v2 extenders available for ordering
Thanks to a tip from Chris Lanier, I've found the first of the v2 Media Center extenders to show up at online stores. — Linksys still lists the status of its DMA2100 and DMA2200 extenders as "coming in November." But searching for those model …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has spent late 2007 rebuilding the case for Media Center as a living-room platform rather than just DVR software: in September it added an Internet TV feature to Media Center, and earlier in the year vendors like Niveus were showing dual-tuner CableCARD receivers built on Vista's OCUR design. The missing piece has been hardware to push that content to TVs outside the den.
That piece is arriving: the first second-generation extenders, Linksys's DMA2100 and DMA2200, have surfaced for ordering at online stores ahead of their listed November ship date, tipped by blogger Chris Lanier. The v2 generation is the first extender refresh since the original devices, and its timing lines up directly with the Internet TV and CableCARD pushes.
First-order effects
- Buyers can place orders for the Linksys DMA2100 and DMA2200 immediately, even though Linksys itself still lists both models only as 'coming in November' — retail channels are ahead of the official announcement.
Second-order effects
- Other CE makers in the Media Center program face pressure to match Linksys's v2 hardware at retail, since Microsoft's Internet TV and CableCARD features give consumers new reasons to buy extenders this holiday season.
Third-order effects
- If v2 extenders sell alongside CableCARD tuner PCs, Media Center consolidates around a hub-and-extender model where one Vista PC serves every screen in the house — shifting Microsoft's living-room strategy from standalone devices to distributed software.
The trend: Windows Media Center is maturing from a single-PC DVR into a whole-home entertainment platform, with v2 extenders, Internet TV, and CableCARD tuners arriving as one coordinated stack.