But our review of the D-Link DSM-320 was designed to see if the all in one media lounge unit was a combination set to fulfil the appetite of a digital consumer or just another stain on the shirt of "new technology".

The DSM-320 is based around 802.11g technology giving the wireless element of this device a 54mbit capability which in theory is enough to handle full screen high bit rate video, in fact more than man enough for a DVD which typically runs around 4 - 9mbits.

But in practise things are quite different, we managed to run full screen ripped DVD's using the 100mbits cabled connection without issue (of course ripping DVD's is technically illegal) this should work well and did, however the same DVD over the wireless connection ran with some splats and pauses despite showing a full 54g signal. We tried other files such as MPEG4 and lower bit rates which worked like a dream so perhaps it was another aspect of the DVD encoding that caused the problem. Another issue when using the AVI format was the audio / video sync, we managed to get a noticeable lip sync error by pausing the stream and restarting, this is unlikely to be an issue with the DSM and more to do with the lack of timestamps in the AVI format but it is something worth noting. On audio the DSm-320 was flawless and performed better than the squeezebox we tested and as well as the Netgear MP101 especially at a full 320kbps.

D-Link make a big play about being MS plug and Play certified in fact they are "play for sure certified" and we did find the set-up a lot easier as a result, the interface allows you to specify either a static or dynamic IP address for the device and then you can configure where your media stores are located. This process works by installing the D-Link media server software and specifying the types of files you want to share and then listing the folders in which they can be found on the host PC.

Our PC has a lot of MP3's some 17gb to be precise and the catalogue process took over an hour but once done the server software opens quickly and checks for new and added media, then once running the D-Link DSM-320 unit can access this library of video, audio and stills and stream them over the wireless connection.

The user interface is very good and the remote control provides easy on screen access to the whole library of media via a 4 way pad and the usual remote control keys, the back of the unit sports a fine collection of connectors from RCA, Coaxial, Optical and S Video.

The DSM 320 supports MP3, WMA and WAV audio plus a host of picture formats and Mpeg 1,2,4, AVI and Xvid video formats, while we couldn't try every format most of the common ones worked without a hitch and overall its a nice product which is easy to drive.

Priced at £129.99 its £50 more than the audio only MP101 but the ability to stream video and connect through to online media and even your photo collection does seem worth the extra, there are a few bugs and we managed to lock up the software twice but the latest revision of firmware seems to be even more stable if the user groups are to be believed.

The D-Link DMS-320 is on the cutting edge of media streaming in the home and it does a fine job, sure there are a few rough edges but overall its a good price for this level of functionality.

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