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• Why the media centre PC is destined for the home office

Why the media centre PC is destined for the home office

By Asher Moses on 28 March 2006

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  Anonymous commented on 29/03/2006 02:40 Report abuse

  Wow! Now if someone would just invent really big TVs to display all that content on. You know, something like a laptop screen, but bigger? :-P

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  Eivind Eklund commented on 29/03/2006 02:38 Report abuse

  The statement about dual-cores is idiotic. Streaming data does not consume much CPU, and real time scheduling (which is what is critical here) is actually easier to do with a single CPU that with two.
  
  This seems to be just a marketing trick from Intel.

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  yotish commented on 29/03/2006 02:30 Report abuse

  Problem with this is the people that do have a computer home media setup currently are those who couldnt care less about mini-tower to more than likely their full size tower sitting next to the TV. The few this new design will appeal to will be the wealthy that buy up every new little gadget in bliss. Only to waste away its purpose in their house as dinner topic to the neighbors who don't have one. If I could twiddle my finger in the air for all to see i would :P
  
  -Jeff

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  gregglooker commented on 29/03/2006 02:22 Report abuse

  As an early adopter of the HP Media Center 545 28 months ago, I can attest that plunking a computer in the middle of the Great Room's media rack is a painful experience. Some painful memories: Running Media Center (as the secondary monitor, I had to mount a 17" LCD on the wall above the media rack) on the 60" Sony was a painful, horrible experience what with trying to do all the fun Media Center stuff on what was the second monitor, losing the mouse, losing the keyboard, having to pull the electrical plug out of the back of the freakin computer, having Media Center tell me the brand new DVD can't be played because of a licensing error, and even when I got a DVD to play, halfway through the movie, the freakin Media Center starting skipping and freezing up such that we gave up trying to watch DVD's altogether via Media Center DVD Player (we use WinDVD now). Not to mention the noise itself from the computer, and the heating problem in the rack.
  
  Regardless, purchased an HP VIIV Media Center and so far am thrilled with its performance. Still have some problems with the custom 16:9 video settings, but can't wait to play any DVD to any of the four home theaters in the house with VIIV 1.5!

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  pawn commented on 29/03/2006 02:22 Report abuse

  and to the comment about a whirring computer fans and such i have a water cooled PC with 5 fans all quiter than a pin drop so im not sure where you are going but viiv is old hardware with a new name IMO

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  Technopundit commented on 29/03/2006 02:19 Report abuse

  This is a matter of form over function, though a simplified interface is also a big calling factor.
  
  A big, whirring PC sitting next to the TV is not esthetically appealing. Sure, it's something a tech-savvy consumer can piece together now, but who wants to?
  
  As for the dual-core issue, soon those processors will cost as mch as a mid-range processor does now. In the mean time, some development is necessary to produce a small, practical, easily installed device.

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  Pawn commented on 29/03/2006 02:17 Report abuse

  in all reality i think this is another waste of money i like the idea to be able to have a wireless keyboard and mouse in front of me able to play games watch tv chat on aim. while sittin on my couch watching tv gaming in one corner of my screen and chattin on aim in the other corner why would i just want a tv again its a computer on my 65" tv i mean come on have you ever played world of warcraft widescreen mode on a 65" tv its jaw dropping

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  Anonymous commented on 29/03/2006 02:16 Report abuse

  Holy crap! They've invented the SERVER! I Dunno why they can't just call it that.

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  Scott Fletcher commented on 29/03/2006 02:14 Report abuse

  Is "Viiv" just marketing? I haven't found any specifics regarding Viiv (beyond the descriptions of some components and some marketing hype) that explain why Viiv is revolutionary, or even necessary to accomplish what the article's author described. I'm not usually one to pile on with anonymous criticisms, but I agree with the other commenters: this artcle needs some more specifics as to why Viiv is the lynch-pin in our home entertainment experience, or how it 'enables' us to realize the vision proposed in the article. As far as I can tell, Viiv is just a bunch of high-end computing gear from Intel. I suspect that EVERYONE will be selling similar horsepower for a similar (or lower) price soon. I'd love it if someone could correct me if I'm wrong.

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  geoweb commented on 29/03/2006 02:13 Report abuse

  I agree with the comments - the technology has been around for year - but wasn't that true for iPod too? I think the innovation here is to make it brain dead simple to use. I don't want to think that much at the end of the day - just want to veg. I tried multimedia pc - I got a few migranes over it, and I have given up on it.