I live in the UK and have ordered one which I'll pick up in the US over the weekend and try when I'm back in the UK next week.  Broadcasting standards won't make any difference because it's just a HDMI connnection.  HDMI-CEC should be the same in the UK as the US so hopefully it's just the power adapter.

Will this work with XP MCE edition?  From the CES video I saw, they said it will work with XP Media Center Edition but now Samsung says Vista or Vista Ultimate?

I emailed Samsung Europe today and asked if, when and how much for a release in the UK
I got the reply below from them which doesn't give me a lot of confidence.

Especially as I don't want to purchase a "Samung Media Centre" but their extender!
And yes it does cause me inconvenience, I'm tired of things not being released in the UK when
they are in the US, D-Link extenders another example.

With regard to your email concerning the purchase of a Samsung Media
Centre, we do not have any information as to when these will be released
in the UK, I am sorry if this causes any inconvenience.

I hope this has been of some assistance to you. If you do have any
further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

---

Stu

aka C-Dub



The Windows Media Center Blog

Tips Tricks & News!

BestBuy say they have shipped my Samsung Extender so they seem to have a headstart on Amazon where you can pre-order for 15-Oct release

My Samsung Extender arrived and I have set it up in the UK.  It simply requires a new cord with a UK plug and a two prong input lead (similar to many laptop chargers) - the AC/DC converter accepts 240V input.  The extender connected without a problem to my LE26A450 UK 26" series 4 TV (which has HDMI-CEC).  The extender also connected to my mediacenter (after updating Vista to SP1 and a software update for the extender which it automatically downloaded).

I did an initial test of media playback and I am having problems (see my post here: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/300492.aspx) but I think these are network problems not related to the extender.

Having only just got back from NY, I haven't had the opportunity to use it for more than a minute so can't comment on responsiveness, etc.

bdo21:

My Samsung Extender arrived and I have set it up in the UK.  It simply requires a new cord with a UK plug and a two prong input lead (similar to many laptop chargers) - the AC/DC converter accepts 240V input.  The extender connected without a problem to my LE26A450 UK 26" series 4 TV (which has HDMI-CEC).  The extender also connected to my mediacenter (after updating Vista to SP1 and a software update for the extender which it automatically downloaded).

I did an initial test of media playback and I am having problems (see my post here: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/300492.aspx) but I think these are network problems not related to the extender.

Having only just got back from NY, I haven't had the opportunity to use it for more than a minute so can't comment on responsiveness, etc.

Great to hear you got one of these working in the UK!

---

Stu

aka C-Dub



The Windows Media Center Blog

Tips Tricks & News!

Hi All,

 

I'm a bit confused about this one. In the descriptions I've read, this unit is supposedly able to stream video in full 1080p.

 

Amazon.com:

"Fast enough to stream 1080p high definition video from Media Center PCs to your Samsung TV"

 

BestBuy.com:

"Streams 1080p high-definition video from Media Center PCs to your HDTV; compatible with HDMI-CEC 2.0"

 

However, I don't see anywhere in the official Samsung press where it claims 1080p. Also, the user manual clearly shows that the only supported resolution options are 480p, 720p, and 1080i.

 

See:

http://www.samsung.com/us/news/newsRead.do?news_group=&news_type=&news_ctgry=&news_seq=10129

 

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/accessory/type/accList.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=tvaccessories&subsubtype=misc

 

I was thinking about purchasing one of these for my Samsung LCD TV, but if it doesn't do 1080p on video streams then I might be better off with a Linksys or Xbox 360 extender (the HP MediaSmart Connect has a max resolution of 1080i whereas I believe that the Linksys and Xbox 360 extenders can do 1080p).

 

Any thoughts?

Also...

How in the world do you get 5.1 channel surround sound out of this thing since it doesn't have an optical audio out jack???

I realize that HDMI supports digital audio, but according to the manual of my 2008 Samsung LCD TV:

"5.1 CH audio is possible when the TV is connected to an external device supporting 5.1 CH" (i.e. via the optical audio out jack on the back of the TV)

However, it goes on to say:

"When the TV is displaying a DTV(air) signal, the TV will send out 5.1 channel sound to the Home theater receiver. When the source is a digital component such as a DVD and is connected to the TV via HDMI, only 2 channel sound will be heard from the Home theater receiver. If you want to hear 5.1 channel audio, connect the DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL) jack on the DVD player or Cable/Satellite Box directly to an Amplifier or Home Theater, not the TV."

Unless I'm reading that wrong, the audio coming from the extender via the HDMI cable would only ever be 2 channel (unless the TV considers it to be a "DTV(air)" signal - although I'd assume that only refers to the TV's built-in digital tuner and not to anything that is input via HDMI). Thus, without an optical out jack on the unit, there's no way to get 5.1 channel sound out of the extender!

To further this... In the Anynet+ (i.e. HDMI-CEC) section of the TV's manual (which is how the extender connects to the TV) it says:

"When the receiver (home theater) is set to On, you can hear sound output from the TV's Optical jack. When the TV is displaying a DTV(air) signal, the TV will send out 5.1 channel sound to the Home theater receiver. When the source is a digital component such as a DVD and is connected to the TV via HDMI, only 2 channel sound will be heard from the Home theater receiver."

Hmm... Maybe because the Samsung TV's don't have a 5.1 sound system built into them, Samsung didn't feel it was necessary to allow the extender to output 5.1 channel sound???

Any thoughts?

Most TVs are that way, some say it is a matter of DRM, but I've never had that confirmed.

Anyways, the best way to get the audio to your AVR is to connect the HDMI to your reciever and then to your TV, then the audio will travel over the HDMI to the AVR and the video will go along to the TV. I supect you would've already though of this if your AVR had HDMI.

---

Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your reply.

What you say is true, but what would the AVR do with the audio signal since it would only be received in 2 channel quality???

And indeed, my AVR doesn't have HDMI. I don't see the point. It just adds more complexity to the overall equation. I'd much rather connect the device of interest straight to the TV via HDMI and then use an optical audio cable to connect the sound up to the AVR (especially since the HDMI wouldn't be carrying any multi-channel audio anyway due to the DRM restrictions).

Am I missing something???

This question comes up every now and then, we actually did an Ask Engadget about it.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/06/18/ask-engadget-hd-using-a-hdtv-to-distribute-audio/

But basically the receiver has always been the switching point of most home theaters and even though TVs have plenty of inputs today, it still is.

The idea is that you'd plug all your sources into your receiver, and then a single HDMI cable to your TV. Then when you turn on your TV, HDMI-CEC would send a signal to your receiver to turn on. Then all you have to do is switch inputs on your receiver to switch both audio and video.

---

Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

Hi Ben,

Thanks again for your reply.

Okay, duh... I get it now. The extender would indeed be pumping out multi-channel sound from its HDMI output jack. The TV is the point where the sound would get scaled down to 2 channels (due to DRM restrictions). Thus, as you've said, hooking the HDMI out from the extender directly to a HDMI switching receiver would resolve the problem (since the receiver would process the multi-channel sound signal direct from the extender and then pass the video signal on to the TV).

Now... The only question that remains is since the Samsung extender is supposed to be hooked directly to a Samsung TV via a HDMI-CEC cable, would hooking it to an AVR first cause the TV not to recognize it properly (since Samsung is claiming that the extender will only work with Samsung TVs)? My guess would be no, and that the extender will work fine with any TV as long as it's HDMI-CEC aware - although you'd possibly lose the ability to control it via the remote). That remains to be seen.

So... In order to get 5.1 channel sound out of this extender, it looks like you will indeed need an AVR with HDMI-CEC (v1.3) switching capabilities (such as the Onkyo TX-SR606???).

Now you have it.

The reason why manufactures say that their HDMI control protocol only works with their own products is because of the relatively limited number of controls definded by the HDMI-CEC specification. So each manufacturer adds whatever commands they deem necesary and since the new commands aren't part of the spec, there's no way to gurantee it'll work with other brands.

That being said, most of the commands work. Personally I've tried Samsung Blu-ray players with my Pioneer TV and for the most part everything works, but in some cases some of the functionality isn't availble. So in short you only know if you try it.

Yes that Onkyo is a very popular choice. Personally I think recievers are a good thing to find on eBay. They go down in value alot in one year, so all you have to do is make sure it has HDMI 1.3 switching and supports TrueHD and DTS-HD.

---

Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

In addition to the HDMI-CEC functionality I'm also wondering if this extender has the cool animation effects like the 360 VMC extender does in the VMC UI.  Is there anybody that owns a MediaLive extender that could confirm or deny this?

I think bdo21 is the only person on the planet who owns one at the moment. Too bad that he hasn't been back around to help answer some of the most pressing questions about the unit.

I have one on order (which I'm sure I'll regret) and it should be here soon. I'll do my best to answer some of the questions if bdo21 doesn't.

As for the animation effects... I doubt that the Samsung extender will be any different than the LinkSys or HP extenders. It may have a bit faster processor, but my guess is that the effects will be the exact same (which are completely acceptable as is IMHO).