Samsung Debuts Bite Size Media Center Extender at CES 2008
By Filip Brajovic |
January 22nd, 2008
Comments (6)
Just like almost anything at CES, hard details about the unreleased Samsung Media Center Extender beyond info in PR blurbs are completely supplanted by speculation. However, Ian Dixon’s video (more details) sheds light on this delightfully small unit that allows viewing of HD video and other media from a Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC to select Samsung TV models. The Samsung extender can be networked via a simple ethernet cable or an 802.11a/b/g or n adapter (not included). The miniature design stows neatly behind select Samsung flat panel HDTV’s for clutter-free home theater setup. Despite mounting behind the TV, the extender can still be remote controlled since it does not require line-of-sight IR and instead uses a new HDMI control protocol to communicate with. Amongst a slew of projected extender devices being released by companies such as D-Link, Linksys and Niveus, the Samsung could easily be the slickest, most compact unit if it hits the market and weighs in at a reasonable $199.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Good job, Ian! That trip across the Atlantic really paid out.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 am
After hearing a podcast about this Samsung media center extender, I had done further research on how this device could be controlled by Samsung TVs through the HDMI cable. It would use the standard HDMI-CEC protocol for equipment control with “remote pass-through” functionality being the main aspect of this implementation. This would then appeal to a manufacturer-specific setup by “echoing through” remote commands from the host TV.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
Simon,
Fantastic job researching how this new HDMI control protocol works! Honestly, I only thought HDMI handled audio and video signals. Remote pass-through has lots of interesting applications.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 am
The CEC Spec is actually part of the HDMI standard.
This is a cool find. Makes you wonder what else the big blog sites missed at CES.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
The CEC Spec also allows one device to control another, usually in the common forms of “one-push” start or “one-push” power-down. The basic functions like the previous two that I mentioned are meant to work across systems made up of different manufacturers’ equipment but manufacturers typically market this function under different “marketing names” like Viera Link (Panasonic), BRAVIA Theater Sync (Sony) or RIHD (Onkyo).
January 24th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Wow, yeah. Can’t believe so many sites missed this. That’s some seriously cool tech. And I’m a huge fan of Samsung’s anyway (used to have a 50″ DLP, and still have an LCD computer monitor, was planning on getting a new TV from them next year). This makes the xbox 360 I was planning on getting look like crap.