Cisco-Linksys Media Center Extender with DVD
by Linksys
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: LinksysAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: DMA2200
Product features:
- Bring your digital music, movies, and photos to your TV or Home Theater
- Allows you to share your photos, music and movies on your computer with friends and family
- Uses existing high-speed Wireless-N home network
- Comes built-in with an upscaling DVD player
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys Media Center Extender with DVD
Customer Review: For the Novices Like Myself, Who Were Starving for Information
Summary: 5 Stars
Please note this is a combination review on the Hauppauge Dual TV Tuner card, Linksys Cisco Media Center Extender, and Windows Vista 64 bit Premium and Ultimate with Media Center built in.
Phew when I first started my quest for the ultimate TV and computer solution with TIVO like recording, I couldn't believe the lack of information. Facing the challenge of every tuner card manufacturer putting out a free application to use with their card, and they all don't work. Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit English 1pkor Vista Ultimate with media center already built in seems to be the solution, but what cards work with it?
Then the challenge of trying to upgrade a PC to accept Vista. So I went to the Microsoft site for compatible hardware, and they had the Hauppauge card right on top. The only problem was the cards had no TV out; they only were built for watching TV on your PC. I found the ATI cards, at least the very expensive ones to have TV outs. I had bought an All in Wonder card a couple of years ago from ATI, and after all of the upgrades, and install, remove, install, remove their 4 part process to reinstall, then it would freeze up, and never work again, unless you went through 4 steps again, I don't have a lot of patience for ATI cards. It cost me 200 bucks, and makes a nice paperweight, other than doing a nice job of being a video card. The wiring hookup was another nightmare. Sparse instructions and complicated set up is an understatement. So let's stop right there. Do you want to spend 4 or $500 for an ATI card to have one TV out, for one TV to plug into? The reviewers aren't too excited.
Ok enough of the tease. The following applies to my situation. It is like making soup. Too many cooks who want to change the recipe will ruin it. This is with FREE over the air broadcasts, in a new Vista compatible PC that I built for cheap, and it is my opinion, and everyone is welcome to chime in with comments. Others appear to be having problems with cable, and other configurations, for me it is all working perfectly, like a dream I do not want to wake up from. If you have a different setup, don't vent your frustration by throwing a negative at this review, rather participate in the comments section, but be honest with your setup configuration, and how it may not apply to you. Therefore, hopefully others will input, and everyone will gain. The other thing is that this review is longer than Amazon's standard length, and I don't want to chop it up, because every part is important, so what I did was place the beginning as a standard review, and then continued the rest of it in the comments section.
Ok, here goes: I have a couple of ASUS A8N SLI boxes, one of them can upgrade with a BIOS change, and some hardware upgrades in order to handle VISTA. I needed a minimum of a 2.2Mghz chip to handle this Hauppauge 1229 WinTV-HVR-2250 White Box for System Builders Dual Hybrid PCI-E TV Tuner Board So I looked on eBay for used chips that would fit the now extinct, except for one expensive chip, the 939 socket. Used ones were going for 70 to 100 bucks, at the 2.2 level, with promises that it was never over clocked. (Yeah right) AMD says the Vista compatible chips are AMD2 and + socket style. So I looked at AMD's brand new chips, and found a 3.0 dual core for $79. Wow, then I found a cool board with all of the toys for $99 after the rebate, and suddenly decided to build a new box; one dedicated to being my media center PC. That is the way to go. 4 Gigs of good Kingston ram for only $59 after rebate. High def recordings suck 50 gigs per hour, so if you plan on loading a new program while watching your favorite TV show forget it. You'll get some picture freezes. As a dedicated box you get none of that.
Ok my situation is I use a 163 inch boom over the air antennae on the roof with a digital readout rotator. I love the fact that as one person put it, "If you get anything straight, get this, with the exception of HD DVD and Blu Ray, over the air broadcast high def is the only source that does not reduce the signal for bandwidth purposes, like the way Direct TV, Comcast, and Dish Network does. It is the only source to get truly high def, and what a beautiful picture it is, and it is all free."
So what about this Hauppauge card? If you are using it to watch movies through your PC, I can see why the yawn response might arise. Unless you have a high def monitor, the movie performance is boring. Since there are no TV outs, that is it. It is true it does not get sub channels, such as 6-2, but it does a pretty good job of getting your main channels. It gets all of the ones, except those that are not strong enough to not give you continual picture freeze, so the selectiveness is an advantage. For example it does not get channel 12 locally, and I can get that out of my dedicated digital converter box, with regular interruptions. Vista itself is not designed to receive sub-channels, but you can add them manually. (Google for the way to do that) Besides, I am not interested in recording sub-channel programs such as the weather myself. Everything I am interested in is on the primary channels.
So let me get into what I am excited about..... ( Please note, this review is too long for the normal review length, and since I can't see cutting it up, and downgrading the information, I have paused it here, and will be continuing the rest of it in the comments section of this review. Click on comments. Thanks.)
Description of Cisco-Linksys Media Center Extender with DVD
Sharing your photos, music and movies on your computer with friends and family has been made easy by the DMA 2200 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 and includes built-in upscaling DVD player.Digital Cameras and Photo Categories
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