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Missing Features

This is now legacy content and refers only to the first generation Extender products (HP x5400/Linksys WMCE54AG/Xbox 1). For newer information please visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/features/extender.mspx

My experience with the extenders so far has been rather pleasing; it is very similar to that of the serving Media Center PC but without transition and fade effects but there are a few features not available on the extender such as

My Pictures
In My Pictures the Printing and Transition effects usually present on a Media Center PC are not available.

My Music
In My Music, Visualizations and Fast forward/Rewind are not available. Visualizations are not much of a problem, but being unable to fast forward or rewind music can be on some tracks.

My TV
In My TV on an extender quite a few features are missing, however these are the type of features you probably wouldn't want to use unless you are on the host machine. These include the ability to Set up TV signal, Adjust display settings, Slow motion options, Step forward/backward, Zoom and use Protected Content (An update to allow Protected Content on extenders was made in the Media Center Extender Rollup 1).

My Videos
My Video's shares My Music's fast forward and rewind limitations. However fast forward and rewind can be used on Microsoft's own TV Recording format (DVR-MS). Also only files encoded with MPEG1, 2 or Windows Media Video v7-9 can be played back on an extender as these are the only formats the device has decompressors for. Other formats such as XVID/DIVX videos are not supported, meaning that many files on the internet which use this format cannot be played back without converting them to a supported format.

More Programs
The Gem Master and Otto games cannot be used on an extender because they use graphical features which are not supported on the extender. Sync to device also does not work on an Extender, which isn't to surprising as it is not possible to connect a Media Device (to which Music/Video would be stored) on to an Extender.

General Settings Menu
In Settings the options for Appearance, Sounds, Autoplay, Remote control set up, Remote Desktop, Teletext, Marquee Scrolling and Popups do not appear on the extenders menu. Again these items are not really what you would need to access on an Extender (some are capabilities the devices could not handle, autoplay for example is a feature the device could not use due to a lack of its own DVD drive).

Other
CDs and DVDs in the DVD drive of the Media Center PC cannot be used by the Extender. This is a bit of shame as the devices, appart from the Xbox do not have DVD drives of their own. However there would likely be copyright issues sending unencrypted DVD content to an Extender.

Being a first generation version, and designed for a 4:3 NTSC world there are still some problems when attempting to use 16:9 output (some shows will not fill the screen, and cannot be made to) or large video, these are two of the major ones which are outlined in the Media Center Extender Help documentation.

Extenders Cannot Output 16:9 Aspect Ratio
'Although Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 supports HDTV (High Definition TV), Media Center Extenders currently cannot. Media Center Extenders can only support standard definition 4:3 TV (NTSC is the only format supported by Microsoft). The Xbox Media Center Extender can only support NTSC 4:3 no matter what has been selected, only 480i is supported.' - [Source: Quote from Media Center Extender Help Documentation]

Playing Audio and Video files may cause an Error
'When you attempt to playback a video on an extender you may see an error displayed if the content is not an MPEG-1, MPEG-2 videos or Windows Media Video file. Even in these formats you may also see an error displayed if the video is larger than 720x480 pixels. Windows Media Video files also cannot contain audio which has been encoded using Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless or Professional codecs.' - [Source: Quote from Media Center Extender Help Documentation]