Intel to Market PCs as Home Entertainment Hubs

wantobe writes "Yahoo! News is reporting that Intel is developing their own "new technology" to convert home computers into entertainment hubs. Does anyone even really want this?" From the article: "Analysts say the chip bundle and software will transform the PC into an all-purpose multimedia device designed to function as a CD and DVD player, digital video recorder, game console, as well as a machine for traditional data processing and Internet."

Old Marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't computers been marteted as the "complete home theatre/entertainment/whatever" before? I know the PS2 has at least. They call it a "digital entertainment center" or something in their ads instead of a "game console".

I wonder..

[modifried]

.. if this could in any way be related with InterVideo's InstantON [intervideo.com] technology? It allows you to watch DVDs and listen to music without booting into the actual OS.

Re:Use?

[cnettel]

Agreed/me too. OTOH, this tells us that the original poster doesn't have to look far for people interested in "convergence".

Dual-core would naturally make it easier to get real-time performance/harder for sloppy coding to show up as hickups in playing, for example. Except for that, I don't think much is needed on the PC side. What's needed is cheaper/smarter peripherals that handle 1394/USB2 and 802.11*, preferably with open interfaces.

I have four devices capable of playing music and video in one form or another that I use regularly. Main PC, laptop, palm-size device and phone. All of them are capable of running code I've written myself, with the exception that the Sony phone could preferably support more access through its Java API.

If I can't code for it, it has to be really neat or at least accept data in a somewhat manageable form from a PC.

Title Correction

[kenji_watanabe]

Intel does whatever they can to generate hype and recapture their image as a fast growth company in attempt to reinflate market cap

Is it me?

[jav1231]

Is me or are PC technology companies getting ever more divergent from media companies? The Entertainment media companies don't even have a handle on how they are going to deal with the "digital age" and computer related media software and hardware is hungering for this more and more.
More on topic, I don't know how many people really want a PC for this, though. I know that I abandoned my PC-based router because I could go buy a Linksys for $59 and had no moving parts to deal with. I think people are more into buying a TiVo or DVD player than setting up a PC next to their TV. Couple that with all the DRM and software and licenses they may have to deal with to do it and it may become another headache for users and PC makers alike.

Here's my setup...

[turnstyle]

I keep an old PC (in fact, an old laptop) sitting on top of my stereo, patched into Aux.

I leave the screen down, and use other PCs to remote control it (you can use XP's Remote Desktop, VNC, PC Anywhere, etc.).

That way, when I click play in the remote window, it plays out the stereo.

I use it with Andromeda [turnstyle.com] (PHP/ASP software I coded) as well as Internet radio and Rhapsody [listen.com] (the music service).

Centrino was just the start.

[Anonymous Coward]

You should do some reading on Intel's "Platform Strategy."

For example:

http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/0117updat-int. ht ml
http://www.intel.com/employee/retiree/circuit/ plat formreorg.htm
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6835731/

You can find some other stuff on www.intel.com or www.google.com by searching for "platform strategy."

LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
I am an employee of Intel but am speaking as myself, not speaking for the corporation, not speaking for any executives, and not revealing any classified information.

Re:eShmoo

[bwy]

Everyone wants this: a consumer-easy, completely configurable single device for multimedia handling that integrates CDs, DVDs, local storage (HDs), and the Internet for playing (and even recording), sharing and moving around our multimedia, regardless of format or form factor.

I agree. And, all the technology already exists today but I guess a little something has always been missing. Perhaps, the way you bundle it and package it and leverage existing technology without requiring a consumer to have an entire PC setup in their living room. The Mac mini form factor has potential, but they've obviously not intended the thing to be a home entertainment centerpeice (no optical out, yada, yada)

Re:Use?

[Peter Greenwood]

I recognize it's not for general public yet.
Just tried it. Got a DVD from the shelf, put it in the drive. Started xine. Clicked "DVD"; it started playing, but no sound. Configured xine to use alsa, through its GUI, and restarted it as instructed. Voila, home entertainment PC (except no video recording, since I didn't buy the DVD recorder or TV tuner, both of which are available).
This shows 2 things.

1. one can do this already, even with non mainstream kit
2. I at least have never felt the need to do it before

Maybe Intel are going to tweak Fedora to autostart xine on detecting a video dvd, and make xine autodetect the sound system? Somehow I doubt it.
Conclusions:

1. No new technology worth discussing
2. No use
3. As others have pointed out, will sell like hot cakes to the technological illiterates.