1 - Media Center Extenders
Posted on 10 Dec 2007 at 10:57
Getting your digital music, photos and videos to show up in your living room can be a tall order. Our media receiver Labs showed that of all the options out there none are perfect, but the winner was the superb (but rather noisy) Xbox 360 - currently the only device on the market that acts as a Media Center Extender.
HP and Linksys released Media Center Extenders in 2004, but they didn't take off in the US and never made it across the pond. They're back for 2008, this time from Linksys, D-Link and Niveus - and they're coming to the UK.
By streaming the Windows Media Center interface directly to a receiver, you get all the same features as when using the computer locally, but in a small, silent box. This includes access to the PC's TV tuners to stream live broadcasts, watching or scheduling TV recordings, or viewing music, photos or video.
Worthwhile improvements for version 2 include DivX and XviD support, 802.11n and support for Vista's excellent Media Center. Media Center Extenders are also slated to be embedded in television sets, which could provide the seamless living-room integration this technology has been crying out for. Assuming the price is low enough, these extenders could be just the ticket for sharing PC-based content across networks, and we're keenly awaiting review units.
Next: 2 - Rich Internet Applications
Back to 'Ten techs to watch in 2008'
Author: Stewart Mitchell
advertisement
- Controversial Michelle Obama picture vanishes from Google
- Kindle update brings native PDF support
- Lenovo launches first ever ThinkCentre all-in-one PC
- Average mobile broadband speed only 0.87Mbits/sec
- iPhone hitting Tesco in time for Christmas
- Gmail adds offline attachments
- Mobile data surges up by 16% in October
- OFT: Google isn't harming consumers
- £90 million buys South Yorkshire 25Mbits/sec broadband
- Twitter ready to splash out... and run ads
- Need a bit of extra Christmas cash? Grass up your boss, says BSA
- Photoshop Mobile on Android review: first look
- ATI Radeon HD 5970: 42% more expensive in the UK
- Office 2010 Beta – 32-bit or 64-bit – The Choice is Clear
- Why Britain's watchdogs have fewer teeth than goldfish
- Tabbed documents: how to make Office 2010 great
- Outlook 2010 People Pane – does it spell death to Xobni
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 screenshots
- Co-Authoring in Word 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 screenshots: Backstage view
- Getting to grips with Microsoft's IT Health Environment Scanner
- Virtualise your servers
- The changing face of travel gadgets
- Build your own distributed file system
- The bulletproof Dell that costs an arm and a leg
- Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview: Q&A
- Lawnmowers, the TyTN II and one odd insurance request
- There'll never be a bulletproof OS
- How far can we trust apps?
- Five nice touches in Outlook 2010
advertisement
Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk


