A lot of people on this forum have been asking questions about how to hook up a PC to their CRT displays which are almost always consumer-grade (meaning no VGA inputs and no VESA support). The quick answer is that they would have to buy a transcoder and/or fiddle with the Powerstrip software to get a semblance of picture on the display. The set-up is usually messy and time-consuming.
But now, Microsoft has come out with a product that may finally make Powerstrip irrelevant. The product is the
Media Center Extender set-top box
From what I understand, you must have a Media Center PC for the whole thing to work. With a Media Center PC, the hook-up is quite simple:
1) Connect the Media Center PC to the Extender set-top box via Ethernet or wirelessly.
2) Connect the Extender set-top box via COMPONENT output to your display's COMONENT input. This seems to indicate that you can take advantage of resolutions higher than 640x480 on your consumer-grade display. But someone will have to confirm this via testing.
I don't know if the set-up will actually be that simple as described above but that is basically what Microsoft is promising. So using the Extender, you can finally view DVDs, TV, listen to music, etc. directly from your PC. No need for any set-top boxes except, of course, for the Extender set-top box.
I don't know how the picture quality will be like, but since the Extender has component outputs, it will probably look as good as VGA, limited only by your display's resolution capabilities.
But now, Microsoft has come out with a product that may finally make Powerstrip irrelevant. The product is the
Media Center Extender set-top box
From what I understand, you must have a Media Center PC for the whole thing to work. With a Media Center PC, the hook-up is quite simple:
1) Connect the Media Center PC to the Extender set-top box via Ethernet or wirelessly.
2) Connect the Extender set-top box via COMPONENT output to your display's COMONENT input. This seems to indicate that you can take advantage of resolutions higher than 640x480 on your consumer-grade display. But someone will have to confirm this via testing.
I don't know if the set-up will actually be that simple as described above but that is basically what Microsoft is promising. So using the Extender, you can finally view DVDs, TV, listen to music, etc. directly from your PC. No need for any set-top boxes except, of course, for the Extender set-top box.
I don't know how the picture quality will be like, but since the Extender has component outputs, it will probably look as good as VGA, limited only by your display's resolution capabilities.
