Xbox Media Center Extender

As I mentioned in my previous post, I found a way to stream my digital media from our office PC to the main TV. I really wanted to get this done because I was tired of viewing pictures and video on the puny 17" LCD and listening to our music collection through the weak PC speakers. By streaming to the main TV, we are now able to view slideshows on our 32" HDTV and listen to our music on our surround-sound system.


The setup starts with a new PC running Windows 2005 Media Center Edition. This OS enabled me to be able to stream the digital media over the network to a device called a media center extender. Turns out, the Xbox is already one such device, with the help of a $30 add-on called the Xbox Media Center Extender. Setup took about 10 minutes, and shortly after that we were enjoying Depeche Mode over our surround-sound system while viewing a slideshow of our Italian honeymoon. Hallelujah!