Gadget: Popcorn Hour C-200 Networked Media Tank

(299, www.amazon.co.uk and www.amp3.co.uk For more visit www.popcornhour.com)

Gadgets are festooned with jargon such as high definition, Blu-ray and media streaming. Today's gadget combines all three in one box of tricks.

Looking like a clinically obese DVD player, the Popcorn Hour C-200 is like the Forth Road bridge between your PC and TV. It plugs into your home internet network on one end and your TV on the other, allowing you to play any music or videos, or show photos stored on your PC or its internal hard drive in glorious 1080p high definition. Although fantastically useful for those of us with gigabytes of "legally obtained" blockbusters and chart toppers – this is not new. I reviewed its cousin the A-110 Media Tank last year which also had similar talents. What makes the C-200 special is its optional built-in Blu-ray drive. A Blu-ray disk means much better audio and video quality compared to DVD. You can dock a digital camera, MP3 player or flash drive into one of its USB ports and transfer music, videos and files to and from the unit. The C-200 is like your entertainment mothership. All of this malarky was ridiculously complicated or extremely restricted (as in the case of Apple TV) until now.

The Popcorn Hour C-200 needs a bit of technical nous to get the most from it. However, it handled every movie I threw at it in pixel perfect high definition. Just sit it in front of your TV and like a good little boy it'll keep quiet while thinking up devious ways to distract you! Entertainment excellence.

This article first appeared in the Scotsman on Saturday 2 January, 2010