Pika Me

re: Pika Me

ian dixoin — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:31:05 GMT

it's good to hear that the v2 extenders exist and support for Divx is included!

V2 Media Center Extenders native support of Divx

Ian Dixon's Blog — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:21:27 GMT

On Eric Anderson blog he confirms that V2 extenders do exist and that the prototype device he is using

re: Pika Me

Binnerup — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:58:45 GMT

Hi Eric,

That sounds great - but, what interest me the most - what about VIDEO_TS folders?

Regards,

Brian

Extender Version2 (Pika) mit DivX in "freier Wildbahn"

Deutschsprachiger Microsoft Media Center BLOG — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:12:17 GMT

Zumindestens auf den Pika Prototype (Pika ist der Codename für die Media Center Extender der Version 2) ist es bereits Realität. DivX Unterstützung für deutlich mehr Spass und ohne Transcodefummelei! Eric Anderson seines Zeichen Program Manager der "Medi

re: Pika Me

errand — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:29:26 GMT

Hey Brian,

Adding support for managed DVD copy is more a licensing/legal issue than a technical one. I would also love to see that happen, but as long as you see stories like this in the press, you can be sure it's still on a distant horizon:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2148802,00.asp

Eric

re: Pika Me

Binnerup — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:05:33 GMT

Eric: Well, Media Center already plays VIDEO_TS folders, I don't need a managed copy function, I just need the playback.

It would be great if the Pika's were able to play these folders, just as the main machine is.

Regards,

Brian

re: Pika Me

JackLuminous — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:46:17 GMT

Hi, Eric, glad to hear that one of my issues is being addressed by one manufacturer.

Also, does this device play DVDs locally? Does it have a TosLink? Wireless/Wired? You probably won't be able answer some or all these questions but I thought it's be safe to ask :-) since

1. we don't know who made it

2. we don't know what it's called

Cheers

re: Pika Me

errand — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:52:07 GMT

I should've been more clear in my original post - I was just so happy to see native divx support, I posted without going into the details. The media pipeline in Pika can handle quite a few media types as long as the hardware can manage the decode. You can see the supported media types for the processor that Chris calls out in his blog here: http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2006/06/17/101784.aspx).

Our partners that are building retail product choose what features (wired and/or wireless, audio outputs, etc) + formats they will support. As it happens, the prototype device I'm using does support divx - and have I mentioned just how cool it is?! :) You'll just have to wait to see their press releases, but if what I've seen is any indication, you won't be disappointed!

re: Pika Me

surge — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:03:28 GMT

Sounds very interesting. No mention of a date so I hope it's not the holiday season timeframe that's been mentioned a few times. Summer would be nice.

I'd also be interested in if it supports MCE 2005... If not, I'd have to change out my eVGA dual tuner which is not supported.

Can you try this on an MCE 2005 machines?

thanks.

Short Bits: Pika, Podcasts, CableCARD, Components Database, More

Chris Lanier's Blog — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 03:20:24 GMT

Eric Anderson has a v2 Extender (Pika) prototype that supports native DivX decode. Good thing that know

Short Bits: Pika, Podcasts, CableCARD, Components Database, More

Chris Lanier's Blog — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 03:20:26 GMT

Eric Anderson has a v2 Extender (Pika) prototype that supports native DivX decode. Good thing...

re: Pika Me

mike_orst — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:29:05 GMT

What about the performance? How responsive/quick is the menu, etc...?

When using the Xbox 360 with MCE 2005, vs Vista there was a huge performance improvement. I didn't know if this was mainly due to the processing performance of the Xbox or becuase Vista wasn't using RDP for the graphics. With the 3rd party extenders should we expect performace simular to the Xbox 360?

re: Pika Me

errand — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:03:25 GMT

I'll let you be the judge of that once the devices hit retail. :)

The Media Center Show #112 - Tim Ellert

The Media Center Show Podcast — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:04:36 GMT

By Ian Dixon (23.9mb 1 hour 9mins 41sec) Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes [mp3]http://thedigitallifestyle.com/audio/TDL_MediaCenter_20070628_112.mp3[/mp3]

The Media Center Show #112 - Tim Ellert

Ian Dixon's Blog — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:41:52 GMT

By Ian Dixon (23.9mb 1 hour 9mins 41sec) Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe to the

re: Pika Me

OffBeatMammal — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:31:20 GMT

please make sure the Xbox extender team see this and roll it into an upgrade soon ;)

Not being able to play back Xvid/AVI content on my Xbox as an extender is *really* frustrating, and (to follow up on Brians point) the inability to playback archived material in a /video_ts folder is driving me mad (and TVersity, Transcode360 etc are not good answers because you lose the ease of use that this is all about!)