. HP is definitely on the right track with this product.