Computer giants head for our living rooms

By PETER GRIFFIN

CYPRUS - Major computer vendors are about to converge on the living rooms of millions of consumers and take on consumer electronics giants such as Sony and Philips in a bid to ease the impact of a slowing global PC market.

Last week, Hewlett-Packard followed rivals Dell and Compaq in unveiling new home entertainment concepts designed to tap into the exploding demand for MP3 music files, DVD (digital versatile disk) movies and streaming web media.

Hewlett-Packard claims 25 per cent of its European customers already have their home PCs in the main family room, connecting them in many cases to their hi-fi units to play audio files and run computer games using the television screen rather than a computer monitor.

Now the company is encouraging customers to use their computers to make the living room even more interactive.

It wants you to access your hotmail account from the couch while recording your favourite TV programme to your computer's hard disk. Or use your digital video camera as a "web cam" to videoconference with friends overseas while your living room-based PC talks to the printer in your office via an 802.11 wireless network.

TV tuning hardware and free software programs such as Show Shifter allow users to control their television sets from a wireless computer keyboard or mouse.

Downloadable software also allows "time shifting" - the recording of live television for convenient playback when you have to leave the room during a programme.

The key to Hewlett-Packard's consumer electronic push will be the release of its DVD+RW (read, write) drives, which will enter the market soon at less than $1000 and allow video footage from a video camera or TV programming to be recorded to a disk up to 1000 times.

But what was still holding back a move to the living room, said Eric Bouchet, Hewlett-Packard's European home products division manager, was the poor visual quality of computer programs when viewed on a TV screen.

A lounge-based PC had yet to be announced, but changing the PC's "form factor" to a more suitable size and shape for the living room is a logical step, Mr Bouchet said at the company's Lab University, a product preview event held in Cyprus.

Tailored specifically for the living room, the added computer functionality may make standalone games consoles such as PlayStation 2 - which also plays DVD disks - less attractive.

While Hewlett-Packard revealed its product roadmap, the computing company aired prototypes of a standalone, web-enabled home entertainment system at the TechX NY trade show in New York.

The HP Digital Entertainment Centre will allow users to download songs from the internet and convert their hi-fi into a digital jukebox that can hold up to 9000 songs on its 40-gigabyte hard drive.

The company claims music menus can be controlled via the TV screen and music downloaded to the device can then be transferred to CDs, MP3 players and PDAs (personal digital assistants).

A content deal signed in March with streaming media company RealNetworks will see its software incorporated into Hewlett-Packard's new device. Users will be able to access the popular Realplayer media player online as well as RealJukebox.

Compaq has a similar device with its iPaq entertainment centre, which uses a television interface and can store up to 5000 songs on a hard drive. It is expected to be released in the US next month for about $US800 ($1960).

But the digital entertainment device is a step away from bringing full PC function to the living-room and is based around audio entertainment, providing nothing in the way of web-surfing, using software applications or playing games.

Meanwhile, a consortium of 90 big technology companies including Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Intel and Motorola has formed a new standard for connecting appliances to the internet using electrical power outlets.

* Peter Griffin attended Lab University in Cyprus as a guest of Hewlett-Packard.

Links

HP Lab University

Intellon

Showshifter