Niveus EDGE Media Center Extender Does 1080p, is Whisper Quiet, But No Wireless N

The fourth and final MCE extender is by niveus is the best looking, has 3 USB ports which is two more than what you probably need for thumbdrive playback, and best of all passive cooling. The passive cooling, if it is like the type in the full sized Niveus Media Center PCs, it uses heatpipes that go from processor blocks to the finned, aluminum case that acts like a giant heatsink. It does not, unfortunately, have any wireless capabilities. At least it's 1080p. [Niveus] More »

D-Link DSM-750 Media Center Extender 2.0 in the Wild

Like the Linksys leaked today, all the new extender hardware is coming out of the woodwork, and aside from the updated MCE interface, it's interesting to see what each manufacturer is bringing to the table. On top of dual channel N support, this box has an HDMI and component output, ethernet, and a USB port for media playback. The box'll also hit up uPNP and WMP 11 sources and cost a hefty bit of cheddar — $350. Um, isn't that the price of an Xbox 360 that can do the MCE extension (minus new codecs), download HD movies to its HDD, plus play a whole lot of awesome games? This has to be less than $200 to work, I'd say.