Digital Hub

January 30, 2003

PCMag asks the question, will the connected living room be PC-based? The simple answer is yes. Really, they are asking if there will be a dedicated media server or a PC in control of the house. The former option suggests that all of your movies, music and photos reside on one machine and your PC does nothing but access that information when needed. The latter combines the PC and media center into one.

In the end, it doesn't matter much, but I'd like to see the media center. Truth be told, it will handle more than just media. It will also control your lights, climate control and Juicer, but that's another story. In the end it will be another piece of your home entertainment center. It will slide in right between your DVD/CD player and VCR, eventually replacing both of them. It will do the same things, the only difference being that everything will be digital. You'll have one disc to view/hear your media at your underpriveleged friend's houses. Otherwise, you'll never see portable media again. Our portable media players will connect wirelessly to networks and stream files off your server at home. Less muss, less fuss (except when it breaks), and more freedom.

This year we will see devices from Sony, HP, Prismiq, Lindows.com and of course TiVo. There are certainly others that will arrive, but this is what I have been waiting to see. Exciting.

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