Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2200 > Reviews > Media Center without an XBOX

Author's product rating:   

Sound Level	Good
Instructions	Quite Helpful / Understandable
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	The media center interface, decent codec support, HD movies stream really well .
Disadvantages:	The DVD player is terrible .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Okay, the big pull of this DVD player is the built in Media Center Extender software, which once set up runs really well. You need to have vista installed on a PC (which needs to be on for it to work) and you also need a good network connection between the two. I have tried both a 200mbps powerline ethernet network and a wireless N network and for me the wireless network performed better for HD movies, but this will differ for most people so just make sure you arn't relying on a bog standard 54mbps wifi connection.

The built in DVD play is poor to say the least, it doesn't scale DVD's out to widescreen it simply takes the DVD's basic resolution and outputs it to the middle of the screen. I tried watching an old cracker and had to stop as it was displayed as a 640x480 picture in the middle of my 720p HDTV, believe me this looks terrible.

Its worth it for the media center as it works seemlessly and is a lot easier to access than the XBOX 360 extender, but I'm hoping for a firmware update as the DVD player really lets the unit down.