Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices

Media Center Extenders -- remember those? Yeah, those things were all the rage at CEDIA 2008, and right around four hours after the show closed up, you and the whole world forgot about 'em. Honestly, the concept and execution was flawed from the start. These standalone boxes provided exactly what media loving consumers didn't want: yet another set-top-box crowding their space. Furthermore, most were priced at or above the cost of an Xbox 360, which -- lo and behold -- could be used as an MCE as well as a darn good gaming console. See the holes in this plan yet? Furthermore, most of 'em, particularly those that relied on WiFi, were utterly unreliable and offered disappointing streams. High prices plus lackluster results yields low demand, who woulda thunk it?

Essentially, manufacturers were hoping that those with loads of media on Windows-based PCs would jump at the chance to get all of that material on their HDTV with the addition of one little box. And in theory, at least, that does sound somewhat attractive. Unfortunately, only a few of these were announced in Denver, and almost all of them suffered from inexcusable delays. By the time they hit the market, all of the buzz generated at the trade show was extinguished, and early reviews were less than positive. It didn't take long to see prices begin to plummet, all while fence sitting companies realized that avoiding this niche would likely be most beneficial to their longevity.

Today, we're seeing Linksys' DMA2100 and DMA2200 listed as "Discontinued" at a number of legitimate e-tailers, and while D-Link's DSM-750 and HP's MediaSmart Connect seem to be hanging around at near-full price, we can't say the same for Samsung's discounted MediaLive Digital Media Adapter. Heck, Niveus Media doesn't even list its Media Center Extender - EDGE as a product on its website anymore. It shouldn't be any real shock that hardly any other companies have jumped in since these first few, and we're having serious doubts about the future of the dedicated MCE. Are you getting the same vibes? Do you think these things could thrive at the right price? Let us know in the poll and comments below!

[Via GeekTonic]

Update: Turns out HP is axing its MediaSmart HDTV / Connect lines as well. It's full statement sent to us is after the break.

Do you want / own a Media Center Extender?

I'm an early adopter, no regrets!I own one, and it's collecting dust.Never saw the use, meh.I would totally buy one at 50 percent off.These choices are lame -- I'm sounding off in comments.Vote

HP is discontinuing the MediaSmart TV and MediaSmart Connect lines. As part of HP's ongoing strategy to accelerate the growth of key product categories, improve efficiencies and profitability and continue to drive innovation for its Personal Systems Group, the company made the decision to place its Connected Entertainment and Managed Home product lines into its global Attach Business. The Attach Business develops products and services that supplement and extend the customer experience of HP's core product lines such as the MediaSmart Server. With these changes, there will not be any follow on MediaSmart TV or MediaSmart Connect products in 2009. With the PC at the center of the experience, HP continues to be committed to delivering high-definition, connected entertainment to consumers around the world.

[darkmax @ May 18th 2009 10:12AM]

The closest I've come across to this is on an XBox..... and I've been around.

[Platinum_Skeet @ May 18th 2009 10:24AM]

Even then with an Xbox360 or a PS3 it's quicker to just stream whatever media your watching. I have Media Center and I almost never use it because it's glossy, slower alternative to Tversity and the other alternatives out there...

[Quantumphysics @ May 18th 2009 12:10PM]

The 360's media center extender is good when you use it on ethernet, but frankly, I think they should be building these things into the television themselves.

[E71 @ May 19th 2009 8:16AM]

Custom made boxes FTW.

[Aguiluz @ May 18th 2009 10:12AM]

*picks "will sound off in comments"*

I think game consoles with media capabilities (PS3, XB360) eclipsed these devices.

[contagiousmind @ May 18th 2009 10:21AM]

Agreed. I use the 360 and PS3 from time to time for this functionallity. But it's often easier to burn a dvd then set it up and get it working flawlessly.

[Tarnation @ May 18th 2009 11:25AM]

Yeah I considered one, but codec support for MCE sucks and I turned away. Also these things were +$200 which the 360 hit that with the Arcade version and it offered more functionality. With the pending release of Windows 7 and nettops gaining strength they are now completely superfluous. It would have been a good idea to incorporate these features into something like my Comcast Motorola STB. Which for some unknown reason has an Ethernet port, USB ports, and Firewire ports that don't do anything. Unless someone would like to shed some light I was completely at a loss to why they are on there.

[kwanbis @ May 18th 2009 12:03PM]

Problem with consoles, like PS3 or XBOX 360, is that they do not support popular formats (MKV for example), and they do not support subtitles (SRT, SSA, etc).

I would love to use my 360, but i have to buy a WD TV, that does all that at a fraction of the cost.

[Casper42 @ May 18th 2009 12:07PM]

For the price of those Linksys devices you would expect that they could be used for something other than a straight up MC Extender.

I think if they had an alternate mode where you could just hook them into any old uPnP environment and allow them to play DiVX and XViD, they would have sold ALOT better.

But tying them to MCE, which has its hands tied when it comes to Codecs and TV Tuner Support was a BAD move.

[DeadMa77 @ May 19th 2009 8:48AM]

Tried a Linksys one with a lovely jittery god-awful picture, clever idea badly rolled out, now my Sony Bravia does the same job but with no box and 30 times better (although they do seem to be a bit tight with formats accepted)

[Lars @ May 18th 2009 2:04PM]

True, but I could see the use for someone like my dad who wouldn't be caught dead owning a gaming console.

[Billy Fiul @ May 18th 2009 2:05PM]

Interesting how 841 people voted "I'm sounding off in comments" yet there are only 76 comments so far, and some people post more than one comment.

[loosely_coupled @ May 18th 2009 3:13PM]

Yep, PS3 here.


However, I think if they focused on Blu-ray player/media extender combos they would do a lot better. Or at least an upscaling DVD player combo. No one wants ANOTHER box sitting by their TV.

[Penelope the Wonder Pony @ May 18th 2009 10:15AM]

Me and my flatmates have a Media Centre Extender- its called a 360. *win* Microsoft have really made a smart move turning the 360 into more than just a console. It kind of started when PS2s and original XBoxes could play DVDs (noisily), but things are really starting to take off now.

[Platinum_Skeet @ May 18th 2009 10:28AM]

I never seen anyone really use the Media Center on Xbox360 because how slow it runs. It's a lot quicker just using WMP11 and streaming through the dashboard then using the actual media center extension. It's a cool feature but it's a waste of time...

[jason w @ May 18th 2009 10:16AM]

I love my 360. I use it to watch stuff off the media center more than I do to play games. Wow im getting old....



Runs away and cries......

[Chris @ May 18th 2009 3:43PM]

Ditto. The 360 is a great extender. I totally would have gotten a standalone extender if they weren't inferior to the 360 in every way except size for the same price. All they need is to support more file types and be cheaper than a 360. $100 is a good price.

[tim @ May 18th 2009 10:17AM]

I own one and use it every day. One a wired network, performance is perfectly acceptable. Around the holidays the Linksys extenders could be had for $99 and that's where they should have been priced from the start.

In terms of using an Xbox, that's exactly what I didn't want - another noisy, power hungry set top box. The extender is silent and does what I need it to do.

The part I found most frustrating wasn't performance, it was Microsoft's incoherent codec support strategy for the extenders. Streaming anything other than TV was hit or miss. It's better for Win7 but still doesn't match native PC support.

[Spiny Norman @ May 18th 2009 10:26AM]

I agree about the noise. Home theater components should be whisper quiet.

However, I agree with the jist of the article that the extenders were overpriced, buggy junk. I never bit the bullet and purchased one based on the overly negative feedback from owners.

For years they didn't support HD, and when they finally did, codec support was spotty.

As it sits today, I believe the niche will be eliminated with the arrival of reasonably priced Atom/Ion-based PCs, e.g. Asus B208. For roughly the same price you'll get a full-blown PC capable of displaying full HD, rather than a one trick pony.

[Schweppes @ May 18th 2009 10:16AM]

AHAHAHAHH!!!

another one bites the dust!

Good... too much trash on TV anyway... and most people who need this are fat a55es who need to get out more instead of eating Mc.D's Ribwitch in their XXXL undies!!!


AHAHAHH!!!

[Jakob @ May 18th 2009 10:16AM]

"Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices"
Engadget obviously did?

[fb @ May 18th 2009 10:23AM]

Thats their job, genius.

[Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 18th 2009 10:37AM]

^^Basically.....

[Obi-Habby @ May 18th 2009 10:17AM]

Yet another comment about how X-box 360 is better then a Media Center Extender. I hear PS3 is great for it too, but have never seen it in action.

[Platinum_Skeet @ May 18th 2009 10:55AM]

PS3 doesn't have a media center but it has streaming capabilities. Which in the end is more important because the time it and resources it takes to connect and use Media Center, you might as well use Tversity or some other streaming software out there...

[AndyS @ May 18th 2009 11:08AM]

@Platinum_skeet

Tversity is not the same thing as media center. That's basically a DLNA server for streaming content. Windows Media Center allows you to stream live and recorded TV to extenders from centralized TV tuners in addition to the typical media sharing function of a general DLNA server.

[Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 18th 2009 11:19AM]

yea but MCE dont make use of the Codecs even tho Media Center on the PC does(for a few of them) thats why I use TVersity over the MCE feature on my 360

[Samo @ May 18th 2009 10:17AM]

Meh, I just built a nice, cheap media-centric PC for £120 (excluding the monitor), and linked it up to the DVI input of the living room telly. I added a cheapo 17" mon for web and file browsing, and any media would automatically get slung across to the telly (WMP and VLc automatically opening on the 2nd display). This method works because i have a NAS too, though.

Although I kind of feel the PS3 would've done the same thing, but this thing was built prior to me owning the PS3

[Richard @ May 18th 2009 11:37AM]

Can you share with us your specs and where you bought them from? I've been looking at exactly the same thing and there is absolutely no way that I can get something for £120.

The Asus Eeebox is good looking but has no HDMI and no DVD drive. The Shuttle K45 is slightly bigger and has a DVD drive, but still no HDMI, is quite big for going under the telly and is £88 before you put in the rest of the components.

I'm not really sure what else is out there.

[Samo @ May 18th 2009 11:52AM]

@Richard:

Once I get back home tomorrow, I will, if you still want. I can tell you the majority was bought from www.ebuyer.com, and the GFX was a steal at £10 / £15 for a low GF8 series, I think an 8400 GS, whch had the DVI out.

Erm, just logged onto ebuyer, and found my specs, apparently I didn't buy that GFX card for that machine!:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Socket AM2 4200+
MSI K9AGM3-FIH socket AM2 AMD 690G PCI-E HDMI
Corsair 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 675MHz
Extra Value Black Desktop Micro ATX Case - With 450W PSU

And looks like I mis-remembered the price; it was £143.85 with VAT.

However, I'm guessing the price will be lower again now. Hope that helps

[RyanTV @ May 18th 2009 10:21AM]

I got one of the 2100 models for $99 and it works pretty well actually. I have it hard-wired to my network and have never had any issue with bandwidth. It will play most xvid/divx files i throw at it, but admittedly it does choke on a few here and there.

It's not the most ideal box, but it was very inexpensive and it is SILENT, unlike my 360.

[Jason @ May 18th 2009 10:22AM]

I'm fine with my 360.

[r3loaded @ May 18th 2009 10:22AM]

Here's an idea - why not integrate it into a TV? We already have TVs with DLNA, so why not the full Media Centre experience?

[Spiny Norman @ May 18th 2009 10:30AM]

Please don't. I don't believe I'm the only one that believes that TVs should be monitors only. I don't mind an extra box. It's bad enough that I have to upgrade the firmware in my receiver periodically. I don't want to have to install weekly critical security updates on the TV.

[Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 18th 2009 10:36AM]

they have those....HP has MediaSmart TVs and they cost a good amount of money too. I for one dont want it built into a lot of TVs....like the Widgets on a few TVs is cool, but putting them on all TVs would be ridiculous...

[Jacob @ May 18th 2009 11:01AM]

"Please don't. I don't believe I'm the only one that believes that TVs should be monitors only. I don't mind an extra box. It's bad enough that I have to upgrade the firmware in my receiver periodically. I don't want to have to install weekly critical security updates on the TV."

No one's forcing you to buy it. I think it would be awesome to have it built in to more TV's. The problem is not a lot of people use Media Center, Tivo and DVR's will predominate for a long time.

[elBravo @ May 18th 2009 1:32PM]

@Spiny:

I completely agree!! TVs should be strictly monitors to display video. I am almost opposed to TVs with speakers, but I digress if they are small enough to hide behind the TV and not enlarge the bezel. When I buy a TV, I want every penny to go toward picture. I see no point in increasing the price of the whole set just to add mediocre additions that would be better handled through a STB. It's bad enough trying to find the best STB with the right codec support (Popcorn hour still wins) much less a TV.

[N8 the Gr8 @ May 18th 2009 10:22AM]

I have two 2200's that I purchased from Dell for $99 each including shipping. I am disappointed to hear about the cancellation mostly because I really enjoy the whole media center experience and worried about it's future without extenders.

[Alex @ May 18th 2009 10:24AM]

An MS burn for the sake of an MS burn. So lacking in the humor department that you knew your voting options sucked.

That said, it's a shame more people don't use Media Center. It really is great.

[Brent @ May 18th 2009 10:28AM]

I think Media Center is a hidden jewel that most don't even realize exists.

But to be honest, I use SageTV with their much more powerful HD Theater (HD200) extenders. It handles playback of blu-ray, ripped and streamed DVDs, most video/music/photo file formats and is small & silent. That is what Microsoft should be doing right now.

[Andrea @ May 18th 2009 10:30AM]

The DMA2100 can be picked up now for € 65 over here in the Netherlands. That's a pretty sweet deal. I've read somewhere that the V2 versions of this model are totally Windows 7 compatible, so you'll have some really good Media Center action for years to come.

[Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 18th 2009 10:34AM]

I've got a 360 and I have tried using it as a MCE but its just so horrible.....sure I can play SOME of my media but a LOT of codecs dont work, meaning I can only play a select few videos......that does me no good at all.....so I just end up using TVersity to stream all my content. at least it plays everything.

[ajfarson @ May 18th 2009 11:54AM]

I am trapped in iTunes hell, so I never really saw a use for one... I do have a 360 though, and dabbled with it connecting to Media Center, and Netflix, but with no new titles in HD on Netflix, and the rest of my stuff in iTunes & having an iPhone... No easy transition to MCE for me until winmo7. I want my Windows Mobile 7 phone with built in Zune app and I will change back to MS in a heartbeat, then I will be all over MCE... Maybe?

[hjenkins @ May 18th 2009 10:37AM]

I just have a desktop PC plugged into my TV. I don't need a fancy pretty interface to get to my media when I can just browse through my hard drive with a mouse and keyboard. The extra flexibility of a fully functional PC has eliminated any interest I would have in an MCE. Being able to use one box as a media center, web server, and web browser is great, especially when I can tuck it away behind everything and it doesn't require real estate in my entertainment center.

[Jagster @ May 18th 2009 10:40AM]

There should be another option or "Never saw the use, meh." should be changed to "Don't see the need since the 360 came out". Seriously, if you never saw the use, then I feel bad for your comprehension abilities. The use is obvious. I think the idea is great but the pricing was ridiculous. $300-$400 for a Media Center Extender?? These should have been $99 from the start, max $150. And now they should be around $50-$75. When the 360 came out, it really put these stand alone extenders on death row unless they seriously dropped their MSRP's, which they didn't by much.

A Media Center is a great idea and here to stay. Extenders are a natural part of that ecosystem and they will be around as well, it's the form that will change. Extenders will be built into other devices like TV's, Optical disk players, HT receivers, game consoles (ex. 360), etc. or be cheap stand-alone’s. It makes perfect sense to have all your media converge on one central server in your home that is accessible anywhere, even remotely. Windows 7 is building this remote access into the OS already.

[therodt @ May 18th 2009 4:27PM]

Hate your team but awesome response! I totally agree, They are needed but at a better price point and more integration.

[Oknarf @ May 18th 2009 10:42AM]

As others have noted the 2100/2200's could be had for 99/150 last Christmas and I have 2 2200's running as extenders for 7MC and use a 360 as well. The 360's have a little more horse power and the 2200's take a little long to start up but once running, on a wired connection, are great for streaming HDTV, media and also serve as stand alone DVD players via HDMI. What's not to love.

Part of what held these back is the Cable co's control and lack of support for cablecards. Let's face it, they prefer to lease you a "piece o crap" box monthly than charge you for a cable card and let you distribute via extenders with no monthly charge. It's all about the $$$.

[mfbl70 @ May 21st 2009 11:59AM]

The problem with Media Center adoption in general is the lack of easy and inexpensive digital cable and satellite TV integration. The requirement to purchase an OEM machine to use CableCard combined with the DirecTV Media Center receiver not materializing insured that Media Center would not gain a foothold outside of hobbyists.

[Rask @ May 18th 2009 10:42AM]

We've been using Windows Media Center with the Xbox 360 ever since the days of Windows XP Media Center Edition.
It's a great DVR, the UI is easy and it works great.

Windows 7 also adds support for DivX streaming to the Xbox 360 in Media Center!! I don't even have to use the Dashboard streming anymore!

[Onetrack @ May 18th 2009 12:04PM]

I used to have an extender setup, but its limited amount of supported codecs made me look elsewhere.. used to use xbmc on an old xbox, but then discovered plex (http://elan.plexapp.org) and now its just great.

I think for anyone building themselves a powerful, quite (sillent really) htpc should look at the zotac mini-itx ion platform - that'll be my next little streaming rig.