Today, there are many ways to download files with BitTorrent without using your PC. From BitTorrent-compatible NAS-devices to wireless routers with BT capabilities, new products are constantly developed to improve your downloading experience.
Oddly enough, there are no media centers that come with a built in BitTorrent client. Strange, because this could be one of the most fruitful and convenient combinations.
There have been attempts though. In 2005, a Dutch company introduced the “Lamabox”, the worlds first “p2p compliant” media player. The device was capable of connecting to all the popular p2p networks (including BitTorrent), and users could search, download and play all the files they could find. Unfortunately the “Lamabox” was discontinued, and up to now, I haven’t seen any BitTorrent compliant devices like it.
This is likely to change with the release of the new media center from Mvix, which will have a built in BitTorrent client. With the yet to be released Mvix MX-780HD you will be able to download movies, music and/or TV-shows directly onto its hard drive or an external USB-drive, no need to use a PC for that anymore.
The new Mvix Media Center has a wireless connection to the Internet, but you can also use it to access your local network and stream audio or video files from your PC. In addition, it will support a wide range of audio and video formats, subtitles, and comes with a HDMI output.
There’s been no official announcement yet, but the news comes from Grahm Skee, who got it first hand from a Mvix representative at CES. He writes: “I spoke with a Mvix rep and he told me that the firmware programmer was finishing up the torrent client on the way over to CES on the plane, so it’s still probably beta. This feature will likely be coming later on, so don’t expect it to be included at the time or release (but it might)”.
In 2006 we speculated about an upcoming boom of BitTorrent compatible media centers, let’s hope it will finally happen in 2008. Below we list the specifications of the Mvix MX-780HD as showcased on CES, although the model is not listed on their website yet.
