Thanks Richard, thats a nicer price, still a lot pricier than the US, but could be good.

Tony

Thanks for the link... Been waiting for them to become cheap from my local store but with this price, I'm in...

Logan68:

If you are looking for an extender Dell has a 2 day special on the DMA 2100. $59.99 (after $60 instant savings) - offer ends 12/4 at 6:59am Pretty good price with no rebate forms to mess with. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1309966

I have a couple of them, one feeding a SDTV and the other a 1080p HDTV, no issues at all with the 1080p TV over HDMI!

I wonder why are you guys having issues with this.

BTW, I tried the link it says it is out of stock !!

BOOOO HOOOOO>>> I would have got another one.

My brother-in-law paid $315 for his one !

as usual, us Canadian get the shaft. $330.00 on Dell

Ripwave:

aaronp:

the UI is still extremely laggy and the overall user experience is somewhat poor.

When this device first came out, I saw this comment a lot. But Vista SP1 and the last Firmware update came out at about the same time, and, as far as I can tell, since then most people dpn't have this problem. I have a DMA2100 and a DMA2200, and I know that both of them are almost as responsive as running Media Centre directly on the PC - sub-second response times to key presses as I navigate through the 10-foot interface. This makes this unit a great way to look at your digital photos on the big screen, because you can flick through them as fast as you can on the PC.

I'm pretty surprised to hear this.  I have SP1 and the latest firmware but you have me thinking that my unit may be defective, because compared with either the X360 extender or direct video from the PC, the DMA-2200 user interface is a dog.  For example on the home screen I can see the little steps that the menu items take as they transition from one selection to another (whereas on the X360 and PC it's silky smooth).  There's probably at least a half-second delay after pressing a button before anything happens at all on the screen.  I don't know why they even bother with the animations because it's so slow that the effect is completely lost.

I have it connected to a relatively small LCD TV.  I'll check to see if it's outputing 1080p, who knows, maybe that's contributing to the issue?

Aaron

The issue you are explaining is the one that stopped me from taking the plunge until now, price point.  Do me a favor and make sure that all you NIC in the machine and on the Linksys is configured for the highest bandwidth and make sure that if you have an option that the machine can throttle down the NIC that you turn that off.

 

Also, I am currently running Windows 7, don’t ask (lol) but I had SP2 for Vista installed and my Windows Experience Number increased.

aaronp:

I'm pretty surprised to hear this.  I have SP1 and the latest firmware but you have me thinking that my unit may be defective, because compared with either the X360 extender or direct video from the PC, the DMA-2200 user interface is a dog.  For example on the home screen I can see the little steps that the menu items take as they transition from one selection to another (whereas on the X360 and PC it's silky smooth).  There's probably at least a half-second delay after pressing a button before anything happens at all on the screen.  I don't know why they even bother with the animations because it's so slow that the effect is completely lost.

I have it connected to a relatively small LCD TV.  I'll check to see if it's outputing 1080p, who knows, maybe that's contributing to the issue?

Aaron

ARobinso0502:

The issue you are explaining is the one that stopped me from taking the plunge until now, price point.  Do me a favor and make sure that all you NIC in the machine and on the Linksys is configured for the highest bandwidth and make sure that if you have an option that the machine can throttle down the NIC that you turn that off.

 

Also, I am currently running Windows 7, don’t ask (lol) but I had SP2 for Vista installed and my Windows Experience Number increased.

I will take a look at those settings, but due to another issue (stuttering video) I'm currently on my third NIC.  This one solved the stuttering problem and HD video is very smooth now.  Anyway, my point is that I've used 3 different NIC's with this device and have never seen anything better than a very laggy UI.  But heck, if those settings could help the UI performance then I'd be happy to look into it.

By the way, I don't think the Linksys has settings to change the bandwidth for a wired configuration.  But I'll take a look at the settings on the new NIC.

Aaron

Just received mine, 3 day shipping my butt... Anyway...

OTB: 

1. Had to update the firmware, otherwise it would not see my network/MC
2. Does not find my wireless-n network
3. UI is slow
4. Wirless connection is not of HD quality with router 15 feet away
5. Recorded TV would play, SpongeBob but recorded movie failed, Next
6. TBC, I'm sure...

   ARobinso0502:

Thanks for the link... Been waiting for them to become cheap from my local store but with this price, I'm in...

Logan68:

If you are looking for an extender Dell has a 2 day special on the DMA 2100. $59.99 (after $60 instant savings) - offer ends 12/4 at 6:59am Pretty good price with no rebate forms to mess with. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1309966

I just adjusted my NIC in my MC to KB929707 as per Linksys... Hopefully that will improve my UI experience... So far it's not fast enough for

aaronp:

I will take a look at those settings, but due to another issue (stuttering video) I'm currently on my third NIC.  This one solved the stuttering problem and HD video is very smooth now.  Anyway, my point is that I've used 3 different NIC's with this device and have never seen anything better than a very laggy UI.  But heck, if those settings could help the UI performance then I'd be happy to look into it.

By the way, I don't think the Linksys has settings to change the bandwidth for a wired configuration.  But I'll take a look at the settings on the new NIC.

Aaron

ARobinso0502:

...Do me a favor and make sure that all you NIC in the machine and on the Linksys is configured for the highest bandwidth and make sure that if you have an option that the machine can throttle down the NIC that you turn that off.

 

I second this suggestion. For a few days after getting my 2200, I noticed that there were sometimes it would play perfect HD video and other times where it would stutter horribly and report network issues. When looking at the network tuner chart, it would either show the line at the very top of the graph (when quality was good), way above acceptable for HD... or it would show it below the acceptable for SD line (when errors/issues present). It turned out it was the setting on my HTPC which tells Vista to conserve resources from time to time. After changing that, the only issue I have is occassionally my powerline adapters have a bit of a hiccup.

The signal strength on this thing IS-THE-WORST... I have been testing different configs and still have not got a desirable signal strength via wireless-n (preffered connection type)... $100,000,000 Question...

What is the difference between the strength meter under Linksys SETTINGS in comparison to the Network Performance Monitor under TUNE NETWORK??.  I get 13 got of 20 bars under Linksys settings but when I look at the connection on my DLink DIR-655 it says the signal strength is 90%-100%... Also, the router states that my connection speed is sub 75 MB which makes my video choppy... When I hard code a link speed, I can get 100% signal strength and 130 MB connection but the device is not able to connect to my MC...

ARobinso0502:

Just received mine, 3 day shipping my butt... Anyway...

OTB: 

1. Had to update the firmware, otherwise it would not see my network/MC
2. Does not find my wireless-n network
3. UI is slow
4. Wirless connection is not of HD quality with router 15 feet away
5. Recorded TV would play, SpongeBob but recorded movie failed, Next
6. TBC, I'm sure...

That's funny people have trouble with these things over wireless N.

I have an old D-link DI-524 wireless G router on the same floor as a DMA-2200, but across the house, through at least 3 walls, not at 90 degree angles.

My wife started an HD TV recording on it (she had no idea it shouldn't work) and it streamed the show just fine.  No problems whatsoever.  I was in shock.  Plus the router is in mix mode (b+g) for my PSP.  She's watched a few since then and they all play fine.  Go figure.

After doing some reading, I started trying different firmware versions: 101,105,110, 111, 121a, and 121b... All pretty much gave me the same number for signal strength in the Linksys UI...  My signal shows up on one EXT as 14 out of 20 bars while the other as 12 out of 20, note the EXTs are only about 10 feet apart...  Also, my router shows the signal strength as 75%-90% and 80%-95%... Throughput is 79/81 MB and 108 MB on the EXTs...

The best I have seen without drops was 130 MB/100% but the EXT did not connect to the W7MC as normal...  Currently I'm watching HD on the W7MC and one EXT while playing a HD recorded movie and all appears to be OK...

Further testing to come... 

ARobinso0502:

The signal strength on this thing IS-THE-WORST... I have been testing different configs and still have not got a desirable signal strength via wireless-n (preffered connection type)... $100,000,000 Question...

OK... What we got here folks... Everything matters by way of the wireless signal... The following is a list of things I have found to affect the signal strength of my wireless connection

1. if your device is 2.4 Ghz apposed to 5 Ghz
2. transfer rate
3. wireless channel
4. signal strength - location of device
5. mode - running combination of b/g/n
6. channel width - 20 mhz / 40 mhz
7. encryption

I have played with a combination of the above settings and think I'm close to finding something to stream HD video reliably..

I have the Linksys DMA 2100 and a Linksys WRT160N router and I can stream HD content easily to a bedroom underneath my office which is where everything sits.

I have not had to tweak or play with anything.  It's basically the configuration that came out of the box on the router.  Not sure if it works better because they are both Linksys but I know it can go through a floor and ceiling and stream HD with no problem.

I haven't really tested the range, but I can if someone wants me too.