Month: September 2007

Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President of the Entertainment and Devices eHome Division at Microsoft was nice enough to directly address some of my concerns about v2 Extenders.  He stressed that they want to make “media available in every room, with support for ALL OF THE CONTENT to work right” and that the Extenders need to be “available at low prices…that don’t make a lot of fan noise or have other issues” which are principle concerns that I have addressed. Belfiore also notes that third parties are responsible for marketing and pricing decisions on the Extenders which means including high priced … Continue reading Joe Belfiore Addresses Media Center & v2 Extender Concerns

Peter Near has launched a new initiative to help inform Canadians of the issues with the Canadian cable industry and to provide an easy way for you to write your own letters to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telephone Commission (CRTC) to request change and to help bring HDTV and CableCARD so you can take advantage of Vista Media Center, TiVo, and like devices.  From the Press Release: “The Canadian Radio-Television and Telephone Commission (CRTC) is responsible for regulating the cable industry, and has announced that they will be holding hearings in January to review the regulations governing cable distribution in … Continue reading Get Involved: HDTV Cable Boxes Challenged in Canada

I’ve been so wrapped up in Extenders that I failed to realize a few other things.  The expensive D-Link doesn’t list MPEG-4 AVC support!  Only MPEG-4 ASP (DivX/XviD).  While it has been known that exact formats are up to OEMs, this is crazy.  The hardware that the D-Link should be based on supports H.264.  Little reason to not support in the $350 standalone Extender. I’m going to try and check to make sure that’s not a typo, but this launch of Extenders has just been a complete and total failure.  The official Microsoft FAQ says “View videos stored on your … Continue reading Short Bits: More Extender Questions; Home Server Prices Disappoint too

Microsoft will be releasing a beta of their new Internet TV plug-in today (US only), it should be automatically downloaded to your PC and will show in the TV+Movies strip.  The video content will come from MSN Video, so you might have seen links to some of the content off your Hotmail account or after a search on MSN.  Over 100 hours of content is supposed to be up, and I assume more will come as time goes on. Since I have been playing with it over the past week, I must say that it is the most impressive Internet … Continue reading First Look: Internet TV Plug-in for Media Center

What?  Give the other v2 Extender partners what they need to know in order to develop a product that you will be buying.  Quickly, here is what I see as a few problems that need to be improved on. Wireless option, not default.  I’ve got CAT5 throughout the house, no need for wireless.  Not the mention that Microsoft suggests a hardwired connection for the best experience. Gigabit.  Why not?  10/100 might be fast enough, but especially on higher priced models people just expect it now. Looks.  It’s got to be pretty, for whatever reason that attracts people.  I don’t want … Continue reading Your Perfect v2 Extender is…

Joe Belfiore just finished up his keynote at DigitalLife.  I didn’t watch it, but sounds like little to nothing was said that is not already known.  The big news of course was v2 Extenders and Internet TV beta.  So far very few of you are interesting in buying Extenders at their announced price points so DigitalLife has basically been a bust for me. Of course there were several Extenders announced.  From $300-$350.  Niveus didn’t releases pricing, but I’m expecting somewhere between $500-$800. Like most, I wonder what the cost of the Wireless-N support was.  Wireless should be an option, but … Continue reading Short Bits: DigitalLife and Extender Wrap-up

Linksys Media Center Extender with DVD Player (DMA2200) – $350 Linksys Media Center Extender (DMA2100) – $300 D-Link DSM-750 MediaLounge HD Media Center Extender – $349.99 Niveus Media Extender – EDGE – Price not announced HP MediaSmart LCD HDTV (42-in & 47-in) – Price not announced

New devices from Cisco’s Linksys division, D-Link, HP and Niveus Media deliver new video formats, form factors and HD TV over wireless home networks; Internet TV beta debuts with more than one hundred hours of free full-screen video. NEW YORK — Sept. 27, 2007 — Today at DigitalLife, Microsoft Corp. joined initial launch partners in revealing highly anticipated details about new Extenders for Microsoft® Windows Media® Center. These devices, which are expected to be available for purchase this holiday season, will allow easy access to premium cable, high-definition TV, popular video formats including DivX, music, paid movies, photos and more … Continue reading Microsoft Unveils Extenders for Windows Media Center and Internet TV Beta

Update: Joe Belfiore, VP of the eHome division at Microsoft addressed some of these issues in the comments of this post, scroll down for more. Well, so much for v2 Extenders being anything close to a success.  I’ve been talking about what price points a successful Extender needs to be at for years (2005 here people), and today we find out that D-Link’s offering is set to retail for $350, and considering that Linksys’ is most likely built on the exact same hardware it isn’t likely to be much different in price (Updated: Just announced at $300 for standalone, and … Continue reading v2 Extenders Let Down Big in Price Points

Engadget has the story.  Specs include dual-band draft Wireless N, silent operation, remote, 10 /100 Ethernet.  For sale in November, for $350.  More information should come out of DigitalLife tomorrow. Engadget also has a photo gallery here,  and I don’t know about you but I’m let down yet again by that price tag. Related: v2 Extenders Let Down Big in Price Points