A set top box that runs on an uber s-video connection instead of Py/Pb/Pr or HDMI. Excellent choice.

Gee, COMPOSITE OUT. What is this, the 80's?

I'd expect at least DVI if not HDMI. And 480p max resolution? Get real. This thing's like a portable media player without the screen, not a serious set-top box.

I can't see my wife allowing that ugly bit of kit anywhere in our house, let alone the 'girl zone' living room or bed room.

Oh dear...

Good to see that Joe Born has time to punch out those open letters, just a pity they don't have time to finish their products.

Neuros announced their open source Neuros 3 digital audio player in Oct 2005 (this article just jogged my memory of that long forgotten project - well in my mind at least). Just had a quick check on their roadmap page (http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/Category_Roadmap:Neuros_III) and it is showing that 'it will be released some time after the new 442's projected release date in Q1 2006'. Hmmm, that was a year ago...

Sounds to me like this set-top could just be another excellent vaporware project to add to their arsenal... But at least it's sufficiently 'now' enough in terms of consumer wants and industry buzz talk to impress a few people.

Definately not vapourware. Been sat in my livingroom for the past two weeks. For a cheapo gadget it's been a surprisingly good buy.

Records from telly and DVD no problems to my NAS. Plays all my mp3's and wma's faultlessley. Plays most of my AVI files and mpegs. New firmware out every few weeks so looking forward to all the new features.

Oh yeah, it's ugly but it's only about 6 x 4 inches so I've just sat it behind the DVD player.

Great story. My hat's off to El REG for publishing it.

I have owned the OSD for about a year and it went from barely usable alpha to a nice working unit, almost "ready to be released", with the latest firmware.

To me, the OSD is a great video recorder, I can plug one of those 8GB microdrives or my 4GB SD card, whatever I have handy. And if I don't have anything handy, I tell it to record to my shared SimpleShare networked hard disk.

A piece of cake!!.

It works as a digital video recorder, digital video player, mp3 player, What else do you want? "oh it looks ugly" (because it's black? spray paint it white you Apple zealot snobs!). I'm sick and tired of the Mac Zealotry attitude. OSD runs circles around anything Mac. Why? Because it runs Linux. Anybody with a Linux PC can create add-ons or tinker with it, extending its functionality, whereas on AppletTV you have to wait for the Church of Cupertino to vacuum your bank account every year first, before getting the "next OS".

Get a grip.