New MCE HD Media Extenders

[mdnttoker]

Looks like Microsoft has beat Sage to market on this one...

Here are some previews of the new Linksys, Dlink, and Niveus Media designs:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/media-cen...eta-304219.php

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/periphera...oys-304216.php

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/d_link/d+...ild-304191.php

Edit: I wonder if this is the real reason Narflex preemptively gave us an update on the Sage-branded device...

[chrisc16]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

Looks like Microsoft has beat Sage to market on this one...

Well, not really. The article says that the units will be available by the end of the year. Sage has tentatively announced their availability for mid-November. And I bet Sage's will be cheaper to boot...

-Chris

[bcjenkins]

The DLink units start at 300 bucks. I think where Sage will have an issue competing is in the high end setups. MS has also announced a 4 cablecard capable platform. If that ever ends up working right, watch out.

B

[bhyman1]

Can it play ripped DVD's off the server?

If not, it's a waste of money.

[GbrNole]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

The DLink units start at 300 bucks. I think where Sage will have an issue competing is in the high end setups. MS has also announced a 4 cablecard capable platform. If that ever ends up working right, watch out.

B

$300 for the dlink? that's an incredible ripoff, i mean shoot, you can buy hd-dvd players for less than that now and i only paid 50 bucks more than that for my ps3!

[stevech]

Volume = low price

[mdnttoker]

Originally Posted by bhyman1

Can it play ripped DVD's off the server?

If not, it's a waste of money.

The linksys media extender HAS an integrated DVD player...

[heffe2001]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

The linksys media extender HAS an integrated DVD player...

One model does, one model doesn't, guess it depends on if you need it or not.

Originally Posted by GbrNole

$300 for the dlink? that's an incredible ripoff, i mean shoot, you can buy hd-dvd players for less than that now and i only paid 50 bucks more than that for my ps3!

BUT your PS3 doesn't control a MCE box, nor let you use the plugins for MCE either. Same for the HD DVD player. $300 is a damn good price, especially if this is the price for the dvd-model.

Originally Posted by chrisc16

Well, not really. The article says that the units will be available by the end of the year. Sage has tentatively announced their availability for mid-November. And I bet Sage's will be cheaper to boot...

I hope they get their out first, or even at the same time, and at a lower price point (I seem to recall somewhere someone saying the Sage boxes would come in at around 200, if that's correct, I'll definitely replace my TV PC's with those). If they come out around the same price as the MCE ones, I'll be hard-pressed as to which I go with, Sage or MCE at that point. I've been using Sage for a long time, since 2003 I think, and MCE about the same length of time (beta'd MCE2005, and the original MCE extenders, just liked Sage more). It'd be a tough choice to switch, but I think my server hardware would be Vista Premium capable, just kind of scary thinking about the transition .

[Diginerd]

And what do the extenders give you that an XBox 360 Doesn't? Apart from RSI and quite possibly an improved social life?

Looking forward to the forthcoming Sage Extender. Now If I can just get this dual Firewire STB, Dual HD HomeRun setup running too then I'm going to be giggling like a schoolgirl over the holiday season!

[eobiont]

I wonder if they will let you stream CCI 0x02 (copy once) content. Tivo2Go won't. Why would cablelabs treat these any differently?

The true (dis)advantage this system and MCE in general is that it is cablelabs certified and so you can record any program you subscribe to with the cable company's blessing. With this system you are also at the mercy of DRM and the cable company will decide what you can do with the content once it is recorded.

[Diginerd]

I know the X-Box 360 handles that. It's considered one closed system. The copy prohibitions are if you cross the Demarc betewwen encrypted, CableLabs / Provider controlled space and the rest of the world.

In short you don't own your computer any more the content providers do.

With that sorry state of affairs and MythTv now having to charge for an EPG due to the whole Zap2It/Schedules direct fun Sage it looking more attractive by the minute...

Let's see:-

No recurring EPG fee

Record Multiple Permium HD streams from STBs via Firewire (In my case, touch wood none of the HD content is locked down, although that could change at any second)

Record Multiple Clear QAM feeds

Commercial Skip the lot of it

Just add a HD Media extender and it gets even more compelling. If you can't wait a Dell Vostro 200 tower and a graphics card enough to handle HD can be had for about $300 too...

|The UI enhancements once fully leveraged will go a long way to elevating Sage into a very serious contender.

I didn't realize how big a deal the recurring fee would be to sentiment in the MythTV community. A commercial product that works out ablut the same as a year of EPG data might actually stand a chance of swaying a few folks over.

I'm still not understanding the pricing of the MCE extenders though. I'll fess up. I bought a 360 to act as an HD extender for Vista MCE when I had a funny turn and decided to experiment. In the same ballpark as the new extenders, can even be augmented with HD-DVD if you feel that way inclined, and ultimately you can waste hours playing games on it too.

Conclustion with MCE: Very very pretty but really really annoying to loose much of the flexability of Sage. Also at the same time that it is attempting to be mass market it really isn't...

The only 2 devices that I feel have truly acheived a decent level of "Open The Box" usability are the TiVo and early Replay TV.

Sorry for the somewhat rambling post..