http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/ Engadget Comments for Linksys discontinues Media Center Extenders, hardly anyone notices http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 12:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 19th 2009 8:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
I think game consoles with media capabilities (PS3, XB360) eclipsed these devices.]]>May 18th 2009 10:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 11:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 12:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 12:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 19th 2009 8:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 2:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 2:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/

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.]]>May 18th 2009 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/


Runs away and cries......]]>May 18th 2009 10:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 3:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.
]]>May 18th 2009 10:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/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.
]]>May 18th 2009 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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!!!]]>May 18th 2009 10:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/Engadget obviously did?]]>May 18th 2009 10:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 11:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 11:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
Although I kind of feel the PS3 would've done the same thing, but this thing was built prior to me owning the PS3]]>May 18th 2009 10:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 11:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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]]>May 18th 2009 11:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
It's not the most ideal box, but it was very inexpensive and it is SILENT, unlike my 360. ]]>May 18th 2009 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/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.
]]>May 18th 2009 10:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 11:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
That said, it's a shame more people don't use Media Center. It really is great.]]>May 18th 2009 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 11:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 10:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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.]]>May 18th 2009 10:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 18th 2009 4:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/
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 $$$.]]>May 18th 2009 10:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/May 21st 2009 11:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/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!

]]>May 18th 2009 10:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/linksys-discontinues-media-center-extenders-hardly-anyone-notic/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.

]]>May 18th 2009 12:04PM