This tiny new media streamer from Crystal Acoustics promises 1080p video with a 5.1 soundtrack, streamed straight from your SD, MMC, or USB removable media. It’ll play all common file types, selected from a “beautiful user interface, rendered in High Definition”.
As if this weren’t enough, it’s no tacky device, being encased in a unibody aluminium enclosure measuring just 75x65x15mm; costing a mere £50 £40.
Just for a sense of proportion, that’s 3/4 the size of a 3.5″ drive bay – the size of most card readers, and this beaut packs in the processing and HDMI; component outputs to function as a standalone streamer to boot.
It’s hard not to be sceptical at that price, however, and one wonders just how good the included “powerful processor” really is.
That said, we hope to have a unit in for review soon, and we’ll be able to offer a firmer opinion then, with side-by-side video comparisons with other streamers on the market.
Update: Amazon have a listing for the PicoHD5.1 at just £39.99 – even more of a bargain than we originally thought.
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