Muxoman:

So after playing with this for most of the day I have decided that I like it and it works well for what I expect of it. I have installed it in my bedroom and it is worth it for the sheer quietness, even if it is a little more sluggish than my Xbox 360.

I don't believe I would use one in my theater room in conjunction with a headless MCE. An MCE just has more functionality and better performance. But for my office, bedroom, and kitchen this is perfect. As for the kid's room, the Xbox 360 is a better fit for it's gaming abilities as well as extender functionality.

But overall it's quiet, works as expected and gives me Dixv/Xvid and h.264 capabilities so I am happy.

What are the specs of the PC it is connected to?

Chris - Moderator:

Muxoman:

So after playing with this for most of the day I have decided that I like it and it works well for what I expect of it. I have installed it in my bedroom and it is worth it for the sheer quietness, even if it is a little more sluggish than my Xbox 360.

I don't believe I would use one in my theater room in conjunction with a headless MCE. An MCE just has more functionality and better performance. But for my office, bedroom, and kitchen this is perfect. As for the kid's room, the Xbox 360 is a better fit for it's gaming abilities as well as extender functionality.

But overall it's quiet, works as expected and gives me Dixv/Xvid and h.264 capabilities so I am happy.

What are the specs of the PC it is connected to?

The MCEs specs are

Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4)

2GB Ram

Vista Ultimate (32 bit)

Nvidia 8500 GT

160GB SATA Internal (System) - 500GB eSATA External (Recorded TV)

3xAvermedia A180 ATSC Tuners

1xVistaView Dual NTSC Tuner

In addition I am running a WHS with 3TB attached storage, all connected via Gig E.

No native VOB support?  That and the fairly high price will probably kill it for me.

I bought an XBox 360 recently to use as an Extender but don't like the loudness or the lack of native VOB support.

Honestly, in this price range, it seems to me that we're better off buying refurb HP Slimline PCs and, if needed, upgrading the video card to get HDMI output.  I bought a refurb Slimline for about $350 and it seems quieter to me than the XBox 360 (with neither spinning the DVD drive - and with the DVD drives spinning, the Slimline is *much* quieter).  It also gives you the advantage of support for all video formats (including VOB files), hard drive storage, and memory card slots (potentially useful if you want to pop in a card from someone's digital camera and view some recently taken photos or play their MP3's).  The big downside, of course, is the size.

Overall, though, I'm disappointed in any/all of the options available to us.

How do people watch DVD movies with COVER ART in rooms with a 360 or V2 Extender?

apodoc:

How do people watch DVD movies with COVER ART in rooms with a 360 or V2 Extender?

The reason no one answered you the first time is because there's no way to do it natively, AFAIK. MyMovies has some interesting hacks, but nothing that's going to give you that full DVD experience (eg, title menus, etc.). That's why people were curious about VOB support - at least that would have gotten you quick rip support. It would be ideal if the DVD Library feature could stream to extenders, but it can't.

It's probably one of the top 10 problems with Media Center these days.

Does the extender get very hot either at idle or during use?

erwos:

The reason no one answered you the first time is because there's no way to do it natively, AFAIK. MyMovies has some interesting hacks, but nothing that's going to give you that full DVD experience (eg, title menus, etc.). That's why people were curious about VOB support - at least that would have gotten you quick rip support. It would be ideal if the DVD Library feature could stream to extenders, but it can't.

It's probably one of the top 10 problems with Media Center these days.

I'd rate the overall lack of wired HD (not OTA) recording support as #1 for MCE and the inability to stream VOB rips to extenders as #2.  I have a great HD set that I can't timeshift with MCE and now my plans to centralize to a Vista Home Premium multi-tuner head with a WHS backend and extenders in the rooms will probably have to be chitcanned because MS can't do something as simple as streaming a flippin DVD rip.  I know I can turn the DVDs into DVR-MS files or DivX or whatever, but I don't want to lose the menus and other features.  I've been with MCE since it's initial release but it's time to look into alternatives, despite Bills digital home fluff I've been hearing for the past 10yrs+ it's obvious that Media Center is some kind of pet project out in Redmond

Boston,

Go to sage extenders only cost $200 and stream native vob flawlessly for me.

I am assuming it does not have a MCE interface?

PLUCKYHD:

Boston,

Go to sage extenders only cost $200 and stream native vob flawlessly for me.

getting close to going that route, haven't looked at it in years so have to start my research again ;)

It addons that make the interface like mce 05 but not vista.

Sage? No. It's is possible with skins/addons though..

 

 

As fun as all the "Microsoft hates my VOBs and stole my lunch money" derailments are, I thought I'd chime in since my DMA-2100 arrived yesterday from Dell.

Overall, it's about what I expected and we're already getting some great use of it.  I was concerned by the reports of the sluggishness.  While it's noticeable, I'd say it's within reason.  I'm using a wired connection.

A much larger irritation is that it appears to be pretty senstive to the angle of the remote relative to the unit.  I found myself raising the remote up a lot to get better response.  That was true even in just the Linksys configuration menu so I know it's not an issue with access the VMC box.  I'll probably lower the DMA-2100 on the cabinet shelves below the television.  I'll pick up the Microsoft brand remote to see if the problem is on that end, too.  That's one thing I'm not going to live with - having half of my button presses ignored when it's at waist level isn't going to work.

I'm also have a problem with some details shimmering on my ripped DVDs (DVD Fab in native quality -> VideoRedo quickstream fix -> My Movies).  My TV is a 720p so I suspect that it's downconverting a signal from the extender.  It's not a deal breaker (you see it mostly in the kids' CGI-based movies), but I need to play with the various settings to see if I can correct the issue.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If there was a big pleasant surprise, it was that it worked great when I was stressing out the VMC machine.  My computer isn't even that meaty - Athlon 3500 CPU, etc.  While I played Team Fortress 2 on it, my wife and her mom browsed through the My Movies interface and watched North by Northwest without a hitch.  They even recorded some live TV (SD) while I was playing and it came out fine.  Very cool. 

So, the remote angle issue is a currently a huge headache.  Assuming I can get around that, I'd certainly recommend the unit.

Dees_Troy:

Does the extender get very hot either at idle or during use?

Not that I noticed, but I'll check next time we have it on.

Dees_Troy:

Does the extender get very hot either at idle or during use?

Just checked after several hours of use and the unit is only very midly warm to the touch.

Matt Olsen:

A much larger irritation is that it appears to be pretty senstive to the angle of the remote relative to the unit.  I found myself raising the remote up a lot to get better response.  That was true even in just the Linksys configuration menu so I know it's not an issue with access the VMC box.  I'll probably lower the DMA-2100 on the cabinet shelves below the television.  I'll pick up the Microsoft brand remote to see if the problem is on that end, too.  That's one thing I'm not going to live with - having half of my button presses ignored when it's at waist level isn't going to work.

Matt, I hate the included remote. I found the same issue. Luckily, you should have not have that issue with a standard MCE remote. I can point mine above, below, to the left, to the right or in the opposite direction and control the extender without issue. Additionally I picked up a new Harmony Remote and it works great. Just treat the Extender as a Microsoft Media Center PC and everything works fine.