Compro, a Taiwanese company mostly known for its TV-tuner products was attending the SecuTech Expo 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan and as Fudzilla paid a visit to the show, we got a chance to get an exclusive hands on with the upcoming VideoMate T1000W network media center.
Tthis might not sound all that special at first, as there are hundreds of devices like the T1000W on the market, it has a lot to offer in terms of functionality that the competition doesn't have. The design is rather unusual, as it's a tilted L-shape, which makes the T1000W stand out from the crowd.
Although it looks like the front of t he device features a hidden display, this model sadly only has a few function LED's hidden behind the large black area on the front. But it's at the rear were the T1000W really delivers, as it has more connectivity options than anyone could ever possibly need. At the base of the T1000W you'll find a power connector, an S-video out, component video out, composite video out, a pair of RCA stereo audio connectors and coaxial as well as optical S/PDIF out.
Move up the rear of the T1000W and you'll find an HDMI port which supports 1080p output, a 10/100Mbit Ethernet jack, three USB 2.0 ports, a TV aerial jack and just above that a WiFi antenna connector. What you don't see on the pictures is the bottom mounted space for a 3.5-inch SATA hard drive and the T1000W supports up to 1TB of internal storage.
Sadly the WiFi is limited to 802.11b/g, so it won't be fast enough for streaming HD video over WiFi, but it will be good enough for non HD content and audio. We'd also have liked to have seen Gigabit Ethernet included, as it would allow for much faster transfers of large files to and from the T1000W. The built in DVB-T tuner allows you to watch free to air digital TV, so if you're not interested in paid for DVB-T content, or if it's not available in the country you live in, then the T1000W will double up as your set top box as well.
The T1000W also supports something we've never heard of on a device like this before, external USB DVD drives. So in other words, you could use any USB DVD drive to turn the T1000W into a DVD player. This might not be the most well used feature of the T1000W, but it's still a neat addition to an already long list of features.
In terms of file formats supported for playback you're looking at basic things like MPEG-1/2/4, AVI, WMV, Xvid and DivX, but the T1000W also offers H.264, VC-1 and AVCHD playback which is quite rare in a device like this. There's also support for direct playback from an ISO image and other useful formats such as DVD VOB files, MKV and a whole lot of other minor formats. However, it doesn't seem to support OGG or FLAC, although this might just have been an omission from the specs, but it does play MP3, AAC, WMA and WAV audio files.
The features don't quite stop there, as the T1000W can be used as a Bit Torrent server, as it comes with a built in Bit Torrent client. Considering that the T1000W draws a lot less power than a desktop PC, this might be interesting for some users. It also functions as a PVR and will record DVB-T programs directly to either the internal hard drive or a USB drive.
The bundled remote control looked excellent and felt very good in the hand. The T1000W comes with an HDMI cable in the box which is another bonus. Overall the VideoMate T1000W looks like a really impressive product and it should hit retail in May, which is only a few days away. We already found it on pre-order from Scan in the UK, although the really bad news is the price, as at £200.99 (€223/$294) it's quite expensive, despite all its functionality.
The front of the VideoMate T1000W and the remote control
The rear
Close-up of the ports