Linksys DMA2200

[z3r010]

I'm thinking of buying a Linksys DMA2200, does anybody have one of these running with win7?

 

[Mark]

I have a Linksys WAG200G that works well with Windows 7

 

[z3r010]

Hardly the same sort of thing though

 

[Mark]

LOL, you could have mentioned what it was, I thought they only made Routers and stuff like that.

LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200

Looks good though, wouldn't mind something like that myself

While we like the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200, we found using Media Center too unreliable to replace our Freeview boxes, let alone a service such as Sky+. And although media streaming and DVD upscaling make this a fully-featured device, its Media Center foundation prevents it from reaching its potential.

Media Center has proved that TV can work on the desktop, but can it take over your television? Bill Gates has rarely made a secret of wanting to bring Windows out of the spare room and integrate it throughout the house: he'd like Windows reading recipes to you in the kitchen; controlling the lights in your bedroom and taking over the television in the front room.

And while the Vista-powered fridge and voice-operated bedroom remain only in the residence of Bill Gates, Microsoft has made serious strides to taking over your front room.

Windows Media Center is a decent attempt to bring together all the media in your life (movies, pictures and music) with television broadcasts and — looking to the future — IPTV.

Windows Media Center is also one of Microsoft's most accomplished pieces of software: stylish to look at, simple to use and genuinely powerful, it offers all the features required to take your television to the next level.

As well as enabling you to watch and record television, Media Center acts as a central hub for all your digital media (movies, music, photos etc.) The only down side is that Media Center is obviously a Windows program and huddling round the PC to watch the latest episode of 'Heroes' doesn't go down as well as slouching on sofa. This is where a Media Center Extender comes in.

Devices such as the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 enable you to connect your television to your computer via a home network and control Media Center from the comfort of your couch.

The most commonly used Media Center Extender is Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, which acts as a quick-and-dirty way to watch digital media on your television. The down side to using an Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender is the considerable noise produced by the fan, which distracts you to the point where the device becomes unusable.

So, even if you're running an Xbox 360 there's a lot that LinkSYS has to offer with the LinkSYS Media Center Extender. It offers a near silent running mode, plus a built-in DVD player complete with HD upscaling. And the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200's thin-design black box looks much more stylish underneath your high-def television.

Setup of the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 is relatively painless providing you're running a version of Vista with Windows Media Center (Vista Home Premium or Ultimate). It is important to note that this device won't work with Windows XP Media Center, which is a shame. The LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 can connect wirelessly or via a local network and we found it easy enough to get the system up and running either way.

Once it's on your network you simply fire up Media Center on your PC and select the device in the Settings menu, the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 puts an eight-digit number on screen, which you type into your PC and from then on you can use the DMA2200 to control Media Center on your PC.

It's great in theory, although we found it to be less than ideal in practice. The problem lies with Media Center itself though, rather than with LinkSYS's Media Center Extender DMA220
Media Center PCs were originally designed to be complete PC solutions that connected to your television, until Microsoft realised that nobody wanted to spend $1,500 on a glorified set-top box recorder and Media Center itself would have to live with the computer, which is usually found elsewhere in the house.

This, of course, brings up another problem: people want to watch television on the television, not on the computer in the spare room.

So Media Center Extender stepped up to breech the gap. Unfortunately, there's another problem. The PC itself (usually in the spare room) is supposed to connect to the TV antenna, which is usually in the front room. So you'll need to run an aerial to the computer, which will play and record television and stream it over the network to the television itself.

If this sounds a little like a long-winded solution to you, then you'd be right. It also doesn't help that we've found Media Center to become extremely unhappy if its aerial signal isn't 100 percent, with the menu hanging, crashing and resetting the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 periodically.
It was when we had to input the eight-digit sync code into Media Center for the third time that we decided the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 wasn't the TV solution we were looking for.

Which is a shame, because aside from Media Center's unpredictability as a television recorder and player, the LinkSYS Media Center Extender with DVD Player DMA2200 is a great device.

The presence of a built-in DVD player is welcome, and its high-def upscaling is fantastic, as is using it as a general media streaming device. We managed to get it to play some files (DivX and WMV) although there were codec issues and it doesn't play other formats such as QuickTime Mov or MKV.

 

[mikinho]

It works well w/ Win7 aside some gigabit network issues that may require network setings depending on your environment.

But they have discontinued as have all the Media Center Extenders aside from the XBox 360. Unless you get a really good deal, under $60, I wouldn't bother.

 

[andys2]

I disagree, using it on a Draft-N wireless network and am very impressed with it's performance, has issues connecting with builds previous to 7137 though, other than that it amazing and because it's windows 7 media center, you can stream HD quicktime trailers to your media center extender.

 

[Fabio]

i have the DMA2100 which is pretty much the same, minus the DVD player. and tbh if i had answerd this a few months ago, my reply would have been totally different.

i tried so many different codecs, each with the same result that i began to think that it just wasn't gonna work. until i discovered Sharks codecs, and since then i have to say that iam very pleased with it. occasionaly sticks on AVI files, but not enough to be a major issue. it is small compact, very quiet, and apart from the extremely bright blue 'On' light, is very subtle. Oh! and the remote control is awful, it looks dated, and feels very cheap, but i have a microsoft MC remote which works perfect with it. All in all, im very happy with it now, but it really was a pain in the butt initially. wish i had discoverd the Shark codecs earlier, it would have saved me a lot of grief.

 

[andys2]

But, the computer transcode it and then sends it raw or at least in a codec it can understand. I mean, Windows 7 comes with a large amount of codecs to start with and adding more codecs I believe can add unstabilities as when I had Vista's 64bit Media Center it crashed nearly every day due to ffdshow so, i've not installed any codecs on this machine.

 

[Fabio]

But, the computer transcode it and then sends it raw or at least in a codec it can understand. I mean, Windows 7 comes with a large amount of codecs to start with and adding more codecs I believe can add unstabilities as when I had Vista's 64bit Media Center it crashed nearly every day due to ffdshow so, i've not installed any codecs on this machine.

My experiences are different Andy

I have been running 7 x64 in its various builds since Oct/Nov last year, and have not experienced any issues, or instabilities related to Codecs. Been running with Shark007 codecs since the RC was released, without issue, and you can turn them on or off as and when required.

 

[Digger]

I'm toying around with my dma2100 z3r0. Like the other guy said, only main diff is the built-in dvd player. Responsiveness on the 2100 is fairly decent when wired and having to go thru a large library. Occasionally it gives me a slight headache, have had to reset the 2100 twice now. THis most recent time having to do so i belileve involved the situation of using a sys restore point to which was going to uninstall the latest version of mymovies and mediabrowswer. I got mymovies back working, but the mediabrowser app give me an error now that it cant access the Styles_DoNotEdit.mcml access denied.

But i dont think the whole blame goes on the 2100 for that situation. The only drawback i still have is the pause/resume feature and the skipping or fast-forwarding thru a movie is almost null:void. Searching for a plugin that might remedy the situation. If you can get a good deal on one, then grab it, if not, then wait till some newer versions of extenders to come out after the 7 official release. My guess would be a great time for this may be around Xmas.

 

[z3r010]

Thanks guys

I've just ordered one and will get my chance to play shortly

 

[glugglug]

I disagree, using it on a Draft-N wireless network and am very impressed with it's performance, has issues connecting with builds previous to 7137 though

Could you be more specific here? I just purchased one and am unable to watch TV on it. some videos work.

Initially I would get a BSOD every time I attempted to watch Live or Recorded TV through the extender. (works locally though). After uninstalling Avast anti-virus and Microsoft VirtualPC, it is no longer blue screening the PC, instead the extender sits there with the spinning circle thing forever. SOmetimes it is freezing the PC now instead of crashing it.

WIndows 7 x64 build 7100. Do I need to reinstall the OS before I can use the extender?

 

[therapetand]

GREAT, but a few Windows 7 issues

For instance: I can't get Internet TV on the DMA2200/TV but it's clearly present and functional on The PC..

Follow the other advice here ie shark007, and then theres somethong called Playon and then playonplugins.com and vcmPlayit (this is free) playon has a two week free trialbut two days is more than enough to know it works and then a small fee.

I just want it to work the way it as intended ie.... Windows Media Center that I see on my PC being identically replicated on my Media Center and The Internet Movies feature would be all I need to just tell the cable company to come get their stuff.