Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2200 review

Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2200 Review

Reviewed by: Rory Reid

Reviewed on: 7 March 2008

The device supports a variety of formats including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV9, XviD and H.264 video codecs. It has audio support for PCM, MP3, Dolby Digital AC-3, WMA and WMA Pro. Picture support includes JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF. This lot should make most people happy, but there are will certainly be one or two of you annoyed with the exclusion of certain formats.

One of the biggest advantages the DMA2200 has over its rivals is its ability to stream live or recorded TV from your PC to your television. Streaming a TV signal to your TV might sound nonsensical, but it does have its uses -- especially if your TV tuner has access to a different selection of channels, or if you want to play back recorded content. Let's also not forget that most TV tuners let you pause and rewind live TV, which you can't do with ordinary TVs.

Performance
The DMA2200 can connect to your PC via wired or wireless Ethernet. Over a wired connection, the system is capable of streaming high-definition video without dropping frames and keeps the audio and video synchronised during long movies -- a common problem in cheaper, less advanced systems.

The wired Ethernet port serves as the most robust way of connecting the DMA2200 to your PC. The USB port on the right is for service purposes only

Wireless is a more attractive proposition for obvious reasons. The DMA2200 supports Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g -- all of which is hit and miss when it comes to streaming high-definition video. Thankfully, it also supports the draft 802.11n standard, which supports wire-like transmission rates.

The maximum data rate is 248Mbit/sec over a range of about 70 metres, but a more realistic figure is somewhere around the 70Mbit/sec mark. You'll need a draft-N router and a PC with a draft-N adaptor to make use this feature, and even then your own mileage will vary depending on the thickness of your walls and interference from other devices on the 2.4GHz spectrum.

We'd recommend using a powerline adaptor instead of wired or wireless connections. These give you convenience of a wire-free networking system with reliability and throughput equivalent to wired methods. In our experience this was by far the most reliable, convenient and inexpensive method of getting the DMA2200 to talk to our test PC.

Conclusion
The DMA2200 is a fantastic piece of kit. Some might say it makes more sense to buy an Xbox 360 but the DMA2200 works wirelessly and is silent. It may not support every AV format known to mankind, but for most of us it's perfectly adequate.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday