Those are all valid points, but you are losing tons of features to make them. If that is the trade off you are willing to make to simplify the system for a wife or child, that is cool.
You are wrong about the difficulty of watching the files though as all the mapped drives still go through MCE so you can watch with a MCE remote, you don't need a keyboard or anything, so if they can use a media center, it is no more difficult to watch content from mapped drives. Also, the Dell GX260 is probably not as quiet, but is still very quiet.
My feature list for a PC over an extender
1 Home Automation interface!
2 surfing the Web
3 Syncing and charging phones
4 Security camera DVR access
5 Games
6 Order a pizza! heheh
7 Web cam/Additional audio security.
8 HA speaker and VR client
9 Non-proprietary, the PC can be reassigned to other tasks later.
10 IM, Email, Skype (VOIP)
11 Work! You turn the TV into a workstation so I can use LogMeIn and montior email, etc for work.
12 Bluetooth triangulation and other occupancy features a PC in each room provides.
13 Localized content. My bedroom computer can store local non-shared content that it can play right along with the other stuff that is shared around the house. Don't want the kids seeing some of my videos! =)
14 Burning stations... Watching something you like, well the machine in front of you can burn it off.
15 You can upgrade a computer!
ok, you get my point, I hope, which is that saving $120 and losing the features above is not a bargain. Again, the points of simplicity for WAF are valid, but I have no such constraints. What I am asking is: Is the video quality going to be better? Will I have more HD options, etc.
Now to stick my foot in my mouth, Vista SUCKS and MCE 2005 is no longer being supported, and I have had problems with both, so I can see how a Sage solution may be more stable and less hassle, etc.
As for you USMike, I guess you use the plugs you got, unless you can return the TV... I wouldn't buy anything without Component and VGA. If it has DVI/HDMI, bonus, but I just don't think I would give up a TV with a VGA port. We all have to adapt to what we have and soon there may not be models with VGA. Money runs the world though and if VGA ports sell, every TV will have one. I was just saying too many people I talk to think the latest tech is the best, so everyone seems to want HDMI because they think it is better. If you have a choice, you might find old tech is actually much better and that these new techs are not offering any improvements, just more restraints. Audio and video combined? Only a Audio Receiver with a 3-in/1-out or better could use this I guess. The way I see it is my video needs to go to the TV, my audio needs to go to my stereo and combining the cables is a gimmick and will go unused and complicate my setup.
my biggest fear is that I spend lots of money on Sage crap then decide to use MediaPortal and now I have a bunch of extenders I can not use any more. WAF for throwing money away is BAD. I prefer not to get locked in to anything, ever. Especially when it does not provide me with unique features.
Again, I am not saying I am right, just throwing out a non-mainstream perspective and fishing for more insight. I was also under the impression that some extenders were just software that ran on a computer, which would void out many of the previous extender perks. Also, factor in things like the XBox 360 which is $220 and is also a MCE extender, so how do all of your Sage type extenders stack up to that? $220 you get a state of the art gaming platform & a media center extender... Makes ever $110 for a dedicated extender look like not such a cheap option.
Open Minded and stuborn as hell, all at the same time,
Vaughn