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.
| 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. |
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.
I use my 360 for streaming all my downloaded TV shows.
720p works fine over the MS wifi adapter, but I can't stream anything higher.
Not really a complaint on the adapters behalf... 802.11g's speed just plain sucks compared to Ethernet / 802.11n
I used media center extender through my xbox as my main tv for almost a year. It was awesome! Never had any stability issues, no unplayable files, it was all I could ask for. You guys must be doing it wrong.
No love for the ORIGINAL Xbox up in here? I figured someone would have mentioned XBMC by now.
XBMC blows the doors off the 360 and the PS3.
$40 for an original Xbox off craigslist + free mod + XBMC + old skool emulators = Nerdgasm!
does it play live TV?
Seriously. None of you must have families. Kids and wives don't want to have to use a keyboard and mouse to "stream" media files to another TV. They want to use remotes with a user-friendly interface.
Mediacenter Extenders do this. Now, granted, they have limited codec support. But if you are smart in your choices of codecs when you encode or download, you will be fine.
It seems that 99% of what an extender is for is what it's really good at... extending the DVR functionality of Mediacenter to another TV. Sure it's nice to watch the latest downloaded flick from the comfort of your bedroom... but usually you are going to want to sit on the couch in your living room where the main HTPC is. Guess what... it has full codec support!
we have a DMA2100 in the kitchen. if I start a [live TV] show in the den on the main VMC and I need to go cook dinner in the middle of that show (for example) I can go to the kitchen and turn on that same show and have access to the rewind cache for the same show in the den, or vice versa, starting in the kitchen. I can resume playback on either with a recorded show where I left off. ALL IN HD. we have 4 tuners in the VMC and occasionally have 3 shows recording and 1 show playing on the linksys and 1 in the den and never a hiccup. instead of running coax to the kitchen, I ran CAT5, I think that makes the difference.
there is nothing else that will do this and when I demonstrate this to people who have never seen full VMC in action. usually they are jealous because their cable co. DVRs can't do it.
then I tell them that I can't get all the digital cable channels and they're not jealous anymore. it's just a shame that Cablelabs made/makes it so difficult and expensive to have real cable on a VMC. this is supposed to be changing for W7 and new cable hardware standards, but until then my solution just doesn't work for most other people.
I'm hoping the extender concept stays alive and am keeping my eye out for one of those HP TVs with the Media Smart built in on deep discount. fortunately, W7 supports the Linksys units even better than Vista, so I might be tempted to pick up a DMA2200 I saw for only $100, a bargain for an upscaling DVD player + extender.
I bought one once and returned it a few days leter... clunky menus, hard to drill down through big music libraries. I like it for video, though it wasn't anything compared to XBMC with Aeon or Mediastream.
I have two DMA2100s and an Xbox360...this is bad news for Media Center. For those that don't get it...
1. Xbox is too loud for anything but a dorm room
2. Media Center Extenders stream LIVE TV - Very little else does this that doesn't take a lot of effort to set up.
3. The extenders that were available barely made it to Europe (excluding Xbox and Linksys).
I agree with other commenters though MS has completely lost the plot with Media Center, with poor support for extenders, no in house quiet solution to match the Xbox and just appalling support for video formats beyond MS-DVR.
Thanks MS for another dead attempt at the living room. Thanks Linksys for the two boxes that I guess will never support HD now...what a waste.
The time is ripe for Apple to jump in and steal the show.
I use a Samsung extender and I also use my 360. I specifically bought another device because who wants/needs 2 360s in their house just for this function. And as other posters have notes, 360's are loud. I would much rather have another extender in my media room for this purpose than the 360.
It's unfortunate that there never seemed to be a lot of development around this space despite the promise. This one little device keeps me from needing to have cable box and DVD player in my bedroom. I'm hoping that they don't do anything to break the current devices.
I have multiple rooms with TVs and I wanted to have my media library available to every room and so I bought a couple of DMA2100s when they became dirt cheap. My only gripes with this and I blame Microsoft is no DVD support and NetFlix Support. The wireless is horrendous to set up and is too inconsistent to be practical. Wired, it works fine, but I thought I was done running cables when I bought my wireless routers. Next gen should be cheaper, smaller, supports all formats, and detached from Microsoft. Just incase someone important is listening :)
I was about to get one 'til I saw it was discontinued. I may just get the Xbox 360.
That said, I believe MCE is the best alternative to the old school home theater setup. The problem I've discovered is that having an actual PC in the same room creates some issues: 1) the PC can be hot and noisy; and 2) the PC's sleep mode can eventually kill the hardware. About the latter, the PC wakes up to record TV shows then goes to sleep once recording is done. That constant ON and OFF operation can kill a PC. An extender will allow me to leave the PC "always on" in another room.