Onyx Digital Stream DPS-1000 internet media player

The DPS-1000 is known variously as an Internet Television Box and a Catch Up TV Player. It plugs into your home network and your television and offers access to various online television services.

It uses the Onyx operating system, which is found on some other devices including internet-connected televisions. You can also use the box to get online and watch films, TV and more.

Setup was easy enough: it doesn't connect to wireless networks, but it came with the cable to attach to a wired router. If your TV isn't close to the router you will need to use a Homeplug networking product to sit in-between.

Disappointingly, although the box has an HDMI socket on the back for top-quality connection to a TV, it didn't include the HDMI cable. However, it does come with a Scart cable, though that does provide a much lower-quality picture.

We found it easy to navigate the box's menus using the supplied remote control. It was quick to respond after a button press, though as with many other media streamers there were occasional delays.

The main supplied services worked well – the BBC iPlayer gives access to all the usual programmes, even in high-definition. Two movie services are provided: through Blinkbox you can buy or rent films, paying each time, and through Lovefilm you can subscribe month-by-month for unlimited downloads.

Both link to your existing accounts if you have them, but were more difficult to use than the BBC's iPlayer. Searching was made difficult using the non-standard on-screen keyboard, whose annoying quirks made it hard to find films. However, quality and ease of streaming were both excellent – though neither offers high-definition downloads.

The device can also stream music and video directly from a networked computer and access Youtube videos and Flickr pictures (though with the same caveats as Netgear's Neo TV 550).

At £90 this is a good way to access films and TV programmes online, but when the industry-backed Youview product is released next year that may provide a better alternative, so it may be worth waiting if you are not quite sold on the idea yet.