Western Digital has just updated their line of media players with the WD TV Live Hub that pretty much ties a lot of different devices into this one box. Like every other WD TV device, it’s a full HD media center for playing movies, music and photos, and it’s a network drive with 1TB of storage space for serving up media to either an HDTV.

An Ethernet connection allows it to stream in content from Netflix and Blockbuster’s On Demand service, as well as free content from YouTube and Flickr, news from AccuWeather and MediaFly, and podcasts from CNN, ESPN, MTV, and NBC. Since it supports DLNA and UPnP, it can stream media files over the home network to just about any other connected device, including smartphones and mobile devices that run on iOS or Android.

The WD TV Live Hub features composite, component A/V and an HDMI 1.4 connection for display and TV compatibility, while a pair of USB ports will let you play content from other portable drives. The USB connections will also allow you to add a Wi-fi adapter, or a keyboard that you can use to do text searches.

The WD TV Live Hub is available now from Best Buy in the US or through WD’s online store for $200.

Western Digital just announced an update to their WD TV line of media players that extends your options from a hard drive to the net. The WD TV Live Plus is basically an updated version of the WD TV Live media player, which will feature everything the original WD TV Live originally offered (Full HD 1080p video playback, network support and streaming, composite and HDMI video connections) but adds full DVD-like navigation and access to Netflix.

Good news for you if you have an unlimited Netflix membership, since this box will let you queue movies through the built-in interface, but for those who don’t (as well as everyone living outside the US), the TV Live Plus can still be used to access the internet for playing online content from YouTube, Pandora, Flickr, and Live365.com.

The WD TV Live Plus can play just about any multimedia file (photos, videos, and audio) you can store onto an external USB drive, including the most common AVI, MPG, MP4/MOV and WMV videos at full HD 1080p, and MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, and OGG audio with Dolby Digital and DTS support.

It’s still priced at $150—similar to what you’d originally pay for the first WD TV Live player—so not having a Netflix account shouldn’t stop you from picking one up if you’re looking for an all-around media player. It’s available now through WD’s online store.

Asus has just unveiled the latest network media player to fall under their O!Play line, the HD2, during the CeBIT show in Germany. It’s basically a relatively flexible media player that will let you play multimedia files straight off a storage source—that’s either connected via any of its ports and slots or through the network—straight to a TV.

Official specs haven’t been released yet, although it does come with a number of connections for plugging in just about any storage source (including eSATA, USB 3.0, memory cards, as well as other devices connected to the network via Ethernet and Wi-fi). A USB 3.0 port has been spotted, so it should be ready to take in any of the newer, faster storage devices that should be coming out throughout the year.

Same as on Asus’ older O!Play devices, HD 1080p video playback should be supported via an HDMI connection, but it will still be able to connect to older displays and TVs via composite audio and video connections.

No word on pricing on release dates yet, but that’s okay. As long as USB 3.0 isn’t considered “mainstream” yet, we can all really afford to wait.

The EVA9100 still keeps its predecessor’s basic stream-and-play capabilities though, allowing it to pull content from the internet (for movies and TV shows from Hulu, Netflix, CBS, etc) as well as from the home network (from connected computers, portable devices, and network-attached storage devices, which it detects and organizes into a media library) for instant playback on an HDTV via an HDMI connection. It’s limited to a wired Ethernet connection, but users can opt to pick up Netgear’s EVAW111 wireless USB adapter to give it wireless capability.

The two routers, the MBRN3000 and DGN2200M, aren’t your regular DSL internet-slingers; the $150 MBRN3000 is a mobile broadband router that comes with a USB port for plugging in a mobile 3G/4G or WiMAX modem The router then shares the mobile data connection to multiple users through a Wi-fi 802.11n connection.

Avoid long network cables: These HomePlugs will let you setup a network using your house's electrical wiring.

The DGN2200M adds to the previous router’s feature set, featuring a dual WAN connection that allows it to share an internet connection from both ADSL and 3G/4G/WiMAX. This makes sure you’ll always be connected, relying on the standard ADSL connection as its primary source, while giving the option to connect through a mobile network as a backup. The $180 DGN2200M also uses an 802.11n connection.

Finally, Netgear has also unveiled a pair of HomePlug kits called the PowerLine 200 AV and the Powerline 200 AV+. Both are standard HomePlug kits that allow you to establish network connections using a building’s existing electrical wiring (which is really nifty; especially when two points are too far away and a wireless connection isn’t a viable option—imagine a PC in the basement and a router way up along a far corner of the second floor). Both connect PCs with a 10/100 Ethernet connection but have slightly different form factors; the Powerline 200 AV model is a basic compact plug that sells for $150, while the AV+ adds a pass-through socket for $170. Both kits ship with two adapters.

Networking company D-Link is all set to show off a couple of new networked media hubs at CES. The main draw should be the Boxee Box, a rather interestingly-designed (a cube that looks like it’s sinking? That’s interesting, right? We’re definitely interested.) kit that ports Boxee’s media streaming-slash-social network interface straight into your home entertainment system.

The Boxee Box comes with a network connection, and USB, audio, and HDMI ports at the back that allow it to act as a bridge between your HDTV, your home network, and the Internet. This “Sunken Cube of Infinite Entertainment” comes with Boxee’s open source software that lets you pull in content from a number of sources such as the net, a connected drive, or the home network—including Twitter and Facebook feeds, stored media files, free online videos (YouTube, Hulu, Netflix), internet radio services (Pandora, last.fm, Shoutcast), and online photo sites (such as flickr and Picasa).

Simply put, this little interestingly-designed sinking cube here gives you more reasons to spaz out in front of your HDTV (instead of just spazzing out in front of your PC). Comfortably. On a couch. With a remote. Maybe a beer or two. Ooh, and a big bag of Cheetos. And a long list of those stupid (but strangely popular) YouTube videos you’ve always wanted to check out but never had the time to do so. (Trust us, YouTube videos—even the dumbest, most random ones—can get pretty entertaining on an HDTV when you’re on a couch after a few drinks.)

The Pebble is also a media streamer, but without the Boxee interface. It’s pretty straightforward: it’s a compact, pebble-shaped kit with a Wi-fi (via an optional wireless dongle) and Ethernet connection, USB ports, and card reader that allows you to plug in multiple sources such as hard drives, thumb drives, memory cards, and networked drives for playback. HDMI and analog outputs allow it to be connected to HDTVs and standard home entertainment systems.

The Boxee Box is expected to sell for around $200, while the Pebble is priced at $120.

LaCie has just announced ther LaCinema Classic HD, a media server/player that can store photos, music and videos into its 1TB drive, and play them back to an HDTV via an HDMI connection.

The LaCinema Classic HD is capable of full HD 1080p playback and upscaling, as well as surround sound with DTS multichannel decoding via Optical SPDIF and HDMI outputs. It’s capable of playing various digital audio, video and photo formats, including DivX, XviD and H.264-encoded videos, as well as iTunes-encoded AAC audio. The box comes with only a 1TB internal drive option, but it also features a USB port for plugging in external drives.

The smooth black all-in-one box also connects to the home network via an Ethernet connection for media streaming and file transfers, and is compatible with other DLNA appliances, Windows, Mac, and Linux-based computers.

It’s now available for $250.

Olive has just released the Olive 4HD, a music server that features an internal 2TB drive that can hold up to 20,000 HD audio tracks or 6,000 CD-quality songs. Olive puts a lot of premium into sound quality though, and the 4HD is specced for audiophiles, with a high resolution digital to analog converter (Texas Instruments’ 192khz, 24-bit Burr-Brown PCM1792A DAC) for clear highs and lows.

The 4HD also comes with a TEAC CD-R/RW drive that allows for CD recording, and a colored 4.3-inch wide touchscreen LCD at the front for displaying song info and album art.

A number of connectivity options are present on the 4HD, including standard RCA analog and S/PDIF digital, and a USB port for connecting external sources and IR receivers. It’s also network-compatible, able to connect to the home network through wired LAN or Wi-fi 802.11n, and supports the usual digital audio formats, including WAV, FLAC, MP3 and AAC.

The Olive 4HD is available now for $2,000.

Roku has announced a pair of compact network-connected media streamers, which are basically compact set-top boxes that connects the home entertainment system to the network. The Roku HD-XR tops out the range, capable of streaming HD media over the network, while the cheaper Roku SD is attractively priced, but is limited to standard-def playback.

The $129 Roku HD-XR supports Amazon VOD and Netflix services and comes with a fast Wi-fi 802.11n network connection across both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency for a wider range, more bandwidth, and less interference. A wired Ethernet connection is also available, as well as standard component AV, S-video, an optical audio out port, and an HDMI connection for plugging into both standard and high-def home entertainment systems. A USB port allows users to plug in an external storage drive for direct playback.

The Roku SD connects to TVs using more conventional analog connection and to the network using both wired Ethernet and a slower Wi-fi g connection, but at a far lower price at $79.