Interesting to see that it is
finally showing-up somewhere in the retail chain...
I would label the first part as an error on Best Buy's part as it clearly states on on Page 2 of the
User Manual that the Mounting Bracket (and, a rarity in consumer electronics, an HDMI cable) are included, along with the remote (you can use the remote from your existing compatible TV as well, but they're providing this simplified one that has a Green Button for MCE which your TV remote presumably doesn't)...
As for the $199 price, that is the only number I've seen bounced about in all my wanderings (though we can hope that somewhere it will be available for less than this MSRP)...
This could (in theory) be at the top of the Extender-only (no non-Extender functionality like DVD, etc found in DSM2200 and XBOX 360 as the User Manual for this would suggest that it's only function is as a Windows Vista Media Center Extender, and that it isn't designed to do anything like DLNA/UPnP connectivity to a non-Media Center "server") list for anyone that is considering buying for a compatible Samsung TV (and possibly with any other TV that supports HDMI-CEC, someone will have to get their hands on it and test first), given the following:
- Added horsepower over the Linksys DMA2100/DLink DSM-750 (and perhaps even the HP Media Smart Connect, if you have no need for the drive bay)
- With HDMI-CEC, it will power off automatically a few minutes after the TV is powered off which of course saves power and stops any streaming, which you have to specifically do on the DMA2100 by exiting out of the Extender function because it doesn't power off, thus keeping the Media Center from going into standby).
- With HDMI-CEC, it doesn't need line of sight for the remote (though I do find it silly that they didn't design the bracket to work with their own TVs when wall-mounted, where having a connected Extender hidden behind the screen w/o line-of-sight would be even more desirable because you don't have a shelf to put it on).