Windows Media Center MCE

Two days after ordering my HP Media Center Extender from the HP Shopping website, the extender arrived. Within about twenty minutes, I had unpacked the Extender and had things up and running.

This Media Center Extender was purchased to go in my bedroom to access my media content from my MCE 2005 PC. The following equipment is what I'm using to run everything in my Media Center / Home Theater Setup:

• Gateway 820 MCE 2005 Machine
  
• DLink DI-784 A/G Dualband Wireless 108 Mbps Router
  
• Infocus X-2 Projector
  
• HP Media Center Extender
  

Prior to the Extender, I used my Infocus Projector in both my living room and bedroom. When I wanted to watch television in my living room, I would move the projector to my office (which sits just off my living room) and hook it to my Media Center PC and instantly have a picture nearly 9 foot wide on my wall. For those of you who aren't using a "big screen" environment, let me tell you the Media Center Interface, with its rich blue background, looks just incredible up on a blank white wall. I have a blank wall almost as big (7 ft wide) in my bedroom that, for the past 6 months, I used as a big screen as well. Prior to the MCE Extender, I would move my projector into my bedroom at night and hook it into my TIVO for another big screen experience.

This worked wonderful and there was absolutely nothing wrong with this setup. But, I just wanted everything to be unified and have all of my content in one place. The Media Center Extender has solved this and I've used it to replace my TIVO.

Now, the cost to get this up and running is more than it should be. For those of us "early adopters" who have to purchase these things right after they are released, we have to take the financial hit, I suppose. The first new purchase I made prior to the extender, was the D-Link A/G router. It was reasonably price (less than half of the Extender price) and I made the purchase of the A/G router about a week before purchasing my Extender so I would have time to receive the router and set it up. Having two setup and configurations at one time was more than I wanted to tackle. So, the day my router arrived, I was ready to get the show on the road.

After unpacking the extender, I immediately hooked it up to my projecter and my sound system in the bedroom. I have a stereo tuner and 3 speakers in this room (seperate from the tuner/speakers hooked to MCE PC). I felt a little dumb after not being able to turn the thing on but I finally discovered the power button is on the back of the Extender. The reason for the confusion is there is both a "Standby" button on the front and a green "button" with the MCE logo on the front of the extender. I hate reading instructions and was just pressing both of those not paying attention trying to power the unit on. When that didn't work, I finally looked at the diagram and found the power switch :)

I did take enough time to see that you set up the Media Center Extender to your television (or video source) and power it on and begin setup PRIOR to running the CD SOFTWARE SETUP that you install onto your MCE 2005 PC. Sometimes you buy equipment and it's just the opposite. But in the case of the HP Media Center Extender, you hookup the hardware first before installing the software on the PC, which simply connects the PC back to the Extender through the network.

You have the option of hooking your MCE Extender to your TV via S-Video or Composite Cable. In my case, I'm using S-Video cable to run from the Extender to the Infocus X-2 Projector. The S-Video Cable and Compositive Viedo cable are both included with the Extender. You also receive a remote control and two AA batteries for the remote in the package.

Setup was fairly simple. There were a series of menus to walk through and within 20 minutes of starting, I was watching live television in my bedroom that was being sent from my PC's tuner card.

Live TV looks great! I could tell of no quality loss watching live TV on my Extender, but keep in mind I'm not a fanatic about picture quality and pixels. My MCE 2005 Computer has two TV cards. I added one as the factory config for this model (Gateway 820GM) has only one. I have noticed a fuzzy picture occassionally when watching TV on the PC and the Extender. Since I'm seeing this on both the PC and the extender, I believe its due to a weak signal because I'm splitting my cable three times. The cable line is split to go to the cable modem and then to the TV card, which is split again for my 2nd tuner. It looks like the 2nd tuner has fuzzy reception. When I watch live television that the, the PC is picking the first tuner as a default and only if the first tuner is recording something am I seeing the 2nd tuner and the fuzzy quality. I plan on installing some type of cable tv signal booster to solve this problem.

One big thing that you can't do an an Extender is to watch HBO television content. When I attempt to tune into HBO as live television or watch recorded HP content, a "protected content" screen comes up. I can watch Showtime & Cinemax with no problems.
There is also one other minor "feature" on MCE that isn't available on the extender and that is the "visualizations." Normally you can choose visualizations while listening to music. This is not available on the extender.

In summation, the HP Media Center Extender is great. The quality is going to depend on the other pieces of the pie you have in place such as Network Speed, PC Processer Power and Memory, etc. I recommend reading up on the specs for a successful MCE 2005 experience. If all of those things are in place and if you have a Wireless A network, then you should find the Media Center Extender a great purchase.

I will say I've read some of the complaints people have such as the lack of support for watching DVDs. You will have to make the judgement on whats important to you. Do you require having everything you ever want in this 1st generation of Extender technology? Or would you be happy with having most of what you want?

For me, I'm very happy with this Extender. I have no doubt others will soon come out with better features, perhaps with built in DVD drives, etc. But, I have no regrets about jumping into this 1st generation device and if you love the Media Center Experience and want to spread it throughout your home, then the HP Media Center Extender is the way to go!

I look dorward to everyone's comments about the Extender. Please share your experience or the reasons why you are waiting and not purchasing