desslok:

Do you think the problem is weak sales of extenders, or that they would rather sell full OS licenses and updates, and increase marketshare of their OS?  I have been planning my implementation for months, and haven't moved forward because I haven't found an extender to meet my needs.

I personally don't think extenders will go away anytime soon.  At least not until the next version of Windows, which is probably 3yrs away.  And even then (at this rate) I don't see them disappearing....  In fact, I think M$ will get more aggressive with the extender model since it helps sell 360's.... and then hopefully XBL subscriptions

The "XBox is the only extender" model isn't a model for "extenders" at all...it's just marketing the XBox.  There's needs to be *lots* of choices, from the tiny appliances (Linksys DMA2XX, future DLNA compatible units) to the full-size gaming consoles to simply using another Windows box.  Just my $.02.

I'm disappointed with this year's CES.

The Microsoft presentation came and went and the day first full day of CES after the presentation didn't bring us any nice surprises.

I'm very happy with Windows 7 and the V2 extender works good enough, but I was hoping for a new extender to bring more features and speed.

There was also no mention of anything at the Cisco area.

I keep waiting for Microsoft to finish what they started and make Media Center into something great, but they keep coming up short.

I know it probably wont happen, but if Ceton or Silicon Dust were to make their CableCard products work with Sage, that would probably send a lot of traffic over there.  Sage has a nice extender starting at under $200 with most of the capabilities that we've been wanting on this side of the fence.

A bunch of us were discussing this today, and it's almost a conspiracy.  All the other extender makers disappear overnight?  Why would Niveus stop making theirs?  They cater to the high end crowd that would pay for the right solution.  Why isn't this an app for 7?  I could build my own silent atom based solution.  No hardware vendor's risk there. 

It's clearly what the community is screaming for.  Yet silence.  No one wants to watch PCTV as they're calling it, or TV on your PC.  We don't need WMC for that.  I'm right there, I got a mouse, I don't need a remote driven interface.

I think 2010 will be either be the break out year for WMC or its death.  I have a small glimmer of hope for a breakout year because of devices like Ceton is making.  If some sort of other extenders or extender technology (Silverlight) aren't announced or released this year... RIP. 

I just don't like the silence from Microsoft, if it is because someone from the Bilderberg group showed up and said you can't do this anymore, then fine.  Just say you're no longer doing the Extender thing, done.  But the silence and creepiness is both annoying and scary.

surge:

I'm disappointed with this year's CES.

The Microsoft presentation came and went and the day first full day of CES after the presentation didn't bring us any nice surprises.

I'm very happy with Windows 7 and the V2 extender works good enough, but I was hoping for a new extender to bring more features and speed.

There was also no mention of anything at the Cisco area.

I keep waiting for Microsoft to finish what they started and make Media Center into something great, but they keep coming up short.

I know it probably wont happen, but if Ceton or Silicon Dust were to make their CableCard products work with Sage, that would probably send a lot of traffic over there.  Sage has a nice extender starting at under $200 with most of the capabilities that we've been wanting on this side of the fence.

 CableCard isn't going to work with Sage unless Sage gets certified by CableLabs.  That's not going to happen anytime soon.

 Did you watch last years CES?  Last year we didn't get anything.  MC at least got mentioned this year and we got some new things.

R5:

A bunch of us were discussing this today, and it's almost a conspiracy.  All the other extender makers disappear overnight?  Why would Niveus stop making theirs?  They cater to the high end crowd that would pay for the right solution.

Do you know what was inside of the Niveus extender.....an Xbox 360.  It was an Xbox 360 in a different case, that's all it was.

Niveus stop making theirs after they saw support coming from Linksys and HP.  

If MS released Softsled then no one would buy and Xbox 360 or an extender.  Now that OEM's are dropping extenders maybe MS will see the light and open back up the softsled project.

I am contemplating switching over to a "media receiver", such as the ones offered by Western Digital (WD Live TV) or SlingBox (SlingCatcher), to view my media that's stored on an external USB hard drive connected to a router.

I have had the Linsys DMA2100 extender for almost a year.  The setup difficulties, bugs, and limited features (i.e. no YouTube, Hulu, NetFlix, DivX support) has been frustrating.

Is the future of media players going away from WMC and relying more on these 3rd party receivers?  I can pick one of these up for $100-$150, and the setup, interface, and features seem to offer everything I am looking for.  Should I make the change, or wait to see if Microsoft and OEM extenders get their act together?

I think you're on the right track.  I'm thinking about doing the same thing.  I bought the Netgear EVA2000, and feature-wise it was cool, but the resolution sucked so I returned it  I've been tempted to buy the WD Live as well.  Based on this review, I'm also very tempted to buy a Seagate FreeAgent Theater +.

 http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10417936-269.html

There are plenty of options out there for playing all sorts of content, but I'm holding onto my setup until something comes along that lets me watch and record TV from a silent box.

So far the only real options are W7 and Sage since they have silent extenders.

Except for the inability to use Cable Cards, Sage is probably the better of the 2 at this time since they are constantly making improvements and their extender supports MPEG1/2/4, H.264, WMV9, VC1, MKV, MOV, AVI, FLV, AAC, MP3, WMA, FLAC, JPEG, PNG and GIF files.

If MS would release an update so that Media Center could play CC protected content on other machines in the Home Group, that would solve the extender problem along with all codec problems for me. Then a little silent Win7 machine would work as a perfect extender and still have full functionality as a PC.

John

 Much as I'd love to see essentially another PC being able to play protected content can't see MS getting this passed the music and movie industries. That would be the perfect solution though, constantly upgradeable and quiet and small.

 I bought DMA2200s and utterly regret it. I'd rather have xbox360s and live with the noise - supported (linksys never supported the DMAs even before discontinuing them - no phone support, no online support, and 1 firmware upgrade ever), upgradable, more powerful, play more codecs. Maybe the WMC interface can't handle everything, but still like netflix and iplayer can be done in dashboard. When I bought mine the DMAs were about £50 cheaper so I went with them. Wish I'd waited a month or 2 and got supported, upgradeable xbox instead for the same money with a games console thrown in.

 MS have said they're not replacing xbox360 in the next couple of years, so when they do finally release natal maybe there will be some hardware tweaks, like we got with Jasper. OK, so its a bit noisy at times, I'm gonna borrow one and see what the latest chipset is like is my house, but at least it has an on-going path. I'm gonna get rid of my DMAs for xbox if its not unbearably loud. As xbox isn't going anywhere for a few years, and Win7 is fairly new this is at least a system that will last another 5 years.

 Oh, and I use cat5 - wireless N in my house was still crap on the DMAs. All instability issues and awful video quality gone with wired (I used N and powerline ethernet, both were fine for files, streaming iplayer to my laptop, but useless for the extender). I suspect that had a lot to do with the other providers all exiting - their slow hardware and reliance on wireless networks meant they spent all day trying to fix problems caused by wireless networks, which they couldn't blame coz we were all using their routers! I know most people have got wireless and its now a normal consumer product, but until its fast and reliable enough for video streaming I think the xbox is going to be the only extender, because outside TGB-world people don't run cat5 and powerline ethernet is too unreliable for most people too.

mack1979:

 . I'm gonna get rid of my DMAs for xbox if its not unbearably loud.

The xbox is god-aweful horrendously loud, and 10 times louder once the DVD drive spins up sounds like a Jet taking off.  If the dishwasher or washing machine is on, it drowns out the sound somewhat, but otherwise sounds like my TV is in a windtunnel.  I've been thinking about trying to shove a long paperclip in the back to burn out the fan.  I would do the quiet fan mod, but don't want to void my warranty by opening it.

desslok:

 I've been thinking about trying to shove a long paperclip in the back to burn out the fan.

A more effective means of burning up an Xbox might be to just go ahead and throw it in your lit fireplace (that's your call though).