Joining the likes of LaCie and Western Digital, German company TrekStor entered into the media hard drive market today with a formidable external drive that doubles as both a home media server and a high-capacity hard drive.

The MovieStation comes in sizes up to 500-Gbytes and can connect directly to your TV or stereo system (via component or composite connections for video and analogue and optical for audio) to play stored movies, music, and photos--all without having to switch on your Mac-, Windows-, or Linux-based PC. According to the company, the MovieStation will also play downloaded hi-def movies and videos in 720p and 1080i on a HDTV.

Worried about video and audio formats? No need. The drive will support MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (DVD), and MPEG-4 (AVI, DivX3/5, XviD) video files, and everything but ACC on the audio side.

In keeping with the drive-as-media-player ethos, TrekStor will include an infrared remote control and will also provide integrated Nero BackItUp 2 software so you don't lose your precious audio and video content.

Prices for the media hard drives will run $300 for the 250-Gbyte version, $340 for the 320-Gbyte model, $350 for 400-Gbytes, and $400 for the top-of-the-line $500 version.