Rota hopes Connected boxes will eventually just be a dongle you can plug straight into your TV and he said Divx-badged Nas drives would be a reality in the future too.

Until 2008, D-Link has exclusive rights to software, starting with its DSM-330 box, which will cost £129.99. It's 1080p compatible and D-link has included support for WMV, WMA, various audio formats as well as the Divx Connected bare minimum: Divx video and picture support.

Despite being uPnP, which is one of the flakiest standards I've had the displeasure of using, the DSM-330 won't connect to Nas drives via the router. As such, a PC must always be on even for it to access the internet. This is because the PC renders the interface in OpenGL before transmitting the content onwards, a process that requires 4-6Mbits/sec bandwidth and on the edge of what 802.11g (included) can achieve in a typical household.

Divx's codec, an mpeg4 derivative, remains one of the most popular formats used to trade films illegally on the internet. Legitimate content delivery remains a big problem in Europe, admitted Rota, since copyrights for shows must be negotiated in each state, which isn't a problem in the USA.

The company has launched some legitimate download services in France and its Stage6 website (an alternative to YouTube we've previously inspected) for home-made videos will be available through Connected. Divx representatives refused to comment on the large volume of copyrighted shows on its website, but revealed Stage6 is being made into a separate company.

Ultimately I feel there are three major problems with Divx Connected:

Firstly there's not very much legitimate content - no access to 4oD, BBC iPlayer, Sky online etc.

Secondly, leaving your PC turned on isn't a step forwards. You could do streaming the old fashioned way: with a very long S-video or HDMI cable.

Finally, streaming from a PC is nothing new - Linksys has been doing the same thing with its Kiss players for a while.

But the interface is the slickest we've seen and it would be foolish to write Divx off. After all, the company's presence on DVD players is impressive.

After the Connected presentation, I asked Rota if there will ever be collaboration between Microsoft and Divx on the Xbox360, since the 360 isn't the media streaming champ everyone had hoped for. Rota said he was dismayed that Microsoft hadn't negotiated with Divx about support, but we suspect Microsoft is trying to keep costs down.