We first saw D-Link's DSM-750 MediaLounge Wireless Media Player at CES
way back in 2007, and the company
"officially" launched the 802.11n unit in September of that year -- but the scheduled November 2007 retail date came and went, and the four of you queuing up to drop $349 on an unheralded Media Center extender were left to sadly contemplate the crushing banality of your existence. Well, buck up, boy-o, because it looks like D-Link's realized that it's actually supposed to
sell the DSM-750, and it's also gone and dropped the price down a whole $20, to $329. Sure, you can operate the thing in either MCE or MediaLounge mode, but you're still limited to 1080i output (even over HDMI), and at that price, it's pretty hard to see why you wouldn't just nab an Xbox 360 Arcade to do the same thing -- you're getting far more functionality for the money, even if you have to spring for wireless and the remote. Still, we're glad this thing is finally here -- those four dudes were getting awfully weepy.
[Via
eHomeUpgrade]
posted Mar 28th 2008 6:03PM
Lets look at the file formats:
Audio Formats: MP3 (Up to 320Kbps, WAV & AIFF (PCM Only), WMA, Ogg Vorbis
Movies/Videos: WMV9, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4**, XVID with MP3 or PCM, H.264, DVR-MS,
DVR-MS HD, AVI (MPEG-4 layer only), VC-1 (Up to Advanced Profile-Level 2)
hmm..no mkv? no dts? only 1080i?, no ac3??
How limited..
Popcorn hour !
Rumor has it this model has a better cpu/video decoder than the linksys model, so it might behave more "snappy" in the interface department. But for the price, I'd look for something more like a 360 or a non-mce extender that supported more formats.
Mark "No DTS.....No ac3??"
This means the DSM-750 can't decode these. It can still pass the coded stream to an AMP for decoding. Most people who want DTS or AC3 have an AMP (this decodes DTS/AC3 etc).
It's almost as if there are people at these companies who want this to work. But then it's almost like all of the other people at these companies really don't want these things to work. The marketing departments sure as heck are not being employed. And that includes Microsoft. I love Media Center, I love my 360's extender functions, and I am pleased with my new Linksys extender(without DVD) regardless of the price. Cause I understand the price problem. There is something out there that is keeping the idea of using the computer/extender concept for home entertainment from EVER becoming mainstream. I thought these new extenders and MS's brief enthusiasm over Vista's MCE capabilities was finally a beginning. But even tho I use it and love it. I still talk to people everyday that can't see the benefits of doing home entertainment with this hub and spoke media solution. I am starting to think that MS's need to keep the 360 hot and their growing interest in MS powered set-top boxes is part of it. I also believe that in the end...Hollywood hates computers. They really hate them...unless they are being used for 200 million dollar animated movies...and we all know what kinda rigs they use for that!!! Q.
The Xbox 360 Arcade doesn't come with Wifi. That's ~$100 more. So a PS3 would be a better value since it comes with a HDD, BD-DRIVE and Wifi.
I bought the Wi-Fi adapter for the 360 and don't even use it. It's not that great for the extender functions. My 360 is ethernet. So if wireless, quiet operation, and low power consumption is a must, I would recommend the other extenders for the price. It's worth it. As for the PS3...not in this multi-Windows PC house. I'm sure it's awesome. I love my PSP and Sony AMP etc. But the online experience alone has made me love every penny I spent on the 360. And like I said, it talks to my network with ease. Q.
Two years ago I bought an identical looking gizmo with the same dvd player , wifi connected to 2 desktops and one lappie , that plays all files your pcs throw at it, and worked without a glitch for all this time, and I payed 120 bucks for it in german discount store ALDI.
The firm producing it is called Blue Tinum.