If you’re looking for media streaming on a very, VERY tight budget, then the Patriot media streamer is EXACTLY what you had in mind.  You’ll need to bring your own hard disk drive, but each Patriot comes with a remote, three USB slots, Ethernet support and support for several different file formats.

Sure, it’s not that great that you have to provide your own hard drive before this thing will actually work, but given the price of the unit and the hard drive itself, chances are you’ll be doing all right.  They provide everything else–all you have to do is bring your picnic basket and enjoy.

And when I said, “very, VERY tight budget”, I meant it.  This sucker retails for a downright reasonable $130.  Of course, you’ll have to tack on a little extra for the hard drive, but new ones aren’t so pricey these days.

Read