KEY POINTS:
There's one thing that's become obvious to me as I've wandered the halls of the major technology shows this year.
Consumer electronics are getting very sophisticated but the industry as a whole has not found a simple way of networking every device in the home, regardless of brand, so that digital content can be effortlessly passed between the various electronics you own.
Until the consumer electronics companies put aside their differences and make compatibility between hardware and software, media file formats and copyright protection systems their main aim, the inter-connected lifestyle they're marketing won't be realistic.
At Ceatec this year, the big electronics vendors are all pushing their own system of linking TV screens to camcorders, home theatre systems to computers, game consoles to music players. Toshiba is pushing its Regza Link system while Panasonic has its Viera Link system. The problem is that everyone has their own system, and while they may be based on industry standards such as USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or HDMI, once a certain-branded component, such as the TV screen, is missing from the mix, the networking of devices, controllable via "one TV remote control" as Panasonic executive Toshihiro Sakamoto puts it, is a lot less effective.
This is done on purpose - the electronic vendors don't just want you to buy a TV set, but also a camcorder, a high-definition disc player, a stereo and maybe a mobile phone - many of them make everything I've just listed. They want you to buy into their ecosystem of products and enjoy the convenience of networked access to all of them as a result.
But few consumers, especially Kiwis, are staunchly loyal to one particular brand. We want to mix and match what we see as the best, most affordable electronics, but it would also be nice if they could still communicate with each other.
The Digital Living Network Alliance happens to share that view and has been working to try to get computer, software and consumer electronics makers to agree to adopt the same sets of industry standards "so they all speak the same language on the same network".
According to Scott Smyers, chairman of the Portland, Oregon-based group, even getting competing companies to agree on what consumers want involved months of "heated discussion".
Smyers is setting up a certification system whereby a device carrying a green DLNA sticker will be guaranteed to work with other devices carrying the same sticker.
The DLNA has already certified 1300 products, around 730 of which are on the market. Despite having all the big names in the group - from Microsoft and Nokia to Samsung and Philips - the DLNA doesn't appear to have made gained much traction.
Smyers for his part isn't worried about the individual systems the consumer electronics companies are pushing, because many of them are DLNA-compliant. That means that your Panasonic Blu-ray recorder will still be able to send audio and video to your Toshiba TV without the Regza Link technology Toshiba uses.
But that's not always the case. Take Apple, which, with its proprietary Apple TV product, has signalled its interest in networking back to the computer where content is organised by its iTunes software. Apple hasn't joined the DLNA, despite Smyers' approaches.
"The conversation [with Apple] lasted about seven minutes," he said.
The politics of the highly-competitive technology industry therefore, is still the major barrier to making all of today's gadgets and media devices interoperable.
But Smyers is optimistic. Importantly, he has the entertainment industry onboard due to the DLNA's advocacy of copyright protection systems that aim to limit content piracy.
The content is the key to everything, something I discovered on the weekend when I wasn't able to play a new DVD on my Xbox Elite console because the screen I was using wasn't "HDCP-compliant" and therefore certified to display content in a way that it can't be pirated. Interoperability in the electronics world is still a flaky concept despite the widespread use of common standards and it's going to take a seachange in thinking to change that.
