 |
MEDIA CENTER PC NEWSFebruary 9th 2005 Media Center Extender or Windows Media Connect. Which Do You Need?
Let’s examine the two systems. Windows Media Connect is a little known feature of XP. It came as part of SP2, so you probably have it installed without even realising it. Take a look at your Control Panel – it might be there right now. WMC is a communications platform that allows an enabled device to access media files on your PC. What that device chooses to do with those files it up to it (and presumably you) but of course, the most common application, is making those files available to a TV or a stereo. There are a growing number of WMC devices on the market such as • The Roku Soundbridge is a simple music player for your PC-bound music files. The user interface is a small LCD display on the front panel. • The D-Link Media Lounge can use most media types and plugs directly into your TV and stereo system with standard digital or analogue cables. There’s a GUI which you access through your TV using a remote to select which media to play. If all you want to do is have access to your multimedia file collection then this could be a cheap (relatively) way of doing it. A Media Center Extender is essentially a dumb terminal that allows you to control a Window XP Media Center PC from another room. You can interact with the PC directly which means that you can view live TV through the extender, or use the PVR functions of the Media Center PC such as timeshifting and the TV guide. If you have more than one extender then many users can interact with the PC at the same time, although processor power would start to become an issue if you did. At the moment there are only three companies producing extenders – HP, Linksys and Microsoft (in the form of the Xbox). We have a full set of media center extender reviews available here. Which should you get? Which system you go for depends on what you want to achieve. If you already own a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC then you should consider an extender. If you don’t and you are clear about what sort of files you want to open then try a WMC device, although you should be aware that every device is different and you should make sure that the one you are trying is sufficient for your needs. |
Get Our News By EmailTake Our SurveyMost Viewed Products - May |
|
 |
 |
|
|
