ASUS HDP-R3 Media Aggergator Gets WiFi [HD 1080p Media Streamer Set-Top Gets WiFi Connectivity, Still Has USB, Lots Of Codecs]

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ASUS’ HDP-R1 digital media aggergator got some heat when was first unveiled to the press last June for not having WiFi connectivity. The new iteration of the device, the -R3, is getting the notable improvement of WiFi in its upcoming release. It’ll keep all the great things about the first one, including its ability to stream HD video.

The new box will carry the 802.11n variant of WiFi, which promises some fast transfer rates for those big HD video files. Also, like the earlier model, the HDP-R3 is capable of playing media from external hard drives and flash drives connected via USB port or eSATA. It’ll also have a wired Ethernet port and a memory card reader.

The options video port wise could be a turn-off to some, as it only features a single HDMI port. If you haven’t adapted HDMI yet in your home theater setup, you may want to look elsewhere.

Video playback is pretty good, it’ll support most codecs under the sun, including MOV, XVID, AVI, WMV and MKV, plus others, and can even playback ripped DVD ISO’s, which is a nice inclusion that not all of these boxes carry. Audio playback is similar with MP3, ACC, OGG and FLAC, along with more obscure ones.

It can also display images as well. One nice feature is that the remote for the device now features what I’ll dub the “party button” where it automatically puts the HDP-R3 into shuffled music playback mode with one button press.

The box is now shipping in Italy for €130 ($177). No word on a release outside of Italy.