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[Valisystem]

HP's MediaSmart x280n is a Vista Media Center Extender, but HP says it can also be a UPNP client. Does anyone know if it can be used with the MC UPNP server?

I have this dream of something for the living room that switches between Vista Media Center's TV & DVR functions and MC's music library and playlists, in a small, quiet box, with a consistent interface for my wife. (Right now I've got one of HP's discontinued Media Center PCs, switching clumsily between XP Media Center Edition and MC Theater View, with a fan that sounds like a jet engine. There's room for improvement.) The x280n looks like a plausible solution, IF it works with MC.

[Valisystem]

It works!

In a few icons, the HP MediaSmart Connect sets up access to media from three different sources: (1) the Vista Media Center Extender interface; (2) Photos/Music/Video streamed from HP's software, if it's installed on a computer on the network; and (3) a "Server" icon that displays UPNP servers.

MC showed up immediately - no fiddling with the UPNP settings. Everything streamed beautifully and response time was good on a wired connection. I still have a lot of testing to do with video formats, but it appeared that MC was at least streaming AVI files with no problem.

This is really good. People have many different needs in the living room but this looks like it fits mine exactly . . .

[jpd5862]

I, too, can report partial success with the MediaSmart client.  I had to set the TCP/IP port for the UPnP server, then add it to my Windows Firewall exception list.  Once I did that, I was able to see my playlists and stream audio from my MC server.

I can't seem to see album art, nor can I see thumbnails of images I am displaying.  Once I select an image, I can see the full sized one just fine, but can't see the thumbnails.  Any suggestions?  I store most of my music as .ape files, which must be converted to .mp3 files.  Even if I play native .mp3 files, I cannot see the album art.  Any ideas?

Overall, I like the MediaSmart client box.  It is small, stylish, and absolutely quiet.  The UI is a bit sluggish, but I can live with that.

[JimH]

Here's a link at hp.com.

[Peter_T]

Oooh... I like it. 

The UI's a bit sluggish, you say?  What is the UI like?  If my local dealer sold them I would try one out today...

[Valisystem]

There's a video here that shows some screen shots: http://hppress.feedroom.com/?fr_story=3f0b5dff34e0fce17bffac7b9676101f3ecaab8c&rf=sitemap

One icon starts the Vista Media Center Extender, which then occupies the full screen.

Another icon labeled "Servers" displays any UPNP servers on the network. When you pick a server, a bare bones list comes up - genre/artist/album/playlist. Each screen after that is equally plain, just undecorated lists.

So far I'm also not getting cover art, which makes the display pretty dull when a song is playing. It will take a few days for me to set up a dedicated Vista Ultimate PC in another room for more experimenting.

[JimH]

On the cover art issue, try a test MP3 file with cover art stored in the tag.

[Valisystem]

After a few days, I'm still a fan of the HP MediaSmart Connect, although the details fall a little short of perfection.

It consistently finds the MC UPNP server, although it loses the connection until the Refresh button is pushed after it's been asleep (or sometimes when the stop button is pushed to end a song or video).

I can't get cover art or photo thumbnails delivered. Tried embedding the cover art in mp3 files, tried a heap o' settings on the UPNP server - no cover art, no thumbnails. That's the only problem that I'd like to resolve - for cosmetic appeal while playing music, and for browsing photos.

The usual problem with video formats - there appears to be no way to play DVDs (on disc or ISO or ripped to disc in VIDEO_TS folders) or H264 encoded videos. As near as I can tell, that's a builtin limitation of all the extenders. MC plays XVID movies brilliantly.

Playback on a wired connection has been flawless.

The connector is supposed to aggregate the content from different servers and present them through the bright HP icons for Photos/Music/Videos, as an alternative to browsing the dry list under "Servers". It's unclear whether that's intended to require using HP's server software or if they think it will include other UPNP servers, like MC. Doesn't seem to matter - I couldn't get any content to appear with any combination of software. The only thing that happened when I installed HP's software was that it made the connector forget how to find MC. (Well, not the only thing. The computer started throwing up error messages, installed a service that frequently forgot to run, and crashed Vista Media Center in the connector. But I expect that sort of thing these days. That's why I use MC.)

Being able to switch with a single remote control between Vista Media Center for TV and MC for everything else is very, very nice. It makes it all worthwhile.