Windows Vista has been available to the public since January. And while there are some nice upgrades including visual candy in the Windows Media Center Application, media center extenders that worked with your old machine won't work with Vista.

A media center extender is basically a box running software the lets you access content from your Windows Media Center in another room. So far, the only v2 media center extender has been the Xbox 360. If you're not a video game fan, you've been out of luck.

But Microsoft has finally announced that three companies plan to release new v2 media extenders. Linksys, D-Link, and Niveus all plan to launch devices that will act as media center extenders. The new platform allows increased functionality including:

• HD video
• Wireless networking
• Expanded support for audio and video codecs including DivX and Xvid

It's not clear yet whether all three companies plan to release devices with all three new features. There's also no word on pricing, or even what the new devices will look like. They'll "be unveiled later this month in a variety of innovative form factors and price points."

[via Chris Lanier]