Cisco-Linksys Media Center Extender Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It plays our recorded TV, pictures, DVDs ripped to XviD (not DVDs in the player), and music from the other room with an interface that looks just like Vista Media Center. Wife acceptance factor = high. We are using wired ethernet (100) and a 1080p tv via HDMI. The supplied remote is good. Speed of menus is acceptable (even faster, if you turn off transitions in the setup). FF, rewind, pause, etc. are all fine for Live/Recorded HD TV -- looks perfect on our 1080p tv.
XviD files are a little slow to start up on the DMA2100.
I had realistic expectations and we are happy!
NOTE: This note is ONLY for people with a Linksys Etherfast DSL/Cable router. If you have that router, your computer will not detect the DMA2100 unless you also go into the router setup and set Filter Multicast to Disable (which is NOT the default). Thanks for wasting my time, Linksys. After the change, it works great.


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Sharing your photos, music and movies on your computer with friends and family has been made easy by the DMA 2100 Media Center Extender from Linksys. The device allows you to view digital photos, movies and high definition programs on your TV, and listen to downloaded music on your home theater sound system. It even enables accessing digital content and Internet services from your Microsoft Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate Media Center PC and wirelessly stream it to your home entertainment system. Its single learning remote helps you to easily navigate menus. The media extender uses existing high-speed Wireless-N home network.

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NETGEAR Digital Entertainer Live (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Traditionally known for their routers and network devices, Netgear offically entered the growing home media player market this September with the Digital Entertainer Live. After owning the superb but ethernet-less Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player, I was looking for a device that could play all the 720p/1080i/p MKV videos directly off my D-Link DNS-323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure - NAS server and D-Link DNS-321. I didn't want to have to copy files off the network onto USB hard drives then walk them over to my media player just to play them on my TV. After testing this device for several hours, I am disappointed and can say that the EVA2000 is definitely not ready for prime time.
First is the question of what resolution this device actually supports. It is not listed here on Amazon, in Netgear's press release, or on the product specifications page, and no mention is made on the box except the phrase "HD TV media player". Netgear is perhaps deliberately vague on this point. If by "HD", they mean being able to connect to an HDTV, then that is true. If they mean "HD" as in 720p/1080p, then it is not true.
Despite having HDMI out, this device does not output at 1080p at all. It also doesn't play 720p files as far as I can tell. Every one of the hi-res MKV's I tested off my external hard drive failed (18 random movie files @720p and 1080i, H.264 encodes), producing an "unable to display video of this resolution" error. Similarly, the AVI's and WMV's at 720p that I tested also failed. As far as I am able to determine, it can play only up to 480p. I tried a 720x400 .MKV that did play, so Matroska support is working, but I was unable to fast-forward or rewind the file. Other low resolution .AVI files, .MP4's played without an issue.
The device did not recognize any MKV's off my NAS through UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). MKV files on my other server, running Twonky (DLNA software) did show up, however, they could not play since they were 720p.
Next is the lack of subtitle support, or non-Western character sets. The supported system languages are German, English, and French. No Unicode support means filenames and folders will be illegible, showing up as empty squares instead (see picture in gallery).
For internet TV, this product works as described. YouTube and other streaming videos work flawlessly. You can watch videos from all over the world. There are literally hundreds of free internet channels listed, divided by world region. I tested a few CCTV channels (China), Aljezeera English, an Indian channel, Odoroku.tv (Japan), C-SPAN, some Spanish channels, as well as some random others. Almost all of them worked without a hitch, after a brief period of buffering (length depends on network conditions). A few sites couldn't be reached, or failed to buffer and kicked me back to the channels menu. Again, because these are free sites streamed from the web, picture quality is very low, though watchable and a nice option for those who don't want to watch them on their computers. You can bookmark them for fast retrieval. I found the variety of sites listed here to be a pleasant surprise. They represent a wide range of interests and are from all over the world. (These are all free sites you can access from your computer also.)
The picture quality is usually terrible, however, since most internet videos are low-res videos (320x240) that are heavily compressed. When blown up 5x or more to fullscreen on your HDTV, the compression artifacts will be much more apparent and you'll see a lot of macroblocking and pixelation. On a smaller, non-LCD TV, this might be acceptable.
Because you'll be spending a lot of time pushing buttons to navigate around, due to no keyboard or mouse, I've included a series of screenshots to give you a better idea of how the interface works. Remote control response time can be sluggish, so you'll be seeing the revolving dial a lot. Worse is that you can't hit "Back" on the remote to cancel a read command. You have to wait until it finishes trying to read the file or network. During web streamed videos, I couldn't fast-forward. Searching for videos was easy through the onscreen keyboard, but overall I found the interface clunky and not all that attractive, made worse by that spinning dial that popped up with almost every command I pushed.
Lastly, is the lack of an optical output. For wireless, you will need to buy the dedicated Netgear wireless kit. A third party USB wireless dongle (AirLink 101 AWLL6070 150Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN USB 2.0 Adapter) I tried did not work.
To sum up, this product fails to meet expectations and went back to Amazon Returns after 2 days. It is NOT capable of hi-def playback. It only plays back standard def video. If you enjoy watching blocky internet streams on your TV and don't care about hi-def, then maybe this device would be of value. There is no way to select stream quality from the sites that offer HD streams.
At $150, with no gigabit Ethernet, no optical out, and no hi-def, this product does not compete favorably against other devices already on the market or soon to be released, like the WD TV Live ($120), which adds network support to the already solid and popular WDTV; or the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+HD ($135) and ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player ($99), which, like the WDTV Live, is networked and plays 1080p.

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Play your movies, music and photo collections stored on USB storage devices and computers right on your TV. Enjoy YouTube and other Internet video LIVE.n vao voas the loghsl geo Loreum ebspom thleo lakdyog alkdoeon vao voas the loghsl geo Play movies, video, music and photos stored on USB drives, computers or NAS Enjoy YouTube on your TV, without a computer Watch pay-per-view new release movies on-demand without a subscription Watch Live Internet TV from around the world via VuNow (1-year service included) Browse and play popular movies and shows from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon VOD, CBS, CNN, and ESPN and more using PlayOn on your PC. (free trial in box) Search for Internet video using key words Works with older TVs and new HDTVs Easy to use remote control Wirelessly connect to the Internet by using the Digital Entertainer Live Wireless USB Adapter

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D-Link MediaLounge High-Definition Media Player (DSM-510) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First off, I'd like to say that I firmly believe that digital media players similar to this one are the future of digital home entertainment. A simple and inexpensive device like that allows you to stream digital media to your home theater from your laptop, desktop or a dedicated media server located anywhere in your house. This is a great idea. This technology is here to stay. It's just a question of maturity. And, sorry to say, D-Link DSM-510 is not quite there yet.
I truly liked its design simplicity. There are no frills, but all essentials are there - WiFi, Ethernet, HDMI, optical audio and USB port. Exactly what I needed, no more and no less, in a small and neatly done package with clean and straightforward user interface.
However, the device is palgued by fimware bugs that eventually made me take it back to the store where I bought it.
First, the most obvious and the most stupid one is the absence of the on/off indicator. The blue light on the front panel goes on once the power adapter is connected and remanis lit whether the device is turned on or off. So you have to turn your TV on to tell whether it's on or off.
Second, there's no on/off or reset button on the front panel. Well... there's no buttons whatsoever, period. And boy, will you miss that reset button now and then. The only way to turn it on or off is by using remote control.
The most annoying thing is, the device's video output goes completely dark for no apparent reason once in a while and won't come back even if you power cycle it using remote. The device appears to be alive (you can ping it), but video output remains black no matter what you do. The only way to remedy from this is to physically disconnect power supply (there's no reset or power button, remember?)
I upgraded to the latest firmware version (1.01), but to no avail. By the way, firmware upgrade is done via Internet and went very smoothly, although at some point you're left wondering if it's hung up or what? Just be patient and wait for a couple of minutes for it to finish.
I'm really surprised and disappointed that D-Link's QA have not caught this nasty "black screen" problem. Hopefully, it can be fixed with a firmware patch. But until then, the DSM-510 goes back to the store shelf.
And D-Link, take note. If you want to enter consumer market, you have to change your attitude. Consumers are less forgiving than computer geeks you sell your networking stuff to. They won't tolerate bugs that require reaching behind the box and pulling the power cord.

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MediaLounge Wireless HD Media Player 802.11g USB HDMI Viiv

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NETGEAR EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a pretty cool unit. Setup is a breeze and it even came with a DVI cable to hook up to my TV. It also has RCA cables. I have almost 1TB of movies in various formats(.avi .wmv .mpg) and it plays every one. Sometimes I cannot use the skip function if it doesn't fully support the file but it still always plays it. Transferring the files over was a bit harder. It was going to take 7 days to copy 1TB of files over from my server to the hard drive on the unit that I put in it. I even tried a direct cable and it was just as slow. I don't think it does any conversion but it is very slow. When you add a new hard drive in this unit, it formats it with Linux. When I put the drive from the Digital Entertainer in my Windows server it wanted to format the drive. I had to boot into a Linux OS and then I was able to copy the files over very quickly. The software that comes with the unit is pretty nice also. It lets you tag each movie file with information from the Internet Movie Database. It even displays a box cover. This unit also stores and plays music as well as Youtube videos streaming from the Internet. It will connect to your network by wireless or wired, or it can simply be a standalone unit. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because of the search feature in the unit. When I want to search for example, the movie "Zoolander", I input the letter "Z" from the remote and instead of filtering every movie that starts with "Z", it lists every movie with the letter "Z" in it like this...
American Zombie
Brazil
Crazy People
Dazed and Confused
Hot Fuzz
Zoolander
It's kind of a convoluted search in my opinion. Other than that, the Digital Entertainer is a top notch unit. It has a very user friendly interface with a nice remote control. It also has 2 USB ports and it can play media directly off of those or the media can be transferred to the hard drive. Netgear did a good job on the Digital Entertainer Elite!


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The NETGEAR Digital Entertainer Elite HD EVA9000 series (EVA9150 includes 500GB hard drive) connects your TV and home entertainment system to your computer network, letting you experience your high-definition videos, digital music, and photos on your HDTV and high-quality sound system, directly from your PC. The Digital Entertainer Elite also makes it possible to enjoy streaming media from the Internet--such as YouTube, Internet radio, Flickr photos, RSS feeds, and podcasts -- through your HDTV and home entertainment system.
Watch 1080p Media on Your HDTV from the Integrated Hard Drive or Your PC You've downloaded your favorite shows and movies from the Internet, and you've got hours of home video stored on your computer. Thanks to the Digital Entertainer Elite, you no longer have to restrict your viewing to your computer; you can now watch your digital collection in the comfort of your television room, directly on your HDTV.

The Digital Entertainer Elite can also stream videos and feeds from the Internet to your HDTV, bypassing your computer entirely, for the ultimate viewing experience. And best of all, you can enjoy your videos and photos in full high definition of up to 1080p, thanks to the system's automatic up-converting feature.

Huge Hard Drive for Storage With an integrated 500 GB hard drive, the Digital Entertainer Elite can even store your digital media, making it one of the world\'s largest video jukeboxes. You no longer have to store your movies and photos on your computer's hard drive--it will do that for you, letting you free up space on your computer.

The hard drive also allows you to watch your videos, even when your computer is off, and buffers streamed videos, so even if your network performance is inconsistent, you still enjoy glitch-free video. You could also choose to install a larger Hard Drive (standard SATA) for even more storage capability in the future (go to www.netgear.com/eva9000drive for Hard Drive compatibility list).

USB Connectivity For added versatility, the Digital Entertainer Elite sports two easily accessible USB ports for instant access to content via USB flash drives, digital cameras, iPods, or any other USB storage device. This means you can upload your digital content directly to the Digital Entertainer Elite.

Push 'N' Connect Wireless Technology NETGEAR's exclusive Push 'N' Connect wireless technology provides an easy way for the user to connect to a WPS-secured wireless network with a simple push of a button. With Push 'N' Connect, you don\'t need to key in long and complex wireless passwords. And it is dual band wireless-N compatible, so you get the fastest WiFi connection possible at speeds of up to 300 Mbps when coupled with a Wireless-N router.

Plays a Wide Variety of Formats The Digital Entertainer Elite offers compatibility with a wide range of formats, far more than Apple TV, Media Center Extender, Xbox 360, and other competitors offer. It supports video formats--such as AVI, DivX, WMV, MOV, and more--and audio formats--such as MP3, WMA, DTS 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio, AAC, and more. The Digital Entertainer Elite also supports 40 Mbps bit rates, providing you with the best quality audio/video possible.

Energy Efficient Design The Digital Entertainer Elite is a NETGEAR Green product, so you know you're getting an eco-friendly product. Its efficient power supply and automatic power-saving mode consumes as little as 0.01 watts of power.

Need More Storage? If you are a media enthusiast and have more video than one hard disk drive can hold, the Digital Entertainer Elite works seamlessly with NETGEAR\'s ReadyNAS DUO, NV+, and Pro products. Just dump all of your HD Videos on the ReadyNAS, and stream directly to the Digital Entertainer, it's as simple as that.

Compatible with Windows (including Vista), Macintosh, and Linux computers the Digital Entertainer Elite measures 2.0 x 17 x 10 inches (HxWxD) and weighs 5.56 pounds. It's backed by NETGEAR's one-year warranty.

What's in the Box Digital Entertainer Elite (EVA9150), 4-device Universal Infrared (IR) Remote Control (2 AA batteries included), power cable, localized to the country of sale, Ethernet cable, RCA stereo-audio/composite-video cable, HDMI cable, installation guide, Windows/Macintosh (Intel-based OS-X) resource CD, and warranty/support information card.



Netgear ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer Edition Network Attached Storage (RNDP600E)

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NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNR3500)

NETGEAR Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit (XAVB101)

NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNR3500)

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D-Link DSM-750 Wireless HD Dualband Draft 802.11n Media Center Extender Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased the DSM-750 a few weeks after it debuted. It was shipped in it's factory box through another vendor **MALL... The box was slightly damaged, but all the parts were there and in new condition. I plugged it directly in and it auto-detected my router and my Windows Vista Premium 64bit PC. I connected with Windows Media Center and started to stream high-definition movies. My old DSM-320 videos, a collection of 500 GB of TV shows and movies, played perfectly too. I had access to my database of 5000 MP3s as well.
I really think that D-Link outdid themselves this time with the DSM-750. I see that a lot of customers gave this 1/5 stars, but my unit came fully functional, and not only satisfied but exceeded my expectations. I am glad that I waited 6 months for this product to come out. I would recommend this device for any Vista user with a Hi-Definition Television. It pairs perfectly with my Samsung 4661. I no longer use the 360 as a media extender/streamer with my DSM-750.

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D-Link DSM-750 Wireless HD Dualband Draft 802.11n Media Center Extender

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