Your source for everything home theater & HTPC related
if it has no internal storage why is there a hp media drive sticking outof the front
i guess for $349 you get nothing but the right to choose between a drive from hp and one from hp
looks oke closed, ugllllyyy openb
EngagetHD: HP MediaSmart Connect brings digital media to your HDTV
Wed, 06/18/2008 - 3:24am
#1
EngagetHD: HP MediaSmart Connect brings digital media to your HDTV
Wed, 06/18/2008 - 11:22am
#3
that would be the one 
Wed, 06/18/2008 - 11:35am
#4
i would agree, it doesn't look great opened, but it looks pretty slick closed IMO.
Wed, 06/18/2008 - 12:39pm
#5
shadymg wrote:
i would agree, it doesn't look great opened, but it looks pretty slick closed IMO.
Yes really slick when closed, it's what made me think the HP might really take off for Extender custom installations.
Wed, 06/18/2008 - 3:09pm
#6
I like look of the box, clean and stylish, high WAF for sure on aesthetics. Not so much on the price however. For me the idea market price for an extender should be less than $200 and ideally around $125. Especially anything over $300 and the buyer really has to ask is it worth it.
The price maybe worth a bit more if you knew it was future proof at least for several years and different generations of windows media center, meaning the old extenders for MCE 2005 do not work with Vista. That would be a large upgrade price going from MCE 2005 to Vista if I had several extenders in the house. (One idea is to on a small OS on a flash drive that can be replaced to upgrade the box).
Thankfully I don't yet, just switching from BTV to VMC in our living room. As it is we are losing our connection to our bedroom TV but that's it. The next upgrade will be to the main house PC and only then will be able to think about an extender.
Maybe by then Microsoft will release a software extender for a small price.
Just my thoughts.
Thu, 06/19/2008 - 8:39am
#7
Pro's:
-Playback of more formats than Linksys extenders
-Smaller than Linksys extenders
Con's:
-Choosing between 720p & 1080i (where is 1080p?)
-For the same price Linksys includes a DVD drive
Sat, 06/21/2008 - 6:05am
#8
........or spend $50 more and get a PS3 with blu-ray ?!? I stream from my Windows Home Server to my PS3 now..... Did I miss what this brings to the table???...... and the PS3 of course does 1080p.
Kryspy
Sat, 06/21/2008 - 12:40pm
#9
well, biggest obvious difference, is your PS3 can't stream copy-protected content, which is the main benefit to Windows Media Center Extender sessions.
Sat, 06/21/2008 - 8:15pm
#10
With so many apps that can strip DRM in a matter of seconds I still don't see an advantage.
DRM will die sooner or later once big businesses realize they are impeding growth by being so paranoid.
Kryspy
Sun, 06/22/2008 - 9:28pm
#11
I think they will always try to incorporate some type of DRM or copy protection no matter what. It's like they feel they HAVE to. The sad part is there will always be something that will break it, no matter what they come up with. I think I'd just face that fact if it were me and try to save on the R&D that I pay the programmers that are trying to develop some form of copy protection. In the end, what's the point? To me, if you really wanted to make some kind of medium that couldn't be broken why not make it on a something that you couldn't stick in a computer? The first Playstation discs were on CD...then PS2 and XBOX discs were on DVD...now you've got Blu-Ray. Remember the old Nintendo cartridges and Super Nintendo? If you could make something with good quality that wasn't "disc" based...you might would have a "non-copyable" medium.
Is this what I want?
http://promotions.newegg.com/hp/mediasmartconnect/index.html?nm_mc=EMC-I...
switched to a PS3-BD Remote, and now IT is missing!!!