Features & Specifications
The SageTV HD Media Extender supports video formats including MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264 up to 1080p, AVI, VOB, WMV9/VC-1 up to 1080p. Output options include HDMI, component, composite and S-Video. Audio outputs include left/right audio output and optical S/PDIF. A 10/100 Ethernet port is included and the system requires a hub with a DHCP server. SageTV Media Center is required.

Setup and Use
Out of the box, the SageTV HD Media Extender was surprisingly lightweight. The box is like a slightly smaller than normal cable box and includes a remote with batteries, Ethernet and AV cables. To use the SageTV HD Media Extender you must be using SageTV's Media Center v6 software. This is a big drawback for those who prefer to use Windows Media Center.

The SageTV software is very robust and accordingly, the setup process is longer and somewhat complex. The setup process walks you through the set up step-by-step and makes things relatively easy, it's just time consuming. During the process, you chose what media server paths you want to use for things like video and images.

If you forget to add a path, you can do it from your PC by going to the section of set-up that walks through adding a media path. Once connected, you can browse all media on the path directly from the SageTV HD Media Extender device. You can control things like slide show parameters with transition effects and the time it takes for slides to transition from one to the other as well as how long images are displayed.

Image quality for still shots taken with my Nikon D80 at full resolution was superb. Colors were crisp and vibrant and image quality was perfect. No dithering of colors or poor image rendering was noted. Images in the native resolution taken from the camera automatically filled the entire 46-inch 1080p screen of my test TV.

Images that I had cropped to smaller dimensions displayed with the same crispness, but often had black bars at the sides, top, or bottom taking up space the image didn't fill. You can force the software to stretch the images to fill the entire screen if you want, but you may run into issues with stretched images not looking ideal.

The SageTV HD Media Extender could stream HD home movies from my PC to the TV with no issues. The 720p video looked fantastic on the big screen, just as it should. During movie playback, there was no stuttering or issues with streaming the media like you see streaming video from online sources at times. You can view YouTube videos on your TV using the SageTV HD Media Extender, but thanks to the poor overall quality of YouTube video in general, things looked horrible for the most part.

I believe in today's market the omission of Wi-Fi on the SageTV HD Media Extender is a serious issue. If you don’t have a hub near your TV or a really long Ethernet cable just plan on buying one or the SageTV HD Media Extender will be useless. Most buyers would gladly pay extra for Wi-Fi capability.

Final Thoughts
If you already use the SageTV Media Center, application or you aren’t in love with another media application, the SageTV HD Media Extender may be just what you need. However, if you have a lot of room between the device and your PC and don’t have a hub, or really like Windows Media Center you may find disappointment with the SageTV HD Media Extender.