Media Center Extender - So far, so good.

Michael Gartenberg | November 17, 2004, 04:24 PM

Spent some time last night setting up the final version of the Media Center Extender. Extender is important as according to our research the number one application for consumers with a home network is to get content from their PCs to their TVs and stereos. So how did it go? Setup was pretty simple and works well over my home wireless network. The key is using a sub-network that's fast enough to accommodate the bandwidth requirements, don't try this over stock 80211.b. In my case I used a G/A router bridged into my standard B network. That allowed the MCE to get Internet access for the EPG and Online showcase and then stream the content over a dedicated A subnet. It sounds complicated but it took all 20 minutes to get connected and works very well. There's enough horsepower to be recording or watching on the MCE and still send a signal over the extender. All in all it works quite well. Biggest issue is that these are pricey additions at around $299 and need to come way down to the $99 to $149 level. For the enthusiast market that already has an MCE and wants to extend the experience, it's a no-brainer though. I'll compare and contrast the extender experience against the TiVo Home Media option next.