Linksys WMA11B Wireless Digital Media Adapter

Average customer rating: 3.0

Little wonder
Would be a five star if Linksys hadn't abandoned it
Good while it lasted
Does not work with Windows XP Media Center Edition
good performance, bad user software

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Linksys WMA11B Wireless Digital Media Adapter

Manufacturer: Linksys
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B00009PUM0

Related Categories:

802.11b Standard

Notebook Cards

802.11b Standard

Notebook Cards

All Wireless

Wireless-B (802.11b)

Up to $200

Linksys

Product Description

Linksys WMA11B Wireless-B Media Adapter - Technology advances have allowed us to store countless pictures & audio files on our computer. But getting that off of the computer to share with others can be difficult. Thankfully Linksys has created a the perfect solution with it's Wireless Media Adapter. With it you can enjoy your pictures & music right on your television & home stereo - without wires! The Media Adapter sits near your A/V equipment and connects to your TV & stereo via normal audio & video inputs. Then with 802.11b wireless technology & a convenient on-screen menu, you can browse & play your files from your computer while relaxing in your living room! Plays MP3 or WMA music by title, artist, genre, folder, or playlist Play music in the background while viewing photos

Amazon.com Product Description

The Linksys Wireless-B media adapter lets you bring the digital pictures and music stored on your computer to your home entertainment center, without running cables through the house. Using a wireless connection, the media adapter displays your digital photographs on the TV for the whole family to enjoy. And your digital music collection is finally freed from those little computer speakers and can play in full glory through your stereo system.

The Wireless-B media adapter sits by your home stereo and television and connects to them using standard consumer electronics cables. Then it connects to your home network by Wireless-B (802.11b) wireless networking or, if you prefer, it can be connected via standard 10/100 Ethernet cabling. Using the included remote c ontrol and the user-friendly menus on your TV, you can browse through the digital pictures on your computer by folder, filename, or thumbnail. You can view pictures one at a time, or watch an automatically created slideshow of all the pictures in a given folder. The media adapter supports five popular picture formats: JPG, GIF, TIF, and BMP. Use the remote control's Zoom button to get a close-up of the details in your pictures. You can also use the remote to browse your MP3- or WMA-formatted music collection by title, artist, genre, folder, or playlist. Choose the music you want, and let the Wireless-B media adapter play it through your stereo system. You can even let music play in the background while you browse your pictures.

<div align="center"> <B>Power and Simplicity</B> </div> <table> <tr> <td width="5%"> <img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/electronics/detail-page/linksys-side-view.jpg"> </td> <td width="95%"> <ul>

Connects your home entertainment center to a Wireless-B (802.11b) network

Listen to your MP3 and WMA digital music collection through your stereo syst em

Browse your digital pictures on your television (JPG, GIF, TIF, and BMP)

Select songs and pictures from on-screen menus with the easy-to-use remote c ontrol

Supports popular audio formats (MP3 and WMA), image formats (JPG, GIF, TIF, a nd BMP), and playlist formats (M3U and ASX)

S-video output for best video quality

RCA connectors for left and right stereo audio output and composite video ou tput

Easy TV setup and convenient Setup Wizard for configuration

User-friendly utility runs on your PC to manage music and picture folders

Wireless security with up to 128-bit WEP encryption

Compatibility with 802.11b (2.4 GHz) standard

Up to 11 Mbps, high-speed wireless data transfer rate

RJ-45, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet connection </ul> </td> </tr> </table>

<strong><font size="2"><em>See a comparison diagram of the different wireless technologies.</em></font></strong></p></td> <td width="58%" align="left" valign="top">

Wireless networks are rapidly becoming more popular and coming down in price. Since they don't require cables, you can use the devices anywhere in an office or home, even out on the patio. There's no need to roll out an Ethernet network cable to each room of a house; you can network anywhere--without wires. Outside the home, wireless networking is available in hotspots at coffee shops, businesses, airports--great when you're on the road and need to get some work done. For convenience, wireless networking is the answer.

<strong>Which Wireless Standard Is Right for Me? </strong>
Now that you've decided to create a wireless network, the next step is to figure out which wireless standard to use. </p>

Basically, a standard is a set of specifications for a device. All devices that follow a specific standard share operating characteristics, such as the radio frequency used and maximum data transfer speed.

For wireless networking, there are three standards to choose from at this time: </p> <ul>

802.11b </li>

802.11a </li>

802.11g</li> </ul>

To learn about the differences between the standards and select the right one for your network, click here for an easy-to-understand chart.</p></td> </tr> </table>

Customer Reviews:

Little wonder.......2006-12-15

Having done interent radio for several years I have, as you might imagine, quite the collection of music on my drives. In fact, 99% of the music I listen to is off of those drives. I have very little in the way of CDs anymore which poses a problem: My computer is upstairs and my home theater system is downstairs. How do I get the two of them together without running a long cord down the stairs or through the walls?

Answer: this little baby.

Now, for perfection of service I would have only given this thing 4 stars but the price is more than right which bumps it up for me. You won't get high-fi perfection out of this thing if your MP3s/WMAs arent high quality. This thing won't improve your files but the difference between a quality home theater/stereo system and your dinky computer sound system is phenomenal.

Installation was pretty much a breeze. Don't know why some folks had problems. All you need is a bit of knowlege about your system/router setup and the rest is a cake walk. Configure via direct connection on your system, unplug it and take it to the stereo, plug it into your inputs, give it a second to connect and go. Easy as pie.

If I'm not mistaken, when you're in play mode this thing reads a second or two ahead. When I let it run on it's own I had no drop-outs or stuttering at all even while watching photos and large graphics at the same time. Don't know why some folks complain of this. It was only when I had it go to a specific song while another was already playing did it stutter slightly. By doing this I wasn't giving it time to read ahead and it had to start streaming 'cold'. Not that big of a deal for me anyway - I'm not one to sit in front of the stereo and micro-manage my selections all the time. Sound quality was very good and coupled with my home theater system the sound is dynamic and responsive.

Over-all I'm very happy with my purchase and even happier with the fact that I didn't go with the more expensive systems. For my needs this unit is perfect.

One word of caution: You -=WILL=- need a Linksys wireless router if you want to use this thing in wireless mode. It doesn't come with one. You can connect directly via ethernet port but as far as I'm concerned that defeats the purpose of this unit. You could use the s-video out on your graphics card and run a cable from your sound card if that's all you really want. The price along with the fact that I already had the wireless router were the deciding factors for me.

Final judgement: Good piece of kit for the price.

LJ

Would be a five star if Linksys hadn't abandoned it.......2006-07-27

(first - a note to SP2 users: there is a patch on the Linksys site that allows you to use it with SP2 and it works fine - look for it in the support pages)

I've had this product for over a year and I love the spartan, pragmatic, cheap approach. It is very simple and straightforward: plays music from your Wi-Fi network on your TV. That's it. Nothing more.

The biggest problem is that this product was clearly abandoned by Linksys and there was never any firmware or PC software update. And many of the design flaws could have been solved easily with a little bit of software development. I am talking about the fact that it does not play music from network files or the fact that the client software cannot be installed in more than one PC or the complicated setup, things like this, not major design decisions. I am OK with the major limitations.

Plus, Linksys does a HORRIBLE JOB in communicating with customers. The SP2 patch is hidden in the support pages, the size limit for the pictures is 1.7 Mb but you won't find this information anywhere on the linksys website.

And not only is the product orphan but there is no direct successor. I would definitely buy a wireless G version, with video/DIVX support. Instead you have to cough up 200 bucks for the D-Link equivalent or for some oher product with speakers (that I don't need) or a LCD remote control.

Good while it lasted.......2006-06-06

Short and sweet review... incidently, just like the life of my WMA11B media adapter. It worked fine for about 3 months, then steadily begin failing to respond to the remote. Changed the batteries repeatedly, to no avail. Now it won't even turn on with the power button. Time to RMA.

While it worked, it worked fine. If you go in with the expectation that this will only play songs through your home stereo, you won't be disappointed. If you're expecting any type of bell or whistle, this product isn't for you.

Does not work with Windows XP Media Center Edition.......2006-03-28

I was told by their online support it is my tough luck that the packaging doesnt say it won't work with Windows XP Media Center because it was printed before the release of Media Center. I asked for a refund and they refused.

good performance, bad user software.......2006-01-05

I've had this device a couple of months now, it works just as expected. The software is very very limited. The menu is too simple and no visualizations during playback. The quality of sound is Ok.
I really would like to have at least the same menus in the PC to control the device from my PC, not only to add folders but to control it. I have the unit just for music and don't want to have it conected to my TV just to program the music for my party...

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