| Linksys WMA11B Wireless Digital Media Adapter |
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| Features: |
Connects your Home Entertainment Center to a Wireless-B (802.11b) network
Supports MP3 and WMA digital music files
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 control
Includes Media Adapter, remote, RCA and S-video cables |
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| Description: |
| The Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter lets you bring the digital music and pictures 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 control 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 four 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.Let the Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter bring your digital media out into the living room for the whole family to enjoy. |
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| User Reviews (88 total): |
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horrible. Re-wiring is simper!, March 27, 2008
By Michael Carver
What a horrible product. I absolutely cannot make this product work and Linksys will not help. Under no circumstances should you but this.
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Little wonder, December 15, 2006
By Lord_Jereth (Bruce, Wisconsin United States)
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
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Would be a five star if Linksys hadn't abandoned it, July 27, 2006
By Mauricio Bussab (Sao Paulo, SP Brazil)
(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.
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Good while it lasted, June 6, 2006
By B. Russell (Mission Viejo, CA United States)
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.
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Does not work with Windows XP Media Center Edition, March 28, 2006
By Mr Good (Tulsa, OK)
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.
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good performance, bad user software, January 5, 2006
By W. Gomez (Colombia)
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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Works as advertised, December 31, 2005
By M. Scully
I've had my Media Adapter for about 1 year now and it continues to work as advertised. The user interface is usable, but there are some features that are lacking. I am not a music purist, but enjoy listening to my MP3s on my stereo system and this achieves that goal well. I am content creating playlists when I want a specific song order (besides alphabetical).
My complaints: (1) The player's "shuffle" mode doesn't provide more than one shuffled order for a given playlist. That is, trying to shuffle multiple times always produces the same "shuffled" list. So while it's shuffled, it's not random. (2) There isn't a way without using playlists to select multiple albums to listen to. Each time you add a song/album it clears the previous list. (3) Not only do I store all my music on my computer, I also store my digital pictures. However, when starting up the Media Adapter software, it seems to scan all your files that you setup to be shared. Since I have a large picture collection, this takes some time. So I simply don't share my pictures and don't use the slideshow feature (although it does work fine). If you leave the Media Adapter services running all the time this may not be an issue as it only happens once, but since I'm using a laptop I close it down at night (and stop the services).
Why it's worth it: It works. Plain and simple. I've always preferred storing my music collection on my computer and now I'm able to bring that collection to the rest of our home.
As someone who works with computers for a living, I thought I would share a comment about the complaint that this device doesn't support using network drives. This is very far from the truth. I'm sure that what the Media Adapter is doing is that it is itself mapping network drives to your shared music folders on the host computer and playing the music from there (so the whole system is built on network drives). You have to think of the adapter as a separate computer altogether. Now, one of the "rules" of mapping network drives is that you can't map a drive on one computer to a mapped (networked) drive on another computer. You must map the drive directly to the computer that has the hard drive. It is for this reason that you can't "share network drives". The proper setup if you are using a network server to host your music library is to run the Media Adapter software on that host server rather than another computer. Be aware that this means that the host server must meet the system requirements for the software (run the Windows OS).
Overall, I have been very satisfied with the media adapter. For what I've gotten out of it, it has been very much worth the price. But for those that are more picky with their music, you may want to shell out the extra cash to get a more flexible and customizable product.
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Great for the Price, December 4, 2005
By biohazard420_420 (Minnesota)
This product is great for 29.99. It is not without flaws, but overall I think it is great. I saw several reviews that state the software does not work with XP SP2, I have not had that problem with SP2. It took a couple minutes to install the software and get the software to locate the device on my network. Once it did, I unhooked the hard line and move the device to my TV and stereo system, where it has worked for the last couple months with no problem. Don't be scared off by the other reviews...nice product for only 29.99.
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JPG limitations, December 2, 2005
By G. Murthy
Will not show .jpgs that are greater than 1.7MB in size. If you shoot in fine jpeg mode and you camera is 4MP or better, this thing is pretty useless.
The cust support guys don't even know about it.
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A hassle but definately worth 29.99 and 3 hours of debugging, November 30, 2005
By Go Bucks (Midwest)
I purchased the Linksys for 29.99. I figured for 29.99 it would not be the biggest waste of money I had ever spent. So after spending an hour installing the software. (Mainly due to the fact that Windows Firewall will not allow the adapter to be found. Hint: Disable Windows Firewall temporarily.)After installation of software, the hardware was a breeze. After waiting for the host computer to allow access for 10 minutes I once again had to disable the Wiondows Firewall. After doing so worked like a charm. I have a 55" HD television and a decent sound system for my HT system. I have to say I was surprised that the sound and picture quality was as good as it was. Great...No..But suitable for showing the family some pics and listening to some non-audiophile qualty tunes. Overall build is somewhat cheap but it works. RCA cable sent is very very cheap, would suggest buying a better quality for sure. Overall, definately worth the money assuming you are not in love with the Windows Firewall.
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Not bad for the right price., November 10, 2005
By John Cotten
In order to do a lot of MP3's on this you have seperate them into seperate sub folders(ie A-H,I-M, etc) Seems to have a 28 subfolder limit per folder.
Still locks up for me on Pictures, but maybe I need to do the same with the pictures I did for the MP3.
Otherwise works with WEP and I even have the utility installed on a Server 2003 server, seems to work fine. Does have to be local disk access as network folders do not work.
It's not a $200 media center, but for the right price it does the basics.
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Mine works great!, October 23, 2005
By Star Wars (Weston)
Took under 15 mins to install. XP2 Media Center; G Router; WEP Security. Steps:
* Connected via wire to router; turn on
* Ran setup from Linksys web site download
* Applied XP2 Patch from UK Linksys Support
* Selected pics and music folders in the Linksys Host Utility
* Connected to TV and stereo
* No problems; works fine. If you have a lot of pics/music, do allow for the host utility to load all of them before they show up on the TV
Have only used one day, but I'm happy to report it works fine.
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bah!, October 19, 2005
By Ted Timmons (Seattle, WA USA)
Sent it back. This was a miserable device, isn't compatible with SP2 or any non-Microsoft products. Menus load horribly slowly, confusing reboot/config cycle.
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Decent hardware, horrible software, October 10, 2005
By Christmas music fan (Austin Texas)
I have had the WMA11B for over a year now. It is the worst piece of consumer electronics I have purchased in 20 years. The device itself is nice. It is small, connects easily, and sounds good. The PC software on the other hand is pathetic, and even worse, Linksys has essentially abandoned this device. Others have written about XP SP2 problems, but Linksys is clearly over their head in this market. This device only works with obsolete versions of Microsoft .NET. Microsoft has released at least two versions, plus fixes, beyond the version supported by this. The host software also has trouble when you rip new music and add to the managed folders. The Linksys loses track of huge portions of the music folders until you reboot the computer. Very amateurish effort by what otherwise is a decent company. Stay away.
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WMA 11B & Service Pack 2 Solution!!!!!!!, October 4, 2005
By Hitec1 (Denver, NC USA)
I read this from a CNET post and did exactly what it says and it WORKS!!!! Like many of you, I too went the Linksys support route..... Never got anywhere and wasted 2 hours over three days! I love my media adapter and after the support I didn't received, I'll be spending a little more for something that's not labeled Linksys when I make my future wireless purchases. I hope this help all of you WMA11B owners in the same boat!
Right, here goes !!
If you add ALL 10 .exe files from "C:\Program Files\Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter\bin\" under the exceptions list for the firewall, it seems to allow the device to connect to whatever PC you're using as the HOST that may be running XP SP2.
For added security you can then change the "Scope" to allow for only machines on your subnet to access the .exe files just added into the list of exceptions.
Works for me now without any problems so far !
Hope it helps and good luck !!
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Works with XP sp2, September 27, 2005
By BAB (WV)
Email Linksys UK support and ask for WMA 11B service pack 2, its a zip file that is a patch for XP sp2. Do not even waste your time with Linksys US you will never get it . Linksys UK sent it within a few hours. To get the firewall working add the ten .exe files in \Program Files\Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter\bin to your firewall exceptions. Well that worked for me. I have a 50% wireless signal and it seems to be working fine but have only used it for a few days. Seems like a good deal if you can get past the inital setup.
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Mediocre at best...., September 15, 2005
By Andrew B (San Diego, CA USA)
I'm not one who usually posts this type of review, but I really feel like this product has flaws. First of all, it's not Windows XP SP2 compatable. Well it is according to the box, but when you call and speak to "John" in New Delhi, India he'll tell you in not-so-easy to understand that there is no support for Windows XP Service Pack 2. When I finally went three levels up they told me I'm out of luck. I called the corporate consumer relations department and accused them of printing false information on their website and the box, as it says Windows XP compatable. She got very defensive, so I threatened to get my lawyer involved. All of a sudden she got me on a conference call with an engineer and he said "I'm emailing you a patch that will make it work"... What the.... !?!?!? So it takes legal threats to get this patch, but it's out there. Why so many at Linksys deny it's existance is beyond me... but whatever. I will neverbuy another linksys product again.
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misrepresented by linksys, September 1, 2005
By James H. Lipsey (Chicago, IL USA)
Linksys' press release for this product touts interoperability with the Rhapsody music service (see http://www.wi-fitechnology.com/printarticle315.html or search for wma11b and rhapsody). However, after spending an evening updating drivers, tweaking settings and having an incredibly frustrating online conversation with Linksys support, I have been told that Rhapsody compatibility is impossible with this device. The technical support representative I spoke with claimed that this feature is under development, with no definite timeframe for release. Since this device has been on the market for more than two years, and it's price is plummeting, I suspect they're simply retiring it instead.
In addition, the television interface is slow and clunky, the documentation is poor, and the remote is very cheap.
There are much better options available.
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OH NO XP PACK2 = NO WORKIE, July 6, 2005
By Matt (#1 USA!)
it doesnt work with service pack 2 xp. and if you have itunes it doesnt work with that if you bought your music from them. DAMIT APPLE!!! In any case call the linksys people and check to see if your music service works with it...gee itsnt it funny that all them songs I downloaded from Napster {before they got shut down} work fine..oh well Also the linksys service people and support are SUPER!!!!
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Forgetaboutit!, June 12, 2005
By magickalchilde (New York City)
I was with customer support for 4 hours. Finally got it to work wirelessly then it's folder setup program wouldnt work. Why?
Would you believe it???
IT'S NOT COMPATIBABLE WITH XP SP2 ! ! ! !
They actually asked me to revert back to WIN XP SP1...no wonder LINKSYS sold the company to CISCO.
I dont believe a MAJOR company like LINKSYS would ask that - after Bill Gates made his speech about how important it is for the WORLD COMMUNITY to upgrade to SP2.
Oh well -- at least I made a bundle with CSCO.
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