Posted on 03/02/2004 9:18:13 PM PST by Prodigal Son
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Despite the best marketing efforts of big technology companies, personal computers have never felt much at home in the living room.
But a new PC makeover by the likes of Intel and Gateway could soon give the home computer a central role in the way consumers watch television and listen to music.
The device, which Intel calls the Entertainment PC, is designed to connect directly to the television, and will look more like a souped-up DVD player than a personal computer. Entertainment PCs could be on the shelves as early as the second half of this year, starting at $799.
Controlled with a remote, the Entertainment PC can flip through and record television channels, play music and movies, and even connect to the Internet to download shows and songs not available from cable or satellite TV operators.
Moreover, it can stream video from the living room to a PC elsewhere in the home, or even to a wirelessly connected handheld device.
"One PC replaces a whole stack of CE," or consumer electronics, "equipment," said Louis Burns, an Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) vice president who directs the world's largest chip maker's consumer electronics initiatives.
With the growth of PC sales slowing, Intel and the large computer companies are once again focused on the living room, where several separate devices dominate home entertainment systems.
Instead of the DVD player sitting atop the stereo atop the TiVo (news - web sites), the Entertainment PC is designed to replace them all. That's the idea.
It's not a new concept, and PC brands like Gateway and Compaq have fallen flat on their faces trying to push the same idea in years past.
But Intel has its chips on a big bet: that PCs, running a special version of Microsoft Windows, can replace a pile of consumer electronics devices at a significantly lower price, and at the same time add new features.
The Entertainment PC represents the core of that initiative. New Intel chips allow surround-sound audio and integrated wireless networking abilities. A version Intel expects to be sold next year, code-named Sandow, includes a high-definition TV tuner, a smaller form factor, and software to aggregate media from multiple PCs in the home.
Jay Srivasta, an analyst at iSuppli, said Dell and Gateway's success with electronics like digital cameras and television sets suggests that their consumer electronics ambitions are on track. But, he wrote in a recent note, "the road won't be smooth for either of these U.S. companies."
"Whether they are able to capitalize on their success in the PC world and translate such expertise into penetrating the consumer electronics market remains to be seen," Srivasta wrote.
THE FAMILY ROOM PC
Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - news), the PC company farthest ahead in selling home entertainment electronics, late last year began selling an early version of a TV-connected computer, though it lacks some of the features that Intel has written into its Entertainment PC design.
The Gateway Family Room Media Center PC, otherwise known as the FMC-901, won an "editor's choice" award from PC Magazine, which called it "an appealing choice" for people who want the features of a PC "but don't want something that looks like a PC in your entertainment center."
The $999 PC has a TV tuner and a powerful video card, as well as ports and memory card readers to connect game controllers and cameras. It can play DVDs, record television shows onto a hard drive and play MP3 music. The PC can be controlled with a remote, but also comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse.
For avid Gateway followers, a computer that connects to a TV could bring on flashbacks of failure. In 1997, Gateway tried a similar idea with its Destination Big Screen PC/TV, which cost nearly $5,000. Compaq, now part of Hewlett-Packard, had a similar concept with its PC Theater, but it too fell flat.
Gateway says its computers now have enough horsepower to serve as the hub of the home entertainment system, and the Windows Media Center software is refined enough to make it easy to use. The computer runs quietly and cool, Gateway says, and can interact with online media services like the new Napster (news - web sites) to bring online media directly to the living room.
"The PC, I think, will play the role largely as the hub or centralized storage point for all of that content," whether it be music, movies, video games or television, said Philip Osako, Gateway's vice president for alternate form-factor computers.
"Once people understand the concept and see it in action, they're surprised at how easy it is," he said.
I don't own a television. Got a big DVD collection though. My view on it is- just delete the television all together. The computer is becoming the television and much more. What do I need a television for when I can do everything a television can with my computer? That's where we ought to be going in my opinion.
I want a synthesis of all media, not 'one medium device over here, another over there, computer in the office'.
I think this is the way. Television. Scrap heap. Desktop computer- scrap heap. One information system that can combine radio, video, newspaper, internet, interactivity, office work, home studio, home radio broadcast, home television broadcast. Everybody could be a Matt Drudge then and we wouldn't even need ABCCBSNBCCNNBBC...
That's where mine is ;-)
But I do use my computer for all those things. I have no stereo, no radio, no television. My computer functions in all those roles plus a whole lot more.
I'm building my own out of spare parts I had laying around. Already connected to my TV, audio system, and home network. Wireless keyboard and mouse. Pretty cool.
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