Which media tank?

[Taz]

I currently have a DVD player that has a USB port into which i've plugged an external HDD. The external HDD contains my media files (mainly videos and photographs) and these play through the DVD player quite well and are displayed on my HD TV (the DVD player upscales to 1080P).

However the DVD player is fairly limited in the types of media files that it can play.

I'm looking to replace the DVD player and the external USB drive with a single-box solution.

My requirements are as follows:

Video formats: Xvid, DivX (and DivX HD), mpg, wmv (+HD), avi, rm (if possible), vob
Picture: jpg (I have some huge JPGs from my camera and I need something that can read and display them quickly - my current DVD player is sloooooow!)
Audio: MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Apple Lossless (basically my iTunes library if this is going to be possible)
HHD capacity: minimum of 1TB internal HDD capacity
Connectivity: HDMI, stereo phono for audio, USB for memory sticks, a card reader would be useful
Price: < £500 including HDD

Could someone suggest any media tanks that I should consider buying that meet the above requirements? I'm not bothered about streaming over the network/WiFi, etc. I just want to play media off an internal HDD. Output quality and speed (reading HDD and displaying content) are the most important criteria for me.

[splbound]

I don't know how important it is for you to keep the DVD functionality. I find it easier to rip the dvd's onto my file server and stream to the device. It will be hard to find a proper media tank with a built in drive. You may be able to connect external blue ray/dvd drives to some media tanks but the problem is they will not play encrypted dvd (most of them you buy).

If you are willing to rip the DVD's then there is plenty to choose from.

You cannot go past the following which always get a rave reviews have great output quality and speed:

Popcorn Hour - A-110 and the upcoming tasty C-200.
EGreat - M34a

When you are deciding don't forget to factor in support for the device. It's best to go with one that is supported and has continual updates.

These devices are built around the streaming aspect as they are Network Media Tanks. You will definitely get the most out of them when you configure them on a network and using a server/computer for storage being able to use the Music/Movie jukebox features etc.

Other than going with a media tank you may want to just build yourself a HTPC.

I personally will go with a C-200 once it comes into stock and some reviews of it are out.

[Dogers]

Yeah - drop the "plays DVDs" requirement and there's loads of good boxes out there (but even more not so good..). The one I'm after shortly is the Icy Box MP309. It's very similar to the Popcorn Hour box (based on the same CPU I believe), but is available now

Review (with an older firmware - the newer ones speed it up) here

[Taz]

I should have clarified, I don't need to play DVDs - I only bought the DVD player as it had a USB socket for a memory stick or hard drive. All of my multimedia files are on an external HDD. That's why i'm looking to consolidate two devices into a single media player with a built-in hard drive.

Thanks for the recommendations so far.