My Xtender

We've found a million ways to let Xtender revolutionize our Home Entertainment experience - but we're interested in your million ways, too. Share with us and your Xtender community how you've wired your home for more enjoyable, convenient, and affordable entertainment and content. If we use your story we will send you an extra free remote.

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Cool Ways to Use Xtender


	I have my whole music library at my fingertips.
	I hooked up a Windows Media Center to the Red channel - now all my music is available right on my TVs in every room of the house. Saved thousands on installing speakers, amps, and wires all over my attic.
	I play Desperate Housewives all over the house while I'm cleaning.
	I have a TiVo on the Green channel - when I'm ready to watch my favorite show, I start it up on the Green channel, then in every room I flip on Green - it's like having my very own TV station while I go about housework.

	Date Night - Start the movie in the den over a glass of wine and finish watching in bed.
	I bought one of those TiVos with a built in DVD player - so if we get tired, I can pause the movie, turn off the plasma TV in the den, turn on the bedroom TV, fire up the Green channel and when I push play, the movie is right there waiting for us where we left off.

	My iPod follows me around.
	Griffin has this cool iPod dock and I hooked it up to the Blue channel - now when I get home, I dock my iPod to charge and from any TV I can push the blue button and have total access to all my tunes. Thanks BOCS - sweet.

	No more running to the basement to fire up a movie for the kids.
	This is great, my four year old always wants to watch Handy Manny, Disney playhouse, or whatever - I used to have to run down and turn something on for him - now I can start up something for him and all he has to do is go down and turn on the TV and push the Blue button... I'm in control, he gets entertainment, and I get just a little more peace...

	Trust but Verify
	We took the suggestion from the "tips and tricks" page to dedicate the Blue channel to the kids. When we let them watch TV, they always seem to watch together. We have the Xtender sitting on a shelf in the den next to our home entertainment center and I can see it from three rooms - any time anyone punches the Blue channel button anywhere in the house I can see the Blue Xtender light flash and I know the kids are using some allotted TV time. I can even punch the blue button in the kitchen to check up on what they are watching. I'm not trying to be too nosy, just making sure I know what's going on.

	My collection is at my fingertips.
	I've got a couple hundred DVDs - there is a lot of talk about ripping and such but that's too hard and I'm just not sure if I can do that legally anyway - so I bought a DVD jukebox - I got one used for $50, and put it on my Green channel. Now I have instant access to all my classics from any room of the house... But now my friends all know I like "It's a Wonderful Life".

	My Xtender Slings
	OK - I'm a gadget nut, I thought Slingbox was the coolest, watching TV on my cellphone while at the kids ballet practice - Xtender just makes Sling better - I can watch any of my A/V devices including a TiVo DVR, a media center, and my iPod... Now I have access to all my stuff anywhere in my home and anywhere in the world.

	I'm safe in my own house.
	My husband travels a lot for work and I've never gotten over being just a little bit nervous at night. We found this set of wireless security cameras at Costco for a little over $100 and they hooked right up to the Red channel - now from ANY TV in the house I can press one button and see who is at the front door, if anyone is in the backyard, and even watch the kids playing on the trampoline. I'd rather the world were a safer place, but this goes a long way to making my little corner of it a little better.

	Kiddie Cam 3000
	We are on our third child, and technology does seem to be getting better and better. For the first two we had one of those baby monitors that crackled all night and sometimes picked up other kids in the neighborhood. We bought a night vision camera with sound from X10.com and hooked it up to the Red channel. I can hit the red button in any room and see and hear my infant even in the low light of the nightlight... Very cool - no more trying to figure out what we were hearing - and no more trying to remember to take that baby monitor with me wherever I go in the house - kiddo is always a button push away.

	We used to fight over the Green channel.
	We used to have a TiVo DVR in the den and in the bedroom - took the advice from the website and put them both in the office to get rid of clutter. At first we fought over the Green channel TiVo until we figured out the best way to keep harmony in the house was to make the "Green TiVo" the Adult TiVo, and the "Blue TiVo" for kids. Now my wife and I record CSI, Desperate Housewives etc. on the Green TiVo, and the kids record Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse, etc. on the Blue TiVo and we are not fighting for control of the Xtender channels anymore.

	No big stack of equipment under the plasma.
	Yep - got a new 50" HD plasma to hang on the wall in the family room - only to have about 100 cords dangling from it to the cabinet with all my equipment underneath. Xtender let me move almost all my stuff into the basement - I only have one HDMI cord running to the Plasma now - everything else is Xtended from the basement. Man is my wife happy.

	Bring the internet to your TV
	It is pretty easy to connect a computer to Xtender - pretty much any semi-modern computer with Windows Media Center or some versions of Vista have a really slick menu system and can be enabled with a remote control. All you need is a video card with composite video out (lots of choices for super-cheap at your local computer store). With all the ways to get video from the internet available today, I can pretty much access anything ever filmed - Vongo, Cinemanow, and even freebies off of Netflix, while ok on the computer, are really excellent on the big screen through Xtender. And best yet, the big noisy PC fan isn't right under my TV.