Media Center Extenders? What are my options?

[MP]

I'm considering getting a media extender, however, after my searches I only
found 2 options. Linksys and HP.

I would like to get one that will have component out and optical or SPDIF
out. Looking at the manuals for the two above, I can't find any information
on getting 5.1 sound out of either one.

Can someone confirm if these are my only options? Where can I find more info
such as:

- can I watch different live TV on the media center than on the extender
- can I watch different movies / recorded shows on the mc than on the
extender (does this apply to music as well)
- can I schedule shows to record from the extender?

TIA

[Tom Scales]

Consider the XBox 360. Also supports HD.

You can do all the things you want below as long as you have two tuners.

Tom

Post by MP
I'm considering getting a media extender, however, after my searches I
only found 2 options. Linksys and HP.
I would like to get one that will have component out and optical or SPDIF
out. Looking at the manuals for the two above, I can't find any
information on getting 5.1 sound out of either one.
Can someone confirm if these are my only options? Where can I find more
- can I watch different live TV on the media center than on the extender
- can I watch different movies / recorded shows on the mc than on the
extender (does this apply to music as well)
- can I schedule shows to record from the extender?
TIA

[harrynicol]

Go with XBOX360. I have been running this for 4 weeks now and considering we
are Beta stage works pretty good. You need to have 2 tuners, one being an HD
tuner if you want HDTV over the air. I bought the XBOX360 specifically to
view / run MCE at HD. You can also set recording from MSN TV Listing ( there
ia one bug just now ) if you are away from home. Music, Picture+ Video
Libaries can be stored on the MCE host PC or on any another shared folder's
on your network. You also have the advantage of having an itegrated soultion
from M/Soft with Vista MCE and XBOX360. Also you need to think what type of
local network you have; I have the advantage of a full 1Gb LAN in my house /
each room althought XBOX is 100Mb; sound you have wireless and there are
plenty articlles on the MCE home pages that recommend optimisation. I'm very
happy where we are with the Beta and it is close to turning the remote
control to my wife to run rather than our replayTV. Good luck
--
Harry Nicol

Post by MP
I'm considering getting a media extender, however, after my searches I only
found 2 options. Linksys and HP.
I would like to get one that will have component out and optical or SPDIF
out. Looking at the manuals for the two above, I can't find any information
on getting 5.1 sound out of either one.
Can someone confirm if these are my only options? Where can I find more info
- can I watch different live TV on the media center than on the extender
- can I watch different movies / recorded shows on the mc than on the
extender (does this apply to music as well)
- can I schedule shows to record from the extender?
TIA

[Gary Tsang]

You have two other choices...
The Xbox Extender and the Xbox 360 Extender.

For future use, the only real choice at the moment is the Xbox 360
Extender...
See here for more details
V1 Media Center Extenders vs. Vista
http://jtsang.blogspot.com/2006/05/v1-media-center-extenders-vs-vista.html
and
Additional Information on v1 Extenders/Vista
http://jtsang.blogspot.com/2006/05/additional-information-on-v1.html

As for your questions...
Yes, you can watch different live tv on the media center and the extender
(if you have 2 tv tuners)
Yes, you can watch different movies/recorded shows on the media center and
the extender (same with music)
Yes, you can schedule shows to record from the extender
--
Gary Tsang
http://www.gtsang.com

Microsoft MVP - Windows XP Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp

Post by MP
I'm considering getting a media extender, however, after my searches I
only found 2 options. Linksys and HP.
I would like to get one that will have component out and optical or SPDIF
out. Looking at the manuals for the two above, I can't find any
information on getting 5.1 sound out of either one.
Can someone confirm if these are my only options? Where can I find more
- can I watch different live TV on the media center than on the extender
- can I watch different movies / recorded shows on the mc than on the
extender (does this apply to music as well)
- can I schedule shows to record from the extender?
TIA

[rsbrux]

*You have two other choices...
The Xbox Extender and the Xbox 360 Extender.
*

Hi Gary,
I am interested in a simple way of accessing just the music content
stored on my Windows Media Center (Siemens Scaleo E). Do you still
recommend XBox 360 for this, or is there some alternative? My ideal
solution would be something like a ghetto blaster w/ WLAN, which I
could use in any room (or out on the balcony) and suck the music from
my WMC over my home network.



--
rsbrux
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[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

There are a number of "Media Lounge" like products that will do this. D-Link has a couple of versions, and I'm sure you can find others.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&q=d-link+medialounge

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&q=netgear+mp101
--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.

Post by rsbrux

*You have two other choices...
The Xbox Extender and the Xbox 360 Extender.
*

Hi Gary,
I am interested in a simple way of accessing just the music content
stored on my Windows Media Center (Siemens Scaleo E). Do you still
recommend XBox 360 for this, or is there some alternative? My ideal
solution would be something like a ghetto blaster w/ WLAN, which I
could use in any room (or out on the balcony) and suck the music from
my WMC over my home network.
--
rsbrux
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[rsbrux]

*There are a number of "Media Lounge" like products that will do
this. =
D-Link has a couple of versions, and I'm sure you can find others.
http://tinyurl.com/qfx37
http://tinyurl.com/omlb5
*

Doug,
Thanks for the tips! They don't look quite like what I had in mind,
but they helped me to find the Terratec Noxon iRadio and the Pinnacle
Soundbridge Radio, which are more like what I was looking for. The
Pinnacle looks close to ideal, but it's quite a bit pricier than I
expected.



--
rsbrux
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[nort]

I have been looking in to useing the 360 media exstender myself. My bigest
concern is how menny tvs can you have? I have 5 tvs in my home and would like
to have pvr , satellite and exstended cable at all locatins. I have read the
media center only supports 4 tuner cards? so I am thinking about using
snapstream running on xp pro.
Any idias for Me anyone?

Post by MP
I'm considering getting a media extender, however, after my searches I only
found 2 options. Linksys and HP.
I would like to get one that will have component out and optical or SPDIF
out. Looking at the manuals for the two above, I can't find any information
on getting 5.1 sound out of either one.
Can someone confirm if these are my only options? Where can I find more info
- can I watch different live TV on the media center than on the extender
- can I watch different movies / recorded shows on the mc than on the
extender (does this apply to music as well)
- can I schedule shows to record from the extender?
TIA

[sephirothx21]

Yes and by max 4 you mean max 2 SD and max 2 HD. Go gbpvr if you want more
tuners - $0 and it should even run on 2000. However, unless they've made
changes, the Extender side of that solution won't be as elegant as the
Xbox360+MCE.

Post by nort
I have been looking in to useing the 360 media exstender myself. My bigest
concern is how menny tvs can you have? I have 5 tvs in my home and would like
to have pvr , satellite and exstended cable at all locatins. I have read the
media center only supports 4 tuner cards? so I am thinking about using
snapstream running on xp pro.
Any idias for Me anyone?