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Ben Drawbaugh on EngadgetHD has an interesting take the future of Extenders for Windows Media Center. Ben thinks that Extenders may not be dead and even speculates that a new bread come come out. He also talks about DLNA and play to and maybe that is an option for the future, personally I think...
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Again this is not a shock, HP had no TVs or Extenders at CES and according to Gizmodo HP have confirmed the discontinued the MediaSmart TV and Connect (extender) 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...
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To be honest I am not surprised by the news that Linksys are discontinuing their Media Center Extenders. Barb Bowman has the details on her blog with the news that the DMA-2100 and DMA-2200 are being sold off cheap. I noticed at CES that Linksys did not show their Extenders and have been selling them...
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I managed to track down Toshiba’s new Media Center Extender yesterday, it looks like a standard DVD player and in terms of performance from the very brief demo I saw it looked very much like Linksys or D-Link extenders. The pictures are of the prototype unit and it should be shipping in the 2nd...
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This came a bit out of the blue, it looks like Toshiba are to build extenders in to some of their TVs and standalone units. It’s great to see a new Extender coming out and hopefully I will be able to see it in person while I am CES. Thanks to Derek for the tip Toshiba to Build on Its Collaboration...
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One Extender for Windows Media Center I have not been able to test is Samsung’s MediaLive Extender. This Extender is designed to work only with selected Samsung TVs and can be mounted behind the TV as it can be controlled over HDMI Ben Drawbaugh has reviewed all of the Windows Media Center extenders...
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I often see US sites offering Media Center Extenders at discounted prices so it’s nice to see a UK site offering a great deal on Linksys Extenders. Dabs.com are selling the DMA2100 for £97.86, this is a great price as it was originally priced at £188. If you looking for a cheap way...
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Matt Pietrek has an interesting tip on his MSDN blog about getting ripped DVDs to stream from Windows Home Server to Media Center Extenders (in his case an Xbox 360), Matt kept getting "video decoder error". Where a lot of us would get frustrated with the error and start looking for a window...
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Chris Lanier is reporting that HP are to kill off their MediaSmart HDTV product range and focus on MediaSmart Extenders. This is a real shame as I thought the TVs looked great but with them being only available in the US it was not something I was ever going to purchase. I hope the focus on the Extenders...
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According to Ben at EngadgetHD the new Samsung Media Center Extender has a release date of October 15th on Amazon . Like I have said before it’s a nice looking extender but it’s limited to selected Samsung HD TVs
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CE Pro in their pre-CEDIA report have picked up on a rumour that Samsung will be showing off a generic version of an Extender that works with non Samsung TVs. As you may recall at CES I saw Samsung’s Media Center Extender and it only worked with selected Samsung HDTV’s (The reason is the TV controlled...
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Ben Drawbaugh missed reviewing the HP MediaSmart on his last Extender roundup but he has put that right now with a review of HP’s Extender: In our recent roundup of Vista Media Center Extenders we were very disappointed that HP MediaSmart connect wasn't available in time to go head to head with the rest...
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The one Extender I have not tested at home yet is the D-Link DSM-750 and according to Chris Lanier D-Link have updated the firmware of the extender. The Firmware is version 1.01 and dated August 11th. Revision Info: Support for 1080p TVs and video files Look of the Home page altered to improve navigation...
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You may remember me getting a bit upset by Paul Thurrott’s dismissal of the new generation of Extenders for Windows Media Center. Basically he said the extenders were no better than the old models and they were not worth looking at. I totally disagreed with that and it looks like Paul may have softened...
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Remember the Samsung Media Center Extender I saw at CES? (see this video ) well it finally due for release and has had a name change from Home Digital Media Adapter to MediaLive. This is the extender for Windows Media Center that is designed for 2008 model Samsung HDTVs using HDMI-CEC connection. It...
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It looks like Microsoft are getting the idea that for Media Center and Extenders to be a success they need to show them off in stores. They have just completed fitting out all 13 Magnolia AV stores with a merchandising rack showing off the Windows Media Center experience. The merchandising rack (see...
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HP are continuing their series of Webinars coving HP MediaSmart devices. Tomorrow (July 10th) Mike Garcen is the guest on a Webinar covering HP’s new MediaSmart Connect extender and July 17th & 22nd HP are presenting webinars on their MediaSmart Server (which is Windows Home Server based) focusing...
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I am still using my HP MediaSmart extender full time at the moment and am very happy with it and Mike Garcen at Missing Remote has written a great review of the unit After including their extender technology strictly with their HP branded flat panel televisions, it's nice to see that HP has put some...
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If you didn't get chance to catch the webinar I participated in a replay has been posted online. The session was introducing HP's new MediaSmart Connect a Media Center Extender and digital media adapter and was hosted Brian Burch, Director Marketing at HP and also included Microsoft's Ben Reed . There...
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The 3rd and final part of the Media Center University Video has been posted on Microsoft CE installer blog. This video covers Extender setup, network tuning and Windows Home Server. Topics covered include: Setting Up a Media Center Extender The 3 Server Solution Display Connected or Headless MCX Design...
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Tonight I will be the guest along with Brian Burch, Director of Marketing for HP's Connected Entertainment group on HP’s Webinar talking about the new MediaSmart Connect. This is the new Media Center Extender for HP. The session is very interactive so it would be great to get your questions, you can...
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HP are launching a new Media Center Extender products called the MediaSmart Connect . It is not just a Media Center Extender it is also a digital media adapter that can stream content from both Vista and XP. One thing I like is from the Connect UI content from multiple devices are pooled together so...
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Don’t forget to register for HP’s Webinar on the new HP MediaSmart connect. The first one is with Ed Bott today at 10am PST and I will be the guest on Thursday 1pm PST (9pm UK) with Mike Garcen and Patrick Norton guest on future Webinars. Here are the official details: This summer, join HP and Microsoft...
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EngadgetHD takes a look at Extenders available for Windows Media Center, incuding the Xbx 360, D-Link Extender, Linksys and the new HP Extender. I will be testing out HP's Extender on Monday evening Vista Media Center really sets itself apart from any other DVR solution out there, and the single greatest...
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Brandon on the Windows Experience Blog takes a look at HP’s new Extender (and don’t forget you can still register for the webinars ). Brandon looks at the form factor, the connections and the remote I will be hooking my review unit up to my system over the weekend Ok, now let's take a look at the device...
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HP have launched the MediaSmart Connect (formally known as the HP MediaSmart Receiver). This is the dedicated Media Center Extender first shown at CES that as well as being a Media Center Extender will also stream content from other sources. So far there is only details on US availability which is that...
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Sadly I had to return my loan Extenders back to Linksys so I can’t test the updates Linksys has put out for the Extenders. Chris Lanier has details on the updates for the Extender that you should see the update in the settings section of the Extender, according to Chris these are the fixes: Playback...
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Previously Microsoft's Consumer Electronics installer blog talked about using Media Center with a rack mounted solution for distributing content around the home. While this was a interesting solution the idea of having all the equipment in a rack (including Extenders) didn't seem the best solution to...
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Listen Here A couple of weeks ago HP updated their MediaSmart TV to add Media Center Extender functionality making it the first TV with a built in Extender, so this week I am talking to Brian Burch, Director of HP Connected Entertainment about the MediaSmart TV and the soon to be available MediaSmart...
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Just got a press release from D-link saying the DSM-750 is now shipping. I actually thought the unit was already shipping but I must have been wrong :) A lot of people have been impressed with the D-link Extender as it seems to have better performance than some of the other, I can't say I could tell...
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This has been a while in coming but it's finally up. Pete Stagman ( guest on show 129 ) with the assistance from a some other Media Center MVPs has posted his guide on how to get DVD's to play on Media Center Extenders using DVD Library. It's a step by step guide and a file download, I have...
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I am still trying to catch up on the last weeks news and this is the first thing I noticed: HP have published the update for the MediaSmart TV that enables the Media Center Extender functions . I love the idea of an integrated Extender in a TV and the HP MediaSmart TV looked great when I saw it at CES...
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There is a nice advert for the Extender functions of Media Center on Xbox.com showing how the Xbox can be used for home entertainment. It's good that Microsoft are highlighting the Extender function of the Xbox. With it being it being on Xbox.com it's targeting existing Xbox owners which is fine but...
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Chris is reporting that the D-Link Extender is now available for ordering and some retailers are offering it at $250. It's a shame D-Link are not offering the unit out side of North America as there has been good feedback from the beta testers. As Chris points out there is no DVD in the unit but it the...
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HP have a video up demonstrating it's Media Smart TV and there is a demo showing off Media Center Extender functions (top right of the main video). It's a good background on the features that Extenders offer. It's a pity that HP are not planning to launch the Media Smart TV in the UK (yet) via Dennis...
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I have already mentioned my disappointment of Paul Thurrot's dismissing of the Linksys Extenders ( here ) and Steve Lindsay expresses his thoughts. He mentioned some points that Paul completely missed, things like form factor, weight, power consumption, built in wireless network and divx support. Plus...
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Some times I like Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott and some times the show really gets on my nerves. Normally Paul and host Leo Laporte seem to forget about Media Center completely while Paul gets his facts mixed up on Windows topics. This week Paul totally dismissed the Linksys extenders blaming poor...
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Microsoft have launched a new site called UltimatePC.com that seems to be a new marketing site for Vista and tries to show off Ultimate PC setups. Whether this has anything to do with the missing Ultimate Extras I don't know. But what I did find looking around the site is Derek Flickinger's "Ultimate...
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Now that I have the video out on Linksys' DMA2100 I thought I would try the DMA2200. This is the big brother of the 2100 and includes an upscaling DVD Player. ( You can read my first impression in here ) This video shows the unboxing of the DMA2200, the setup process and getting it working with my Media...
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As I have been using the Extenders (see the the unboxing videos here ) for a few days and I have had loads of questions so I thought I would try and put some of the points down here 5.1 Audio I thought I would try a WMV file with 5.1 audio encoded in it. The file is a conversion of a DVD for which I...