Considering the fact that an increasingly higher number of users are using the Internet as the prime source of multimedia content (whether we're talking about movies, music, photos, etc.), the need for a device capable of streaming said content seamlessly towards a home cinema system also becomes ever more important. And this is the reason why the Sarotech company has launched back in the second half of 2006 the 3.5-inch abigs DVP-570HD multimedia player, a device that provides multiple playback options and even doubles as a network player.



The first thing that draws attention to the DVP-570HD is its external design. Thus, the device sports a pivoting external case (hence providing enhanced positioning options), as well as blue backlit LCD display, which can be used for accessing directly the files that will be played. Moreover, the multimedia player from Sarotech sports a DVI output, which can be used for outputting HD content at resolutions of up to 1920 x 1080p (too bad there's no HDMI).



Moreover, since we're on the subject of connectivity, it's worth mentioning the fact that the DVP-570HD can also be easily connected to a normal television set, via its composite, S-Video or HD Component cables, as well as to a home theater – type stereo system, since it sports a 2-channel analog audio output and a 5.1-channel digital audio output.



The DVP-570HD is quite versatile from the point of view of supported files, since it works with movies in AVI(DivX, XviD),WMV9,TP,ASF, ISO, VOB, IFO, DAT,MP4, MPG formats, music in MP3, WMA, AAC, PCM, M3U formats and can even be used for viewing JPEG or BMP files. Moreover, it supports smi and srt subtitles and can attain some pretty high resolutions, namely 480i, 480p, 576i, 720p and 1080i.



The device can also double as a portable storage solution, as it sports an USB 2.0 interface (attains maximum data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps) and works with both FAT32/NTFS file systems. Moreover, it can even be used for network playback (includes a LAN(10/100Mbps) adapter), and it's compatible with quite a wide range of operating systems, and it supports the Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista, Linux 2.4 or higher and Mac OS 9.0 or higher OSs.



The Sarotech abigs DVP-570HD multimedia player is available somewhere in the 243 - 550 US dollars price range, which seems to be a rather OK price to pay for such a complex device.