I went out & bought one of these WD media players, today
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...dp_ob_title_ce
I'm really pleased with it - talk about work straight out of the box - playback of x264 files on my HDMI 1080p monitor with sound courtesy of the optical link to my Logitech Z5500 speakers was faultless.
- then, even better, it passed the 'significant other' test plugged into the downstairs HD TV, she found it really easy to use.
I can now provide files on an USB stick for her to watch, rather than messing about converting them to DVD.