A consumer version with HDMI would be a winner for me... though a Studio 14z is already pretty close to perfect for me, and priced extremely well in the Dell Outlet (even with some good upgrades like C2D, 802.11N, backlit keyboard, and extended battery). I also prefer Geforce 9400m graphics over Intel 4500.

@PattyXXX

How exactly would an app control AV equipment with no IR interface (i.e. the base station)???

I've had surprisingly good luck with the old Tivo 802.11g adapter. I have a TivoHD in my theater connected, via ethernet, directly to my wireless router. I have a second TivoHD in the bedroom connected wirelessly using the 802.11g adapter. For transferring programs from one box to another, the transfer speeds are just fast to allow real-time playback of HD material as its being transferred, or quasi-streaming from box-to-box. It's also fast enough to build a buffer so that, on a 30 minute or 1 hour show, by the end of the first commercial break I have enough buffer to fast-forward through the rest of the commercials.

What I think is somewhat comical is that the TivoHD/HD XL/S3 have had their ethernet ports tested at a max of around 20Mbps, so not only could the N adapter possibly offer an advantage over the older G adapter, it may also offer an larger-than-expected advantage over wired ethernet.

What I'm really hoping is this device is a prelude to home network streaming and/or native playback of the most common video file types, mainly h.264 MKV. The box has the processing horsepower to handle at least 720p h.264 (evident from native playback of HD YouTube clips), so why not open that capability up to a host of media available on a home network. This capability, along with uPnP client capabilities would make the TivoHD much more of a home entertainment hub than just a DVR with a few semi-useful network features.

Sad that Samsung can't take the time to include the P2500 and P2550, the first (and only to date) player to integrate internet streaming with high-quality video processing (Reon HQV). The hardware is capable and it's still my favorite value BD player recommendation, even as it gets harder to find.

I'd love to see this with ION LE and the associated $150 knocked off the price... for HTPC use, DX10 is far from a necessity.

When you can get an 802.11n ethernet bridge for $33 (like today's Woot), why does an overpriced USB adapter from MS even matter?

I'm eyeing this one as my home-and-travel laptop, with my old Latitude D630 still pulling office duty. I was originally pumped for the MSI X340, but the build quality didn't impress and it was just a little too MBA KIRF. This one looks to be much better built with with just enough aluminum to make it feel substantial without raising the price.

Custom Installers are going to make up the lion's share of this player's distribution channel... beyond that, you'll probably see refurbs pop up on AC4L in 3-6 months for $200ish and a few folks will pick them up for brand matching. That said, the European Onkyo website show this player with DivxHD listed, so if that's not a typo maybe there is a bit more hope for its feature set.

In all honestly, a decent video scaling chipset (i.e. Anchor Bay or HQV) along with the improved build quality would push me to consider one of these players (as a refurb like mentioned above). With Samsung moving away from HQV, there's not a down-market BD player with superb video scaling for DVD. Oppo is doing a great job filling the middle-market, but the Samsung P2500/2550 will be missed when it comes to superb image quality on the lower-end... it just happens to have great Netflix and Pandora support as well, but would be well worth the price (street or refurb) even without. Not every BD player has to be an all-in-one solution for BD, networked contend, and file playback... especially one like this that's really for a niche market segment anyway.

But I guess that's all moot since a decent video scaler isn't mentioned, so unless it's hiding in there unannounced (unlikely based on Onkyo's past trends) it is still overpriced and underspeced.

If somehow this brings the Boost $50 Unlimited plan to the Sprint CDMA network (even if handcuffed to 2.5g) then I'd call this a pro-consumer acquisition. There would have to be some kind of differentiation from the Sprint $99 Everything plan...maybe 2.5g vs. 3g along with phone selection is enough... but some form of advertised $50 Unlimited CDMA with a selection of currently available feature-phones ($50 Boost UNLMTD is not advertised and the phones are no longer available) would be a major win for consumers.

What the modder here has accomplished is no better than what Photoshop could achieve with the same shot sans peep-hole. Notice in the read link how little of the actual frame is covered by the actual peep-hole? This means you're effectively cropping a ton and THEN applying a fisheye effect. You're likely not getting ANY decrease in focal length, and you're wasting a TON of your sensor data... all for an effect that could be better achieved completely free in software. There are also tons of cheap screw-on fisheye adapters on ebay that would do infinitely better than this approach if you didn't want to pony up for a true fisheye lens. The peep-hole fisheye can be fun and semi-useful on point & shoots with smaller optics/sensors, but throwing away 90% of your sensor data on a dSLR when you could do better in software is a waste of scrap wood and duct tape.