Another HD extender thread

[nickety]

I've been lurking in these forums for some months, carefully following the discussions over possible HD extenders. The D-Link thread in particular was very exciting—but it now appears that such hopes were premature.

I've decided to voice my dismay over the lack of progress in this field. It is surely quite obvious to all that this is a direction in which Sage (and others) will necessarily have to move and with evident, repeated requests for this feature on these very boards, it occurs to me that it may indeed be (long) overdue.

Personally, I do not have Sage. Nor do I have any other form of HTPC setup. I don't even have a PVR! But I do have a decent AV installation which I thoroughly enjoy and which is "HD ready". So, whilst I have been sorely tempted to splash out on a Sage system accompanied by some huge network storage, I cannot get my head around making the investment if I cannot enjoy my equipment to the full: especially if the solution may ultimately be to ditch Sage and go with whichever competitor brings a suitable alternative to market first.

(On that note, it may be that such an alternative has already been brought to market—after all, the HD extenders in existence must serve some purpose—I would appreciate any constructive observations about these systems, especially how they compare to Sage: I do not even know, for instance, whether Vista and/or MCE will stream live TV to an extender).

Perhaps a little indication, no matter how non-committal, of when Sage expect to have an HD extender available would set all our minds at ease and enable others in a similar position to embark upon the process of designing/building their dream systems!

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by nickety

I've been lurking in these forums for some months, carefully following the discussions over possible HD extenders. The D-Link thread in particular was very exciting—but it now appears that such hopes were premature.

I've decided to voice my dismay over the lack of progress in this field. It is surely quite obvious to all that this is a direction in which Sage (and others) will necessarily have to move and with evident, repeated requests for this feature on these very boards, it occurs to me that it may indeed be (long) overdue.

Personally, I do not have Sage. Nor do I have any other form of HTPC setup. I don't even have a PVR! But I do have a decent AV installation which I thoroughly enjoy and which is "HD ready". So, whilst I have been sorely tempted to splash out on a Sage system accompanied by some huge network storage, I cannot get my head around making the investment if I cannot enjoy my equipment to the full: especially if the solution may ultimately be to ditch Sage and go with whichever competitor brings a suitable alternative to market first.

(On that note, it may be that such an alternative has already been brought to market—after all, the HD extenders in existence must serve some purpose—I would appreciate any constructive observations about these systems, especially how they compare to Sage: I do not even know, for instance, whether Vista and/or MCE will stream live TV to an extender).

Perhaps a little indication, no matter how non-committal, of when Sage expect to have an HD extender available would set all our minds at ease and enable others in a similar position to embark upon the process of designing/building their dream systems!

Let's see what happens at CES next month. Sage doesn't build hardware, and has a good relationship with Hauppauge. If they come out with an HD MVP next month, we may see Sage on it. Otherwise they could be going in a different direction.

The question to me is whether or not an extender is coming that is smaller and cheaper than say a Dell C521. Computers are getting cheaper and faster but take more hassle to manage. But don't expect an HD extender that costs the same as an SD one.

thanks,
Mike

[mikejaner]

yeah, that C521 looks pretty nice for $359. Not too many machines can beat that price for a small package with a Sempron 3400+, 512MB, etc.....
I wonder how good a Sempron 3400+ is at decoding HD content?

I have an Asus Pundit with a Celeron 2.4Ghz and 512MB and it just barely does HD decoding with the help of NVDVD codecs.

Anyways, I agree with the thread, which is the need for an HD equivalent of the MVP. I'm crossing my fingers for an announcement this January.
Mike

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

yeah, that C521 looks pretty nice for $359. Not too many machines can beat that price for a small package with a Sempron 3400+, 512MB, etc.....
I wonder how good a Sempron 3400+ is at decoding HD content?

I have an Asus Pundit with a Celeron 2.4Ghz and 512MB and it just barely does HD decoding with the help of NVDVD codecs.

Anyways, I agree with the thread, which is the need for an HD equivalent of the MVP. I'm crossing my fingers for an announcement this January.
Mike

Actually, for $419 (in the dell SB store) you can get a 3800X2, plus 1GB of RAm (bare minimum for all you vista masochists apparently), and 6150 onboard graphics that should drive HD reasonably with purevideo. In a compact form factor, etc...

They had a sale a while back where you could get one with a 3800 X2 for about $300...

This makes for a decent HD client, and a small form factor, and can act as a normal PC too.

I'd still like a cheaper powerful HD extender that didn't need transcoding to play anything Sage could. But life isn't that hard now without one. You just have to shop around.

thanks,
Mike

[traker1001]

I can tell you the onboard 6150LE does not have any TV out, No DVI, No Composite, Nothing Just VGA. Also when I did finally get it working with my TV via the VGA, It was horrible doing anything above SD. So if you purchase the C521 purchase the X1300 or a descent LP video card.

Other than that for $300ish the C521 is an excellent extender.

Every other week or so dell is doing some kind of deal, Watch the deal forums.

[nickety]

I suppose one option, given the recent release of a Mac client, is to build an extender around the Mac Mini—but I can't help but feel this is an unnecessary waste and indeed (as mikesm said) would be more hassle to manage. I'd settle for a working Sage client on the upcoming iTV though!

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by nickety

I suppose one option, given the recent release of a Mac client, is to build an extender around the Mac Mini—but I can't help but feel this is an unnecessary waste and indeed (as mikesm said) would be more hassle to manage. I'd settle for a working Sage client on the upcoming iTV though!

The Mac Mini has crappy onboard video, no matter which OS it is running. Not much hardware acceleration, and for the price, I'd insist on having HD. Other than that and the price, it would be a great client platform...

Thanks,
Mike