Is DVD streaming finally coming to Media Center?

Media Center extenders are one of the coolest features of Windows Media Center. Having access to your content on any HDTV in the house is beyond cool, but unfortunately not every feature of Media Center is currently available on the extenders and the biggest missing feature is the ability to stream DVDs to each TV in the house. Currently MS expects you to walk your DVDs around the house and load them for each TV. Well that might change soon as Jerold from The Green Button was tipped from Jessica at CES this year that she's actually seen this feature in action, but didn't say when we'd actually be able to enjoy it in the comfort of our own home, so stayed tuned.

[Via Chris Lanier's Blog]

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 8:57AM]

Waste of development. Chances are, if someone has enough money to buy an extender, then most likely that same person has (at least) a DVD player.

Hey MicroSoft, improve the communication between XP and the Xbox360. Loads of problems just getting that connection running consistently.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 9:06AM]

That's kinda short-sighted. Yes, I've got DVD players everywhere. That does not mean I want to physically hunt through my large collection of DVDs to load in a specific disc. Much easier to just use changers and/or rip your discs to hard drive.

Also, not handling the physical media means there's a lot less chance of damaging it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 3:47PM]

Actually I've had no problem with my connection between my PC and the Xbox 360. I've never used the media center feature of the 360 though. I don't really see the point of it. I just use the regular photos/music/video menu system on the 360 without screwing around with the media center. It also helps if you don't use the crappy Zune or WMP11 media servers. Give Tversity a try.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 9:00AM]

Ummm, i think that should read "streaming, not "steaming", it sounds like your trying to cook rice or something! :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 9:14AM]

I got all excited when I saw the title. I though my computer was going to start cooking vegetables. What a dissapointment - streaming, not steaming!

[Galley Posted Jan 14th 2008 11:37AM]

If only a DVD playing in a Mac could be streamed to an Apple TV.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 5:40PM]

Steamed apple, mmmmmmmm

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 14th 2008 1:01PM]

If only they had done this years ago when VLC +VLS did it, it�s awful that it has taken them so long to �innovate� this new feature.

[JDM Posted Jan 14th 2008 5:57PM]

But did VLC do it *well*? "Innovating" isn't useful if it doesn't do a decent job if it, such as not crashing, or not spewing out bizarre error messages.

VLC has always been a program of last resort, I'll use it, but only after I've tried every other program. DVD playback was always more than flaky for me.

[WBonner Posted Jan 19th 2008 12:19PM]

Can someone point me to a media center extender that plays HD and costs less than $150?

If I buy a Media Center Extender, will I be able to play AVI files directly on my TV, even if those AVI files are divx files?