Media Extenders

[gobo]

Can anyone recommend an affordable Networked Media Extender that will play all the type of recordings BTV creates, (including the H.264). I would be using it on a Windows XP system and a wired connection. I've searched but can't seem to find the right one that will do what I want. I know I can go the BTV Link route but it seems overkill to just stream Grandma's Recorded TV Shows to the Kitchen TV.

[cfaslave]

Any of these should work for you: PopcornHour, WD Media Player, SageTV HD Theater (in standalone mode)

[gobo]

Wow, Popcorn Hour looks cool! Must investigate. About the Sage Extender, I thought you needed a Sage License to use it. Can it be used to simply stream media off of any networked PC's hard drive?

[cfaslave]

Originally Posted by gobo

Wow, Popcorn Hour looks cool! Must investigate. About the Sage Extender, I thought you needed a Sage License to use it. Can it be used to simply stream media off of any networked PC's hard drive?

The PopcornHour is one of the most popular ones. EngadgetHD will have a review of it coming out in the next week or so.

SageTV HD Theater has three ways you can use it:

1. Extender - To use it this way you would need a computer with SageTV installed on it. This computer would have the tuners and hard drives in it and "serve" the media, liveTV etc to the extender.
2. Placeshifter - this mode like the Extender mode requires you have SageTV installed on your computer. Then you can take the HD Theater to another location (hotel, friends house, parents house etc), plug it in to an internet connection, plug it in to a TV and "placeshift" your Live/Recorded TV, Music, Photos etc to that location.
3. Stand-alone Player - This mode allows you to use the HD Player without any computer at all. It connects to your ethernet (wired) and you can access any media connected to your network. You can also connect to a USB external device (hard drive, flash drive etc) to access media stored on those. This would have similar functionality to the PopcornHour and WD Media Player.

For the situation you're speaking of, the SageTV HD Theater would work under scenario #3 - that's why I included it.

[tscales]

It's a little more expensive, but nothing beats a computer with BeyondTV Link.

[TomXP411]

I agree with tscales. You can get a Dell for like $300 nowdays. You can even get a netbook for around $400. (The new Eee 1000 is supposed to even do HD video well.)

[gobo]

Thanks for the reply's.
That's good to know about the Sage Device. Popcorn hour still seems the nicest.
As for the PC route. I guess I'm just trying to find a way around not having yet another PC in the family to have to keep an eye on

[cfaslave]

I'm giving away the review HDTheater tomorrow a.m. so if anyone would like to try to win the SageTV HD Theater (for the standalone mode of course) enter to win here

[samundsen]

Originally Posted by cfaslave

I'm giving away the review HDTheater tomorrow a.m. so if anyone would like to try to win the SageTV HD Theater (for the standalone mode of course) enter to win here

Oh no! I was hoping I actually had a chance to win that thing..... and then you just had to come here and lower the odds.

[cfaslave]

Originally Posted by samundsen

Oh no! I was hoping I actually had a chance to win that thing..... and then you just had to come here and lower the odds.

Sorry,
The odds are still WAY better then the lottery though.

[eMpTy3000]

Originally Posted by samundsen

Oh no! I was hoping I actually had a chance to win that thing..... and then you just had to come here and lower the odds.

Haha, I was just thinking the same thing when I read Brent's post....

[Fickey]

Originally Posted by gobo

...I know I can go the BTV Link route but it seems overkill to just stream Grandma's Recorded TV Shows to the Kitchen TV.

If Grandma is already using the BTV interface elsewhere, you may find it's vastly preferable to provide the same familiar interface via BTV Link in the kitchen, rather than have her try to make sense of something different.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by cfaslave

Any of these should work for you: PopcornHour, WD Media Player, SageTV HD Theater (in standalone mode)

The WD HD player is standalone it doesn't really count unless you like moving files on USB drives to save some money. There are other networked devices that use the SMB 8635 chipset too, the MediaGate MG 800, the TViX 6500/7000, and the very expensive HDi Dune players. I feel that the next gen extenders with the SMP8642/4 chips aren't too far away either. For those that have been sitting on the fence, it might be better to wait. Martin

[gobo]

Well grandma says she doesn't "need all this fancy stuff" so I'll probably wait and just make a link machine in the future when she finds she want to watch her stuff on her kitchen TV. Last night I finally set up her new Flatscreen correctly for her. She had just plugged the regular Cablevision TV cable into the back. Her reaction was "WOW!" so she might be changing her mind soon. Still might be goo to wait for a next gen extender though.

[Nacho]

It took me a couple of years to get my first Link machine, and then a couple of months to get the second Link machine.

Having the same interfase is a HUGE plus.

Now the only problem that I am having with grandma is that every room has a different remote and some don't work all the time.