I see, so i could get a Buffalo Linkstation and the LG could play directly off of it...
In theory yes, but you'd need to verify the LG with the Buffalo ppl. Everybody says they're compliant but there's little exceptions here & there till it gets standardised implementation wise.
So the advantage of using MC is really the interface, no? Not dissing that, but it just isn't what i'm looking for. For audio, there's no comparison--i NEED to have MC, but i've got that covered adequately. I'm looking for an easy way to pipe video, and that might be just the ticket.
For a few tens of files with a few tens of folders, yes. Any more and it will get unwieldy with the LG interface.
MC could help here with getting the right files & folders with smartlists.
With the linkstation you'd need to do it manually in win explorer assuming you want to present a subset of your collection to the LG. Otherwise you need an organised folder structure as the LG would display literally how things were stored on the linkstation. Then again with the linkstation alone you don't need to run a PC just to use the LG, so there's a trade both ways.
DLNA means you have just a wire coming into the LG and one less box in the living room. It depends on having a restricted list of media types, if you can stay within those bounds then DLNA will work otherwise you will be left with conversions, this is another feature MC could do over the linkstation.
This is the picture today, I've no clue what JRiver will cook up 6 months or a year from now to add to that list
Plus, the HTPC market just never took off, did it? I mean the most inexpensive, off-the-shelf thing i've seen talked about in this forum is the Mac Mini. Otherwise it's DIY, which i have the inclination towards, but not the time, unfortunately--nor the WAF.
HTPC > WDTV, xbmc, pop corn hour etc > DLNA
Do you want to stream any web media off the net as well ? How demanding are you
This list grows with time, you could keep buying black boxes as you go or just upgrade the HTPC's software.