14 DAY TRIAL // As high-definition is slowly becoming the standard in display technology and the number of HD-ready, full HD etc. television sets launched on the market is increasing from week to week, the most important element that's really missing is an out of the box HD player, something that will work with just about any type of HD content, including those using the "elusive" H264 and AVC codecs. However, it would seem that the wait might be over, since a company called Wyplay has developed exactly such a player, dubbed "Wyplay HD Media Center", allegedly capable of running HD streams right using the H264 codec.
And the world "allegedly" is not used loosely here, since the information has popped up on the Doom9 forum, the home of DVD experts (or hackers, depending on your point of view) from around the world, mentioned by an used called dattrax. According to the post, this user has actually seen the Wyplay in action, playing HD H264 content, although he doesn't mention anything about where or how he has managed to do so.
Now let's see what the company had to say about their product, upon showcasing it at CES. Thus, it seems that the Wyplay HD Media Center is actually a next-gen set top box, capable of connecting just about any electronic device around the house, from gaming to audio to TVs. It's specially optimized for IPTV receptions, but includes all the other features one might expect from such a device, from PVR functions to ripping, burning and so on.
According to the same statement, the device will be available at some point in May 2007, starting somewhere at 400 US dollars. Of course, by then, it might not be the world's first anymore, since even the recently launched Applet TV thingy is capable of running HD content, albeit at a poorer quality and slower speed.