French multimedia product developer Wyplay has announced a move into the UK market with its own products, starting with the Wyplayer, a networked HD multimedia hard disk drive. HCC has had an exclusive preview of the Wyplayer, a twin-tuner set-top box/recorder with access to Web services and a sleek and intuitive interface.

Designed to be the ideal bridge between a PC and a TV with its WiFi-N capability, the Wyplayer will be available without a hard drive, or with drives ranging from 160Gb to 1.5Tb built-in.

Wyplay, which is basically a software developer, has developed a philosophy of front-end design which has a resulted in a highly graphical GUI and an easy-to-use remote with a rotary control and a minimum of buttons.

The Wyplayer's features include HDMI 1080p/24 output, SP/DIF optical output, Ethernet, a dual digital tuner, export of recordings to USB devices, supports for a wide range of file formats including MKV, H264, VC1, MP3, WMA and JPEG, WiFi-N and NAS functions, DLNA Player 1.5 compatibility, and an online portal for access to a range of RSS-based feeds. You can manage the content displayed on your TV by connecting to www.wyplayer.com from your PC or iPhone.

The Wyplayer will initially be available online only, with announcements of retail partners to follow. Price of the 500Gb model will be €395 incl. VAT and P&P. Look out for our full review soon; meanwhile, more from

Review via homecinemachoice.com