Video Server and Distribution

["E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have two viewing areas from which I would like to view, in as best quality
as possible, my DVD collection. One is an 85" projection screen in my
bedroom, one is a 35" LCD in the living room, then there are TVs in the
office and guest room, and a media center machine in the kitchen cabinet.

Curently, I'm leaning towards ripping the collection to my Windows Media
Center machine, and then using a media center extender in the other areas to
access those files.  They will need to be ripped as wither WMA or MPG,
though, and I am worried about aspect rations, video quality, and surround
sound. And HDD space, but that's less of a concern.

The other problem is that I am a little hesitant to spend money on something
with Bluray on its way... but with a starting price of $1,000 for a bluray
player, I will probably delay such an upgrade for a year at least. It'd sure
be nice to be able to feed HD to my various HD displays.

The other option would be a 500 disc DVD changer and a component video DA,
and IR distro in the house - which is planned anyway.

Are any of you doing component video distro? Anyone have any experience with
the video quality of the media center extenders? I'd appreciate any
equipment recomendations or just general theoretical advice.

Thanks. :)

:Lee