So it looks like CES provided us with a little bit more excitement in the form of Extenders and DIRECTV.

Starting with Extenders, Niveus Media made their EDGE official at the price of $1,500.  I know a lot of people will complain about that, but when you look at Niveus’ market it is really a steal.  Instead of purchasing a number of $3000 Rainer PC’s, you now just need one and then stock up on the EDGE to cover your home.  The Niveus EDGE is basically supposed to be an Xbox 360 that has been repacked, gaming disabled, and made quiet.  Very nice.

The Samsung Extender has been confirmed by many, including Ian Dixon to only work directly with compatible Samsung displays.  I do kind of feel like they are limiting the market, but in a way it is also good.  The big problem with v1 Extenders was that there were so few options and so few interested.  If Samsung wants to take this route, I say good for them.  This might make me look at a Samsung display whereas before the announcement I can’t say their displays were on my radar.

Ian Dixon also had a ton of great video and audio content including The Media Center Show #138 CES Day 1, and The Media Center Show #139 - Live from CES.  He has got a video of the NextGen Home up (Life|ware), and an interview with Kevin Tofel and James Kendrick (jkOnTheRun).

Best of all at CES was news of the DIRECTV tuner that we have been waiting for.  Just a few questions left to answer.  Price?  Availability?  OEM PC or not?  Now it is a waiting game.  The tuner exists, the software is being worked on, what else can you say?

On10 also has some good content including Show Us Your Home: Hakan Olsson Edition, Robbie Bach @ CES 2008, and TV Tonic at CES 2008.