Following the delay of v2 Media Center Extenders, SageTV has released some information and photos of their upcoming Media Extender and the reaction has been superb (here, here, here, and here for just a few examples).

Let’s get right to it, their SageTV HD Media Extender (STX-HD100) will be $199.  Hey, they listened to customer feedback and choose a good price point.  Sure, I’ve said in the past that $150 is the perfect price but considering this is coming from a small company, they sure nailed the price.  Linksys and D-Link, who have both delayed their release of v2 Extenders, failed to intro products at price points that I consider reasonable.

v2 Extenders are now likely to show at retail after the new year, killing the “Holiday 2007” timeframe completely.  Great to have them unveiled at DigitalLife in October and then delayed into the next year after announcing that they would be available this year.  On the other side of things, Sage is expecting theirs to be ready to go in two weeks (12/10) just beating the holiday sales window.

It isn’t all good though.  Looking though the threads some people have some dislikes, albeit minor.  There appears to be no learning remote included, no CD/DVD drive option, local USB ports not active, no wireless option, and some other small things.  To me, the case isn’t that attractive (kinda cheap lookin) and that is something that most people seem to complain about that with other products.

With all that said, most major details haven’t really been released.  Brent Evans outlined the few confirmed features: HDMI (also S-Video, Composite and Component), SPDIF, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, and 1080p output.  H.264 is also on the list, but other than that not much is known about file format or container support.

I have high hopes for container and file format support.  To me, Sage understands exactly what their customers are looking for in this device.  They have had a makeshift solution for a while with the MediaMVP, but to me they have no reason to put out a device that doesn’t do what their userbase is looking to do.  The same can’t be said Media Center Extenders in most cases.

A lot of these differences in understanding boil down to the perceived market.  Linksys/D-Link are making devices for “everyone”, not the Media Center enthusiast.  SageTV on the other hand is taking the smart route and is making the device for the enthusiast.  The “everyone’s” of the world reap the benefits.  You develop for enthusiasts in these products to a large extent, and it is my belief that Sage understands this and Microsoft (along with their partners) don’t.

SageTV has key support for some features that Media Center doesn’t, noticeably native QAM support for several tuners.  However, one thing that SageTV doesn’t have and likely will never is CableCARD support.  Evil DRM aside, I’ve been a proponent of CableCARD (and DIRECTV) support because it is needed for mass adoption into the home.  For anyone who doesn’t care about that angle of things and wants to live DRM free forever, I can’t help but suggest watching SageTV’s next move.  Oh, did I mention that SageTV also has their own version of Softsled (SageTV Placeshifter) and they also have a Windows Home Server support?

Microsoft and their partners need to take a long look at what SageTV is doing, much of it should have been part of Media Center for a while now.  Congratulations to SageTV on a job well done thus far, and we all are looking forward to see what is delivered in the final product.