Why You Can Trust CNET Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2100 review: Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2100
The smaller cousin of the 2200 is surprisingly more interesting than you'd expect, although it's still somewhat eclipsed by the streaming capabilities of other units.
Design
The Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2100 is the little brother of the Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2200. When we say "little brother", we're not just talking in a features sense; at 170x113x188mm, the DMA2100 is about a third the size of the chunky 2200. This does make it more suitable for a lot of home installations, simply because it's both more subtle, and with its smaller size, it will more easily fit into the DVD-style spaces that many entertainment units come with for switching boxes, DVD storage and the like. Linksys must be doing something interesting with either airflow, circuit boards or both, as the size difference between the is far more than just a DVD player would suggest.
Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2100
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Like the DMA2200, the DMA2100 ships with 802.11n wireless capability, although it drops the number of installed external antennae from three to two. It ships with the same black Windows Media remote that the 2200 uses, which can make for interesting powering/command conflicts if you've got both installed. The same remote can also run an Xbox 360, which is a more likely combination in both homes, but also carries the same potential mix up woes.
Features
In a features sense, the DMA2100 is the DMA2200, but with the upscaling DVD player ripped out of the middle. To borrow from our review of the 2200, then:
"The 2100 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, WMA and WMA Pro. Picture support includes JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF. This lot should make most people happy, but there will certainly be one or two of you annoyed with the exclusion of certain formats.
One of the biggest advantages the DMA2100 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 may sound nonsensical, but it does have its uses — especially if your TV has an analog tuner or access to a different selection of channels, or if you want to play back recorded content. Let's also not forget that most PC-based TV tuners let you pause and rewind live TV, which you can't do with ordinary TVs."
In any case, the primary function of the DMA2100 is as a Media Center Extender, and specifically, a Windows Vista Media Center extender; you'll need to be running either Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate to utilise the DMA2100's capabilities; Windows XP Media Center Edition won't cut it.
Performance
The DMA2100 will run with either wired or wireless connections, although on the wireless front you'll need either a very good 802.11g connection (for SD video) or preferably 802.11n if you have any high definition aspirations. Once we'd synchronised the DMA2100 to a Vista PC, the 2100 ran well for most file types and streaming live TV via a TV tuner embedded in our Vista PC.
The 2100's performance was essentially identical to the 2200 in our tests — and as mentioned above, we ran the two side by side to make sure of the fact. While it lacks the upscaling DVD component of the 2200, we can't imagine there are too many consumers out there lacking a decent DVD player regardless. Skipping the DVD player means that the DMA2100 is even quieter than its sibling, and a mile less noisy than the Xbox 360, which has a wider AV offering. There's little to no doubt that the 360 offers a larger range of multimedia experiences (and Windows XP compatibility, to boot) for the same kind of price as the 2100, but if you're not a gamer, or if the 360's noisy fans put you off, then the DMA2100 remains a worthwhile home A/V solution.