The Linksys DMA2200 HD Media Center Extender gets reviewed

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Feb 29th 2008 at 9:06AM

The idea of having a centralized DVR with a bunch of tuners and other HD content stored on a hard disc and then streaming it around the house in HD, is pretty fantastic. Up until now the Xbox360 has been pretty much the only option for Windows Media Center fans who want to stream HD cable -- and soon DirecTV -- around the house, but as great of a box as it is, it isn't perfect. Our biggest complaint is the noise and the size, and if those are important to you as well, then you may want to check out Chris Laniers's review of the Linksys DMA2200. Overall Chris seemed to like the little guy, but considering it sells for almost the same price as the Xbox360 core system and does less, we'd suspect the only reason to go for the Linksys is because it is smaller and most importantly, it's silent.

Filed under: Reviews, Media streamers, Others

Tags: DMA2200, Linksys, Media Center

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Jon @ Feb 29th 2008 10:30AM

I read the review with No real VOB playback , aka i want to play my backed up dvd collection with NO transcoding/converting .. Then that thing is a joke

Neutral

Marshall @ Feb 29th 2008 11:51AM

Popcorn Hour, and potentially the istar (http://www.istarhd.com/), offer lots more functionality (all though, with less eye-candy, no indexing service) for less $$. If you want raw playback ability, they are hard to beat.

I was all over the Microsoft media extenders. Then they announced the price, and I got sad (even more so with the recent Apple TV price cuts). Then they delayed them a year, and I pretty much stopped caring.

Marshall
The Real HT Info Podcast

Neutral

Jon @ Feb 29th 2008 1:14PM

any thought on the Tvix M-6500A ? Do you know if Popcorn Hour plans to make dvd cover art available ?

Neutral

Andrew @ Feb 29th 2008 10:45AM

The PS3 also streams video and is quite useful as a Windows Media-based media center.

Highly Ranked

aaron @ Feb 29th 2008 10:47AM

the ps3 is nothing compared to vista mce.... unless you run linux and mythtv but thats still very buggy.

Neutral

Craig Korinko @ Feb 29th 2008 6:36PM

I agree. Love my PS3 for playing blu-ray and dvd's, but it won't play my Rhapsody To Go tracks like the 360 does. And I've just had less problems playing my backups (divx, dabble with mp4) on the 360 lately. Also agree the 360 is big and loud. But I have a PS3 and a 360... can't really complain.

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