Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Media centers have yet to make it into the mainstream consciousness and seriously into the living room. Tivo and DVRs have certainly made an impact, showing the potential of a media center. With music, photos, and movies becoming digital, media center PCs, also known as HTPCs, are on the cusp of being a prominent part of the home theater. Here are 8 features to make media centers more mainstream:

1. HDTV reception and recording. High definition is a must have feature for any media center. Lack of HD cable or satellite support is the biggest reason why media centers are not prominent today. Microsoft’s Vista will support CableCARDs, which will allow viewing of HD content without a cable box. The only high definition source now for media centers is over the air broadcasts.
2. A plug and play interface. Microsoft has made nice strides with MCE and Vista appears to be pointed in the right direction.
3. Storage of movies. Music is almost completely migrated to the digital age and movies are right behind it. High definition movies need to be able to be stored on the media center. This requires 2 things: lots of storage space and managed copy implementation. My estimate is that 5 TB is needed to store digital movies. 5 TB of hard drive space now costs about $1500, which will drop quickly in a year or two. 5 TB is enough room for about 150 HD movies and room to record live HDTV.
4. Media extenders without restrictions. Once all your media is digital, you should be able to stream it to any TV you want, without worrying about compatibility and artificial limitations.
5. Quiet and stylish computer cases. The last year has seen an explosion of living room computer cases and I think this trend should only continue. Several options already exist at the sub $100 level as well. Over time, HTPCs will get smaller and smaller.
6. Power management simplified. The average user has a hard time with a lot of settings in Windows. There should be a default “media center” power setting for Vista computers. This would eliminate alot of tweaking and streamline things for the mainstream user.
7. Manage multiple libraries. A media center should be able to manage your iPod, your car audio and video system, and any other portable digital library you may have. Your car should be able to sit in your driveway and access your media center to download movies and songs.
8. Under $700. Media centers need to be cheaper than they are now. I think $700 for a media center that has HDTV and up to 5 TB of storage is the right price point. In time, this price will be a reality. The top of the line computer today in 2 years will be under $700.

Much of the info I used to write this article was found on Pvrwire and Chris Lanier’s blog.