WinHEC 2005: Day 2
by Derek Wilson & Jarred Walton on April 27, 2005 8:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Home Entertainment
One of the hot topics at this year's WinHEC is Home Entertainment computers. There are more than fifteen presentations related to the concept of the PC as a media/home entertainment device. To hear Microsoft and others speak, this is the Next Big Thing (TM) in home computers. Our view is a little more pragmatic, but let's first cover what's being said and what it means to the end user.
In the broadest view, Microsoft sees the PC as a device capable of replacing nearly all of the current devices that might be used in a Home Theater A/V system. Just add a decent amplifier and speakers, and you're set. Digital TV, music, movies, photos, PVR... everything can be done by a single PC! Naturally, all of this will be provided by a PC running a Windows OS, and the "PlaysForSure" (PFS) initiative is designed to guarantee that compatible content will always work on a system without any special effort required by the user. While nearly all of this is currently possible, there are still hurdles to overcome. The biggest problem right now is with the content. Put simply, the content providers are nervous about trusting the PC - and PC users - with their product. We'll have more to say on that in a bit, but first let's talk about Microsoft's solutions for the market.
When Microsoft talks about Home Entertainment, they're not just talking about PCs running MCE 2005 or XP Pro with a TV tuner. They have a lot of solutions, including the launch of a new WebTV box (now called MSN TV), IPTV units, PVR devices, and the more traditional HTPC. The first three of these devices are intended to be built by OEMs with no user serviceable parts, while the last one is just a PC connected in some fashion to your living room. All of the devices have the potential to interoperate (depending on the OEM's decisions), so that the main HTPC could function as a content server for the rest of the home. Xbox as well as the future Xbox 360 also fit within the home entertainment market, although less was said about these devices, presumably because they are in essence direct competitors to what the vendors might produce.
The basic building blocks of a home entertainment device are straight forward. You have the OS, connectivity, and the supported formats. On top of that are the content protection mechanisms and finally the user interface. In the above slide, we get the Microsoft solution to all of these requirements. Obviously, MS feels that Windows CE provides a good solution to all these requirements. They did however acknowledge that CE is not the only option, and vendors are free to pursue their own solutions. Beyond that, though, most of the talk was related to Windows MCE, CE, XP, and/or Longhorn and how they could meet these needs.
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JarredWalton - Saturday, April 30, 2005 - link
I don't know what people do that causes these supposed crashes all the time. It's not that XP *never* crashes, but it's so rare that I almost always look for hardware problems if it begins to occur frequently. (Well, that and checking drivers, spyware, etc.) I have applications crash as well, but you can't really blame MS for an application bug (unless they wrote the application, of course).NightCrawler - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Damn my TV crashed, maybe the blue screen could include a picture of Bill Gates.Anyways here are the steps to enjoying Longhorn:
1. Buy super fast hardware from newegg/zipzoomfly etc.
2. Install Windows 2010 {Longhorn}.
3. Install Crack provided by 12 year old chinese/russian super hacker.
4. Enjoy :)
JarredWalton - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
Bill Gates mentioned in the keynote that the cost for a tablet PC is now ~$100 more than that of a standard laptop, and they feel that was critical in getting increased adoption of tablet PCs. Certainly, MS gave no indication that they think tablets are going away, although they didn't say a whole lot about them becoming more popular.Windows CE is still a pretty major business for MS, but I think the focus at this WinHEC was on the launch of XP-64 and the work being done on Longhorn. CE 5.0 is used in many products, and I believe it is the renamed version of PocketPC, right? (I don't follow that market as much, so I may be way off.)
Cygni - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
These arent the things that really get the most coverage or press, but i was wondering if there was much or anything on display from the Tablet and PocketPC worlds? I know all the market people seem to think that PocketPC's are on the way out, but i still see a gigantic amount of potential not being tapped. Tablets too... they seem to be dropping off the market instead of growing.Any new stuffs about MS's stance at WinHEC or anything would be enjoyed on this end. Thanks.
Son of a N00b - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
i for one, while i can see the future do not like HTPC's, expecially when they are not the best quality (plz correct me if i am wrong, becuase i do not know much abot thme), but i like having a TV and a PC, having them run out of the same box at the same time though wouldnt be to bad, along with house controls, like air conditioning, lights, ect...now that would be cool, yet unpractical until twenty years from now....HTPC's INHO cannot really benefit yet...DerekWilson - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
Thanks Pete :-)Pete - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
I figure with this nitpick, both of you will be as *wary* of my posts as I'm *weary* of how weak Word's spellcheck is in this era of 2+GHz CPUs.Last paragraph, page two. ;)
Good read, and good points WRT DRM.
sprockkets - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
funny but using my new cheap $150 lite on dvd recorder I use the svideo in port and record 1080i shows and it looks good enought for me in 720x480. And using one with a built in hdd is much easier than using a computer to do the same thing, not to mention much smaller and cheaper. Yeah you can do more with a computer, but why have a 200w device doing what my lite on does with 36w?IP over TV? I can see it now. "Sorry, cannot connect to show LOST due to too many users."
"My MCE got hacked, and all the friends I had over saw porn come on the screen during the movie."
I think for these people it's a matter of not making money, it's just I want to release my show when I want where I want. On the consumer side, I want the right to have it now, as in I don't want to wait 8 months for you to release a movie onto personal formats.
oupei - Thursday, April 28, 2005 - link
#13 just like you could use win98 right now? I don't think xp will be an alternative for very long. Linux, on the other hand, might be...man, why does it have to be "home theater IN A BOX"? do you have to make a point to exclude real home theater systems?
Brian23 - Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - link
Don't forget that we can still use XP or Linux if these newfangled operating systems take away our rights.