In general, the PC market is moving in the direction that allows consumers to build or buy better and better media center PCs. Intel motherboards are no exception with the release of new ‘Bearlake’ motherboards this spring. From Dailytech:
The upcoming G35 Express is expected to support HDMI video output with HDCP compliance. According to the article the proper HDCP keys and HDMI signal mixing components are integrated into the G35 Express chipset. Supported HDMI video output resolutions include 720p, 1080i and 1080p which is pretty standard.
The cool thing is that the new G35 Express will have an integrated high definition audio codec and will fully support high definition content playback with HDCP protection. I do not know how I feel about the HDCP part of things but everything else is pretty sweet for HTPCs or PVRs. Having a motherboard with sound and graphics that are suitable for a home theater computer would open the door for a lot of different form factors in terms of computer cases. The only other add-in then to a computer would be a tuner card and you would have a complete media center. I guess the only questions is how much of a performance and quality hit will occur with all of this integration. To me, this is alot more interesting initiative by Intel than Viiv will ever be for media centers.
My initial reaction was wondering how Apple could integrate all of this into a media center. It looks like the next six months will be an interesting time for HTPCs for both Microsoft and Apple.
Tue, Nov 28, 2006
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