SMC SMCWMR-AG EZ-Stream Universal Wireless Multimedia Receiver

by SMC

Product Details

Product Manual [3.11mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 7 x 7 inches ; 11.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AOWWU
• Item model number: SMCWMR-AG
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,554 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Early Adopters Pick: October 2003. The world’s first 802.11a/b/g Wireless Media Adapter, this device delivers your networked PC’s collection of MP3 songs, digital photos, digital music video, or movies to your Home Entertainment Center or Audio System.

EZ-Stream Universal 2.4 GHz/5 GHz Wireless Multimedia Receiver is a cutting-edge and innovative technology brought by SMC to your Home Entertainment Center. The new EZ-Stream Universal Wireless Multimedia Receiver is the industry’s first Universal Wireless Home Entertainment Networking device in the market. It works with all the 802.11 Wireless Standards available -- whether it is the popular 802.11b, the emerging 802.11a, or the new 802.11g. The SMCWMR-AG is a device that lets you enjoy your MP3 music, pictures, video stored on your computer, and play your favorite Internet radio stations -- all from the comfort of your living room.

SMCWMR-AG EZ-Stream Universal Wireless Multimedia Receiver delivers your networked PC’s collection of MP3 songs, digital photos, digital music video or movies to your Home Entertainment Center or Audio System. You can also listen to Internet radio using the broadband home network connection.

Simply connect the SMCWMR-AG to your TV or stereo system via a standard Audio/Video Cable, and load the EZ Installation Wizard for the Media Server Software on your networked PC. The Media Server software is easy to use and configure. It allows music, photos, and video to stream from your PC to the Wireless Multimedia Receiver for listening/viewing on your stereo system/TV.

Product Description

SMC (SMCWMR-AG) MEDIA ADAPTER 802.11A/G 54MBPS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Utter Crap, August 23, 2005

By 

Senatorfan (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SMC SMCWMR-AG EZ-Stream Universal Wireless Multimedia Receiver (Personal Computers)

Ok, so I know it sounds harsh... but please read first and then you can decide for yourself.

I bought the unit (new) about a year ago.... searched the web, researched the company ("supposedly" good routers), and concluded based on the hardware options that it seemed like the best choice.

Being a bit of a gearhead, I figured that I could work out any bugs (I assume that a new product that has software will have a few bugs...see Microsoft =). I get home, try to install it....no dice. Looked at SMC's web site...downloaded the updates...and got Internet Radio. No mp3s, no Video, and parts of small jpg's.

Phoned SMC's "tech support" ... I use quotes on purpose.... 1-800-India ... had to phone back 3 times to get someone who spoke English... to whick they followed their canned troubleshooting script. I was a little offended by the "just buy another computer and install it there" comment. (My PC was 2 mths old at that point, and near-bleeding-edge).

So the re-calls to "Tech" support goes on and on for months... SMC ended up exchanging the product (which did absolutely nothing) ... and was about to throw it off my balcony (being that pissed off and frustrated)....when I came across some 3rd party software that allowed me to at least get the thing to work (most of the time (TVersity) ... now, it's only the firmware that's buggy....hangs, restarts on it's own, menu overlay issues, etc etc.

The issues with this piece of crap are well-known out on the Net... so if I were to be buying knowing what I know now, I would have to decide between the Hauppage and the D-Link 320... there are a lot of D-Link folks that hate the Server Software (and are using TVersity BETA software as it's so bad)... but at least the hardware is good.

To those out there who say / review this as a good product, my simple response (as an IT guy) is that SMC/Vendor Sales Reps should not be writing deceptive reviews for an unsuspecting public. Companies should not be trying to sell a product where the software/firmware is not even up to "Beta" standards (think how angry you would be to get Microsoft XP Beta, when you think you are getting their buggy ver 1?)

If you do decide to buy it....you have been warned.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just what I was looking for, but didn't quite make the grade, February 21, 2004

By 

C. LITTLE "cpl_tampa" (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SMC SMCWMR-AG EZ-Stream Universal Wireless Multimedia Receiver (Personal Computers)

I was looking for a networked media receiver that supported 802.11G which I've been using for my home network. When I discovered this SMC Multimedia Receiver I was very excited to make it the solution to converging the entertainment center with the breadth of content (photos, music, and videos) available on our PCs.

The SMCWMR-AG was reasonably easy to configure (although 802.11* can be tricky for any technophobe). Once I installed the content server software on my PC, and pointed it at my mp3, jpg, and mpg content everything was ready to go. The first disappointment came when I wanted to start a slideshow from the hundreds of pictures of our infant. The pictures are separated into folders based on events and dates, but I couldn't get a slideshow to work across folders (without rearranging the files or copying to a new directory). Also, the slideshow function froze intermittently (not sure what the issue was here).

MP3's seemed to play fine (along with viewing pictures simultaneously), with the same limitation of playing across folders. I didn't get a chance to setup new playlist to see if this solved these problems. I was also disappointed in the limited types of Internet radio streams supported, but I'm sure that could be improved through software in the future.

The clincher for me returning the device to the store was playing video. Home movies encoded in anything but the lowest bitrates played fine for a few seconds then did an unwatchable jerky dance. The wireless network reported an excellent link and 54Mbit and occasionally 36Mbit connection speeds.

Finally, the user interface seems a bit crude and slow to respond. Again, this may be upgradable in the future so there is the potential for significant improvement. It just didn't meet my expectations at this time.

So, I'm considering trying competitive devices such as the Prismiq or Play@TV products. If they don't do the trick it is time to build that media-center PC in an entertainment center-friendly case and be done with it. That still leaves the challenge of sharing content throughout the house unsolved. :-(

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK if you are geeky enough to persist with it, January 2, 2005

By 

M. Bailey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SMC SMCWMR-AG EZ-Stream Universal Wireless Multimedia Receiver (Personal Computers)

So I am geeky enough...but my wife wouldn't be, or my parents or anyone else who expects the appliances in their home to just work when turned on. Yeh, I know this is supposedly leading edge but if it's going in the home next to the TV it needs to be a hell of a lot more reliable. I'm not talking about the network knowledge you need to set it up, I guess if you have a Wireless Access router you are already geek enough to set this up, actually that part of it is pretty easy. It's reliability, stupid. My VCR never "hung" nor should this. I shouldn't have to run upstairs to reboot the PC every hour to restart the server software. The remote control's functions should actually work, not hang the unit needing a power cycle to free it up again. It's temperamental, buggy, and prone to hangs & crashes at both the receiver and PC Mediaserver software end. As another reviewer said, "not yet ready for primetime". The market of geeks like me willing to persist in spite of the bugs is not big enough to support these products, the sooner these businesses realize that and get to the same level of easy-for-the-average-Joe and reliability of something like a Tivo the better. Better still; just build this functionality into something already existing like the Tivo, now that would be a product. Summary: Buggy as hell but cool when it works.