Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices
By Darren Murph 
posted May 18th 2009 10:08AM
posted May 18th 2009 10:08AM
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.
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.
The closest I've come across to this is on an XBox..... and I've been around.
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...
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.
Custom made boxes FTW.
*picks "will sound off in comments"*
I think game consoles with media capabilities (PS3, XB360) eclipsed these devices.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
True, but I could see the use for someone like my dad who wouldn't be caught dead owning a gaming console.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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......
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
"Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices"
Engadget obviously did?
Thats their job, genius.
^^Basically.....
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.
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...
@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.
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
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
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.
@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
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.
I'm fine with my 360.
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?
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.
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...
"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.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Hate your team but awesome response! I totally agree, They are needed but at a better price point and more integration.
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 $$$.
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.
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!
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.
Even without its gaming capability, the 360 is easily the best Media Center Extender on it's own. It does all of the media center animations flawlessly, and has no trouble with horsepower. Really, the only downside is the noise level, which you get used to.
If you got a cablecard pc, you got some windows media extender. The xbox360 is the best extender but that is just too loud. I have the dma2100 which is connected to a slingbox. I can't wait for Windows 7 so I can buy some more cablecards.
I've been a rather happy user of a few DMA2100 extenders. My Windows 7 Media Center loves it. Streaming plenty of off-air, ripped and recorded content perfectly to a few rooms. True, the starting retail prince was insane, always should have been around the $79-99 mark. For those who didn't want or need a gaming machine, it was a great option.
It's disappointing to read that it's been killed off. At the very least it would have been nice to get some further firmware updates for it. Perhaps some H.264 support as well.
But no, since Media Center isn't really pushed or mentioned outside of user groups, these useful little machines will have to waste away. Shame.
At $100, I would have bought 3 by now. Instead I use my 360 and PS3, works well but I for one do not agree that we don't want a settop box- I would love to have a stand alone device for streaming, but just too darned expensive.
I would buy a media center extender if it worked with my cable without alot of effort. When you put in the time and the money, you don't want to end up with something as unstable as windows vista.
Why can't we just get 4 tuners in a centralized server using either cable or satellite and use extenders throughout the house already? It should also be able to play other media. I would pay a significant price for something like this, but nobody can pull it off. Microsoft appears to be getting closer with Windows 7.
What you're describing is exactly what Windows Media Center is for. Also, if you wouldn't believe the phony hype about Vista, you'd understand that it's actually pretty rock solid. I use my main PC exactly as you describe, with a couple of 360s as extenders, and Vista stays up for weeks (or months) at a time. The only times I need to reboot are when I occasionally install something that requires a restart.
If you take your "significant" money and dedicate a PC just to Media Center (so you aren't using it day-to-day for tons of other things), you should never have any problems. Even with Vista, Media Center is great. However, Windows 7 does make it even better.
not only will Vista and W7 media centers do this but if you want a whole house server you can pretty easily add onto a Windows Home Server to do this as well.
I'd only use a fully functional PC e.g. small desktop/laptop to do this.. I can do anything with any codec without any BS.
I have a closet mounted media system connected to what doubles at my gaming rig connected to sorround sound and 55 in LCD in my living room. Content is then delivered to the rest of the house via 3 Linksys DMA2100. I LOVE my set up and anyone that uses media center the way I do would love it too. The extenders have a few flaws. However, no worries, the future of extenders is small form factor PCs and platforms such as Nvidia's ION. These are the new extenders. MS just needs to enable a software extender for full W7 machines and there you go, PCs are the new extenders.
Where's the "I'm not voting" option?
Oh wait...
@ Spiny Norman:
Couldn't agree more. TVs should just be monitors (if you are using it with your PC). I hate all of these internet enabled widget streaming memory card having mumbo jumbo 18 different tuners blah blah stuffed into a TV (you don't think that makes it thicker!!), especially because I have my PC connected directly into the screen. It should just be a monitor that delivers the best picture without all the extra crap that causes the price to skyrocket and makes the TV thicker than it needs to be. I can adjust all the bullshit contained in the on-screen Sony menues through my Nvidia console on the PC, I don't need redundant features that conflict with eachother.
I can't say that the extra crap causes the price to skyrocket, as prices for high-end TVs have continued to drop. In fact, the prices have fallen on LCDs so much that it has basically put plasma on the ropes.
My biggest concern is the buggy firmware. I'm not absolutely certain, but I have a good hunch that consumer electronics companies don't employ the world's brightest programmers. Take a stroll over to AVSForum and peruse the message boards related to HT receivers and Blu-ray players. I was going to buy a high-end Denon a year ago until I read the early reports about the missing and buggy features.
Now, it's one thing to have to upgrade a $300 throw-away Blu-ray player, but it's insane that one has to patch a $3000 flat panel.
I understand the forces at work that are driving the manufacturers to add all the useless bells and whistles, but as you point out, I simply want to have the best picture quality for the money spent.
Single young men were the most likely buyers. As a single young (used to be anyway) man, I built my own HTPC and put it in the living room next to the 30 inch monitor. Why would I need to extend this to another room when all I have is one room. I like buying gadgets but I could not figure out a use for this thing. Even at $50, it would not have improved my life.
Extenders are all stupid. Far as a stand alone box it should just support as many codecs as possible and run everything via samba. Recoding and streaming is stupid at best.
as soon as microsoft integrate the new windows 7 remote media experience into windows media center then mce extenders will have the final nail in the coffin
I use Apple TV every day to watch podcasts and/or HD TV shows and movies. Occasionally when I'm bored I also use it for youtube entertainment. Same concept as the Linksys boxes but much, much better design. My cable box is now relegated to sports programs for the most part.
I love the idea of a media extender, but they really missed the mark with both the hardware and software.
Hardware
Who wants yet another noisy box sitting next(?) to your wall-mounted flat panel? The idea of "streaming" content is such that you don't have to place the source device right next to your TV.
The possible solutions include:
1) an integrated media extender (blech)
2) a centrally located media extender using a switching matrix to control access (more elegant solution but HDMI matrix switches are still problematic due to HDCP)
3) a media hub that can support streaming to multiple displays (I would love to see the day)
Software
Seriously, how hard is it to make a device with good codec support and a decent UI? I just want to see a nice HD screen full of coverart (needs filtering, sorting, and parental controls too). 3D effects would be cool too, but how can companies justify pumping out UIs that only show a list of text for the UI this day and age? AppleTVs UI is decent, but convoluted. There is a better one that you can hack on to the Popcorn Hour, but why should anyone have to hack a device to get a decent UI?
you're not paying attention. and missing the point.
1) with the exception of the XBox 360, extenders are silent and about the size of a router.
2) it duplicates almost everything on a Media Center pc, thus, you put it in another room away from your Media Center, like a den or kitchen and watch everything main MC does. like the same DVR stream and rewind cache, the same recorded TV, music, photos libraries but just in another room in HD. it extends the MC. you can even make Netflix work on them.
so if you're concerned about codec support and your library of bittorrented DVDs, this is not the device for you and you don't understand what it does.
@Jeff, @Josh below: EXACTLY!
Just to agree with the article, too expensive and late. The grasping claws of DRM, missing CODECs and missing multiroom-simulcast was the nail in the coffin.
Now we can have Acer REVOs, will MS release a true SoftSled......?
I've used MythTV for a few years now. I have the backend/frontend hybrid in my room upstairs, then another frontend downstairs. Plays anything I throw at it. The frontend is a full blown PC and only cost me $300. I like the extender idea, but if they cost as much as this, then they don't make much sense since the price of a decent HTPC is so low at this point.
Refurb aTV + XBMC/Boxee (with BT RSS feeds) is the ultimate 'Media Extender' for 200$.
Pictures/Music: aTV
Movies, TV shows, Kids shows: XBMC (just put a whole folder on random for all-day TV)
Streaming Video: Boxee
I'm guessing the xBox 360 can do all the above, and in HD, but that little white box is one of 2 boxes connected to my TV (the other being a Tivo HD) and takes care of all the living room A/V.
Well i have a vista media center as well as 2 linksys extenders and a 360. Al work great as extenders, but not a fan of using the bulky, loud 360 as extenders. Picked up my DMA2200s for $80 on sale at dell awhile ago, for that price, completely worth it!
it still amazes me how many people who post up on the comments here, do not even realize what media center is. and the bulk of what it can do.
One of the main features, that many users, even very technical savvy users don't get is that media center (MCE 2005, Vista, and now Windows 7) is a DVR application, and is one of the best out there. The UI, alone is one, if not the best UI for DVR applications out there. Tivo? no thank you.
The ability to have a centralized DVR solution, where you can have a single PC, with multiple tuners setup to do all your TV recording, and then share it instantly to ANY tv in your home wired or wireless (as long as your running 802.11N that is) stream full 1080i/720p HDTV is huge.
Instead of having a DVR at each and every single tv, and trying to figure out what DVR has what recorded, you have it all on a single pc, which all extenders connected to it, see the same thing.
Another great ability to be able to start watching a tv show, hit pause, or stop, and then move over to another tv, with another extender and pick up right where you left off is huge. So you are never limited to where your dvr is located, you can always watch your tv shows on any tv in your home, and that is all because of media center extenders like the Linksys.
So its a sad day when something like the linksys extender is discontinued, who wants to have a full blown 360 at each tv, that uses 3 - 4 times the power than what a linksys extender does just to stream live and recorded tv?
And if you need a CableCard? Everything I've read about PC-based DVRs and CCs is that they're not quite there yet.
Then I guess you missed this post by Ben D earlier: http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/05/12/how-to-install-a-cablecard-tuner-in-your-diy-media-center/
also Dish is supposedly coming out with a tuner solution for 7Mc as well.
@Spiny Norman - They have come a long way. My dell system with 3 CableCards is awesome. Beats the shit out of everything else I've seen.
Xbox 360 as an MCE
Pros - Same price as dedicated MCEs with Arcade version and HDMI and you get a lot more with xbox being a gaming platform and other services like Netflix.
Cons - RELIABILITY!! I have two Xbox 360s and both have RROD'd on me, on one replacement xbox, TV picture freezes after power on anywhere from 1-20 minutes when watching TV or recording.....wait for 1 minute to time out and then reconnect back to MC PC from Xbox dashboard. Xbox is SO LOUD and POWER HUNGRY that I have to power off the Xbox after use, so when you turn on your TV, it's wait for xbox to boot, wait for xbox to connect to Media Center and then start watching TV about 5 minutes later (my wife's biggest complaint). I have dedicated 3Com gigabit switch (Dell managed gig switches won't stream TV or recordings), fully wired Cat6 network in my home and I still get stutter and fragments everytime I watch TV which is not coming from Comcast cable. CableCard firmware issues and bugs in Dell crapware which break MCE, Recording/DVR glitches galore, and on and on. No way will the average couch potato put up with this crap to watch TV even for all the benefits of having technically infinite DVR storage (WHS which doesn't work that great yet either) and HD streaming up to five rooms.
Unfortunately, it's very close to being great yet so far from perfect that it will never gain traction. I waited until Vista MCE for HD support and got the special Dell computer with dual tuners, but this is definitely not ready for prime time by any stretch of the imagination so no one is going to touch this hot potato which is unfortunate but understandable.
Once the things can stream ripped DVDs I'll bite. I've ripped all of my DVDs and use MyMovies to stream them to all of my TVs or to my home theater. Since the extenders and Xbox don't support MyMovies I wound up just building a Shuttle box for every TV.
i noticed the pic swap
TVersity + a PS3 in each room (w/ Blu-ray) = :-)
*bitch bitch bitch complain complain* those choices sucked *bitch bitch bitch complain complain complain*
If you really needed a media center extender, get a AirTunes its about $150 and it also acts as a wifi extender and its about the size of a power adapter. and its plug n play.
can you watch live HD TV on it from another room? can you watch the DVR recordings from your main DVR?
I recently built a windows 7 Media Center setup complete with extenders that serves up 100% of our TV and movie content in the house. No cable, but dual OTA-HD receivers and NetFlix make up the difference. The media Center itself works wonderfully, and as a longtime Tivo user, I have to admit I actually prefer the MCE interface. As for the extenders (2xDMA2100, 1xDMA200) however, the results have been decidedly mixed. They boot up slow, the interface lags and they don't support h.264 which accounts for nearly all of my movie files. Likewise none of them have ever worked wirelessly. The only way to get passable performance is via a dedicated hardwired switch.
All that said I'm still sad to see them go. My Media Center itself isn't much good without the extenders and I was really hoping this technology would be improved upon, not scuttled. I suppose I could still hope to see a dedicated Microsoft set-top box (to compete with the Apple TV) but knowing MS, it likely would be Zune branded and wouldn't be compatible with MCE anyway. Sigh.
Don't know what your doing wrong but 7MC supports h.264 out of the box.
Hah - Wheres the Still 'sporting the XP media center extender option?
We have 4 of them (the huge old linksys ones) - Buggy as s*t. Drop the connection requiring reboot regularly, remotes were unresponsive, all very slow and not much fun to use, no on pc transcoding of non WMV files. I'm sure a lot of these issues microsoft may have been able to fix with firmware updates etc, but after only 1 firmware update in the lives of the boxes, nothing. Didn't quite have the balls to risk the new version - its always seemed like a bit of a sideline token effort for MS.
i bought a 2200 at $99 and it works very well. a little slow on boot up, but it plays upscaling DVDs and allows me to watch recorded content from Media Center. They were just way over priced.
I own a linksys with built-in DVD player.
The DVD functionality is way too slow.
It takes forever to boot up.
On the other hand, it's nice to have, but I mostly use my 360 for mediacenter-hosted stuff (the linksys is in the bedroom).
I do think the MCE's and networked STB's are the future to media, but not right now. They were doomed from the beginning by being released ahead of their time. As it stands, content is always the greatest problem. Sure, it is amazing the stream an HD rip of "The Dark Knight" to my PS3, however the sources of these contents are dubious at best and illegal at worst. Not a situation that is ready for mainstream consumption. And as for using it as a media extender in tandem with a computer and centralized tuner... Despite years of effort by Microsoft, there seems to still be a line between computer and television that most consumers seem either incapable or unwilling to cross.
My house is setup with Vista Media Center, two Direct TV tuners, 1 OTA HD, 2 XBOX360, and 2 DMA2100. The setup is great that I can move from any of my rooms (exercise, living room, bedroom, and office) and watch the same shows either streaming real-time or recorded (up to 3 shows for the family) to include "some" video, music, and pictures.
HOWEVER, the real limiting factor is the lack of CODEC support (like h.264 and MKV) and now I can't watch Netflix on the DM2100 like my XBOX360. But the sound from the XBOX360 is horribly loud so I prefer the DM2100, even with the super long boot-up.
Unfortunately, both the Media Center and Extender have failed me in too many ways and once purchases I felt the support from Microsoft and Linksys was nearly non-existent. Did they want the process to succeed or fail? They acted like failures from the get go. Maybe it was the cable companies or even DirectTV's failed promised (by email to me) dual Media Center tuners that really killed the idea. Perhaps using TCP streaming per device instead of multicasting UDP. Perhaps.
All in all, a great and perfect idea left un-developed. The Microsoft experiment has failed. Perhaps others will succeed. Then again probably not. I am quite skeptical now.
I've got an Ubuntu server box with 2.5TB worth of storage in the basement, and it streams 1080p MKVs to Popcorn Hour A-110 over a powerline network upstairs.
does the Popcorn hour receive streamed live TV?
Bought a D-Link DSM510 a couple years back and was very happy. Worked with a number of media servers and handled MP4 and DivX with no problems.
Tried the DSM520 and was extremely disappointed in the "upgrade." No more DivX support, and couldn't even do MP4 or MPEG without streaming problems on a wired connection. I'd grab some more DSM510's if I could find them.
I own a 360, and quite frankly, the Media Center Extender aspect of it never worked right. And since the HDTV my 360 is hooked up to is also my computer monitor, there really, really isn't a point.
I've been using my HP meidasmart TV to stream the media. One control for TV and media. I just plug my TV into my network (ethernet or wireless) and I get all my media from my network (and my neighbors!!).
Where's the option for "I use an HTPC that doesn't suck?"
I think the Media Center Extenders would be more useful if they were openly extensible. I can install Windows Media Center add-ins that did things like let me play ripped DVDs through the Media Center interface, but they wouldn't stream to my TV via an Extender!
If Microsoft had a sort of "App Store" for Media Center where you could buy apps to let you stream an open variety of codecs, and connect to streaming services like Netflix, etc., this system would have had more of a chance.
I own a DMA2100 (paid $200) and DMA2200 (paid $100). I use them everyday. I have a Vista box with 4 tuners recording OTA. Each TV has one of these or an Xbox hooked to it. The are very nice if you are only using them for extending Windows Media Center. I will buy another one, once they go discounted for being discontinued. If you have them, Wifi is not an option. Wired performance will be twice that of Wifi.
It's a shame, since with Windows 7, these Media Extenders can finally realize their potential. The Windows 7 PC automatically transcodes on the fly to a format that the Extenders can play, and you're all set.
I know this has been possible in the past with Transcode 360, but now that it's built into Windows, it's done automatically with no setup. Not quite as good as a native solution to play the codecs, but still.
I already have two 360s and a Media Center PC, otherwise I'd have a lot more use for these.
I LOVE my Linksys 2200 :) I use it every day. It works very well (wired, never tried it wireless).
What I don't understand is all the people who complain that it doesn't do something... Well my toaster doesn't play MKV files either!
This is what it does do. I
If properly encoded (or trans coded?) you can play movies stored on your computer. Yes.. you have to put it in the correct format! Really its not a hard concept to understand. Rip the DVD in the correct file format... presto.. it works.. (I don't do this myself, but I have planned on doing this for some time). And if the reports are correctly Win7 adds all kinds support for different file types.
You can stream live TV from your Computer. (nothing else, except an extender will do that, at least as far as I know).
You can use it like a Tivo... set your computer up to record your favorite TV series, movies ect. and you can use the extender to watch them on your TV. I don't know anything else that will take your Vista/Win7 Recorded TV programs and display them on your TV, with the exception of an HTPC.
Other Pros
Easy to use I find it very easy to use, much easier then an HTPC.
Silent (unless you build a totally quite PC, nothing else will be as Silent)
I will admit that they could do a better job, offer more codec support ect...
I find it totally useful, and I don't know what I would do without it. It literally transformed what,when, and how I watch TV. and it only cost my $90 (at Christmas). For how much use I get out of it. I would pay up to $250 for it, (any more then that, I would get the HP version).
The other thing I keep wondering about, why is everyone soo upset about its wireless ability, It seems to me that its wireless problems are really wireless N standard problems. Until the industry gets a good wireless N standard (like they have for a/b/g), devices like this will always be a little bit difficult to get to work. Don't blame Linksys for the lack of a true wirleess N standard. I have read that LOTS of people have got the wireless part to work just fine. I suspect you need the right combination of settings/equipment to get that to work correctly.
Not and MCE exactly, but I use my AppleTV all the time - sync beats stream for local content and the weak link on Internet streaming is still the broadband connection for me (and many others).