Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

I am beginning to think that HD Media Center computers are not going to make the transition to the living room and be attached to a household’s primary TV. Rather, home office computers might begin to function as a second television set. Here are a couple of reasons:

1. Media Center computers that handle HD are too expensive when compared to a cable company’s cable box. The Cable company DVR is about $10 a month. Media Center computers with digital cable tuners about $2,000. Even with a digital cable tuner, you need to rent a cable card.
2. Over the air HD broadcasts are free and ASTC tuners are cheap and can be easily added to any computer.
3. People will continue to pay $1,500 to $2,000 for a home office computer. Adding a $300 digital cable tuner at that point is more attractive.
4. An extra cable box is not needed for a Media Center computer. Just rent a CableCard for a couple of dollars.
5. A second TV set does not need multiple tuners. Several of the large OEMs, like HP, only offer media centers with only one digital cable tuner.
6. Media Centers are still flaky. Down time is not a big deal on a second TV.

Sure, some people will have Media Centers in their living room. I would love to have one but their are just too expensive for computers with two digital cable tuners. Media Centers, if purchased as home office or family computers first and DVRs second, are more palatable at higher prices.
One drawback for HD systems is that your computer monitor has to support the HDCP DRM scheme. Only recently have monitors been released that support HDCP.