Amongst the wide variety of media hubs for your HT room, Viewsonic looks to have a particularly nice offering now out on the market which it calls the VMP70.

Whilst it doesn't have any form of internet connection, What makes the VMP70 attractive is its ability to upconvert all video content to 1080p form via its HDMI output. Supporting formats are broad with the ability to playback MPEG1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, H.264, VC1 and RM/RMVB. Further to that is extended audio support including WMA, MP3, OGG, AAC and more.

As well as the HDMI output, it also carries component and composite connections, whilst the audio output can be via analog, optical or coaxial digital with both Dolby and DTS digital surround being supported.

Viewsonic's VMP70 is now available for $130, but it said to drop to just $99 as the holidays close in.