With home media streaming devices on the rise the features available to consumers shall continue to improve. This really is why I have decided to write an article on the significance of choosing the proper device to do the job. By looking at the media streaming device it may appear that it has Wi-Fi capabilities accompanied with the capability to stream Netflix and Pandora so you assume you are all set. If those are the only features you are after then that is great and by all means make the purchase. My only regret would be that there probably is a media streaming device out there at the exact same price point that will offer more features. Therefore media streaming devices are capable of doing a lot more than Netflix, YouTube, and Pandora. Three aspects that I will cover in detail are supported media file formats the device can read, importance of USB ports, and automatic media categorization.

The largest challenge used to be finding a media streaming device outside your PC that offered the capability to play your entire media collection. Now consumers have many options available allowing a multitude of selections. Because of this example I will compare both the Boxee Box and Roku supported media file formats. With both the Roku and Boxee Box offering a good selection of application as well as the capability to stream Netflix, there is still a tremendous gap with the number of supported media file formats built in. The Roku offers only 3 supported media file formats versus the Boxee Box at 21. This really is a large gap in supported media file formats and should you have a personal media collection there is a high chance the Roku can't suit your needs. One more notable point is these supported media file formats cannot be updated. As nice it will be like it's on your PC going to a website and installing a file, these devices don't have this ability. Both Boxee Box and Roku are excellent products, but at the same point it's up to you to determine which is a far better fit for your house media center.

Most devices right now offer USB 2.0 ports that will work all right for virtually every home media collection. Something to be aware of is the range of USB ports that the product offers. When I first started my media collection, before the invention of NAS devices, I used to keep movies and music on just about any storage device I might discover then plug it into my computer. Fortunately with today's technology there are NAS devices to help us keep our collection all in one place on our network. In case you are new to the hobby you would probably look-at eight terabyte NAS and say that is crazy I could never fill that up. Well... Let me just say you might get there sooner than later. So getting back to my original point you probably will purchase an external hard drive to start your collection. If you have only one USB port you will find yourself spending countless hours transferring data to a larger drive when it fills up. With a second or third USB port you may just plug in another hard drive without interruption. The most obvious answer is to buy a NAS device with expandable bays, but this is a costly expense and in the event you are just getting your feet wet with the hobby this option might not be realistic.

Something Boxee and XBMC have done extremely well is the capability to categorize your media collection. Let me give you an example that explains what I am speaking about. Within your media collection you have The 40-Year-Old Virgin on your storage device. Once you direct Boxee or XBMC to that file source it shall detect your view free movie and add it under the film section. Once in the movie section a picture will be applied of the movie cover with details about the movie and often trailers. As your collection grows each movie will be added giving you the ability to categorize to your liking. The benefit of automatic media categorization is the fact that you should not have to search through files to search out what you want. With this you have the capability to provide your collection a visual appeal accompanied with information which is imported from different sources on the net.

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