HDTV-PC?
While it’s long been possible to watch TV on your PC monitor, and it’s certain many people do so on a regular basis (hopefully not while trying to work!), the PC has not yet morphed into the all-encompassing entertainment system/network portal/communications device that some have hoped for. Mind you, I have friends who have ripped every CD they own, along with DVD movies and in some cases even vinyl media into digital format, which they store on large disk arrays so it’s instantly accessible from anywhere on their in-home network. But two real problems remain. First, I’ve not yet seen an audio card that can drive a 50″ TV and I’m in love with my 16:9 Sony unit. Second, no one has an HDTV-compatible video card yet.
Or so I thought, until I saw an article that discussed one reporter’s attempt to have a new PC-based HDTV/digital video system installed on a machine with Windows Vista MCE (Media Center Edition). Interestingly, companies are still working on the idea of fully enabling the Media Center concept even though Cable companies have taken the lead in this market and will probably maintain it. Aside from the problem of screen size, a standard DVR (Digital Video Recorder) is currently much more stable and easier to use than MCE. It also doesn’t suffer from the ongoing issue of crashes, driver incompatibility, stuttering video, and general complexity that’s endemic with the current crop of PC-as-Home Theatre hardware. As the article states, “If MCE was out during the late 90s, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but when MCE 2005 made its debut with no more than OTA HDTV support, it was clear that MCE had lost its potential.” While Vista is said to be secure enough to give media providers a warm feeling about allowing people to purchase and store HD movies on it, MCE itself is simply behind the curve in terms of consumer-grade Home Theatre hardware.
The other problem, as discussed in the article, is that the installation of the specialized hardware required to receive digital HD cable signals on the PC was horrendous and took several days. At the end, the Time Warner Cable technician apparently asked what the system could do. When told, “his reaction asked the question ‘why on earth would you go through this when you can just rent an HD-DVR from us for $9 a month?”
The general concept of PC as Home Theatre is still tantalizing and should be explored. Presumably, other companies are working on hardware and driver combinations that might enable display of large-screen video without sacrificing the PC’s other capabilities, but again the problem involves all that other stuff that people invariably want to install on their machines. Sure, you can set up a machine that does nothing but act as a video center and runs only the OS and media software, but what’s the point? It’s no longer a PC, but a dedicated Home Theatre system. For the money, I’ll go buy or rent a DVR and a nice LCD monitor.