Just buy one of these. I did. I don’t own an audio or video file this thing will not play. At seventy quid it is a steal.
Scenario: you have a lounge, bedroom or other quiet area where you have a HDTV, and want to play content from your PC, Home Server or other Samba shares. You don’t want a PC/media centre, you have Matroska (.mkv), .ISO or .TS amongst your stuff rather than just the usual DivX/WMV content.
Looks like: Very small (paperback book) black shiny thing with remote, plugs into wall for power, RJ-45 LAN socket for LAN or Homeplug/Powerline LAN, USB in (several), card reader. Output is HDMI or composite, with audio over HDMI, 2CH stereo or SPDIF optical out. NO FAN
.
Plays: movies, ISOs, TS, photos, music (just about any format).
Video out: Up to 1080p 60Hz
Audio out: Up to DTS
Interface: Standard Korean/Taiwanese slightly clunky interface (think cheap mp3 player and you’ve got it), works very well, preview mode if you want it, password protected shares no issues (onscreen keyboard and shortcut saving so only have to put details in once)
Youtube support: On the box only 
Extras: Optional £15 Wireless dongle Wireless-N, firmware upgrades available
Boinc capability: none
Overall: 5 mojos out of 5 