This category includes set-top boxes and other devices capable of playing your movies, music and displaying photos.

Popular devices used as media centers are:

• Apple TV
• Roku
• Boxee Box
• WD TV Live
• PS3
• XBOX 360
• Media Center PC

Best Media Player

The best media player will have the following:

• Must have a great, fast and easy to use interface.
• Support for codecs – a common one not supported is Matrosksa (often .MKV extension).
• Be able to stream direct from your media server  or NAS (Network Attached Storage) via your Home Network
• Be able to stream content from the internet, Youtube, Netflix etc
• Support full HD 1080p content

Game consoles are good as they have multiple uses, but the big two PS3 and XBOX both have limitations with the kind of files they support.
You will also want some kind of Media Server to stream your media from. We would of course recommend a NAS for this, although a spare PC or Server with plenty of hard drive space and software such as PS3 Media Server or TVersity can perform the same work with a little more effort.