Hands-on with Niveus' Media Center Extender

While Microsoft representatives at CEDIA were being exceedingly selfish with any information about the media-centric partnership with D-Link and Linksys, Niveus was putting all its cards right there on the table. Essentially, Microsoft claims that the actual hardware from Linksys and D-Link "could change" from its current form, but apparently, Niveus has a finalized product (reportedly dubbed Niveus Media Extender) ready to roll. The touchscreen interface functioned about as well as you'd expect, and while it did lag slightly at times, the overall feel was pretty fluid. Per usual, the hands-on goodness lies beneath, and oh yeah, official specs and such should be landing later this month.

UPDATE: Gallery also includes photos of the Vantage touchscreen and Rainier rig that Niveus was using on the floor.

Hands-on with Niveus' Media Center Extender

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 5:40AM]

Wow ! Thats looks great

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 5:57AM]

cool

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 5:59AM]

cool

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 6:06AM]

Holy crap! does that thing run hot? look at all those external heat sinks, how loud is it compared to the 360?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 6:14AM]

This is *not* a v2 extender going by the UI; this looks a v1 extender I.e. based on Win XP Media Center 2005 rollup 2)

The UI on a v2 extender should be nearly the same as the IUI on Vista Media Center (hint: lots of transparency around the menus and horizontal strips rather than just vertical lists)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 6:20AM]

Guerrilla Radio, what a tune!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 6:42AM]

Anyone else notice the Vista Ultimate sticker on the back?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 7:19AM]

what is that little display named 'Vantage'?

I don't understand, is this supposed to replace my Xbox 360 as my media center extender? I guess I just don't understand the technology.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 8:58AM]

This is not their Extender, it's their third party software running on a standard Vantage touchscreen.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 9:20AM]

This isn't Niveus' media center extender. This is their Companion software, which runs on touchpanels.

The media center extender is the box you've shown, but the Companion is just software unrelated to the box.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 8th 2007 9:38AM]

This is not a media center extender.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 9:31AM]

Engadget staff WTF! that's not an extender. Get your facts right!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 11:13AM]

RATM FTW

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2007 12:53PM]

yay! i hope i win a prize for commenting on something lame. :)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 8th 2007 12:59PM]

Ummm... Not sure whos foolin who...

There appears to be at least three different devices in the gallery.

One is a full blown Vista Media Center - the Niveus Rainier:
http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/rainier07v.htm

Another is only identifiable as different by the power cord location (the real extender?):
http://www.engadget.com/photos/hands-on-with-niveus-media-center-extender/387243/

And the last is the Vantage TPT1210:
http://www.vantage-emea.com/Tech-touch-TP1210.shtml

Love Engadget, but this post/gallery was a mess...