Decent extenders are the Holy Grail of a Windows based system in the home. Not everyone wants a full-blown PC in every room where they want to watch TV, nor do they want to go the cost of adding a Home Server, so an Extender is the ideal option. Unfortunately, only Xbox360s are the most viable option, but they also have their own drawbacks. So, with Windows7 taking the PC market by storm, what is the future for Media Center Extenders? Read this engadget article for some good options.
Welcome to the mediacenterhouse.com blog - my story of a house with nothing but Windows Media Centers (and a patient wife). You can read about my journey in the blog below, head to the installs page to read about my house in detail, or become a member of the community and ask a question in the forum.
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I’ve got three Linksys 2100 extenders which run the three TV’s. The Media PC itself lives in the loft as a headless server.
Some minor drawbacks (not all plugins work on Extenders – TunerFreeMCE only works with non-Flash feeds) but not a real problem on a daily basis. Extenders are silent and solid-state, which makes them kid-proof and unobtrusive (High Wife Acceptance Factor!).
Sadly, I think they’re dead or dying. I have some hope that Microsoft have something coming with their ‘three screens’ approach (PC, Mobile, TV). They’ve shown Windows 7 and Mobile 7 as two of the three screens – and I suspect that they may be heading in the direction of TV’s with integrated streaming technology.