PC brings all-in-one media centre into your home

The marketing hype is as familiar as it is hard to believe: the personal computer is about to revolutionise the home. Dump the television, and the hi-fi system while you're at it, because the all-in-one entertainment centre has arrived and it's a PC. Or that's what Microsoft and a handful of computer manufacturers would like you to think.

Bringing the idea of the PC-TV convergence back to the fore, Microsoft launched its Windows Media Centre operating system in Europe last month. Essentially a souped-up version of Windows XP, the Media Centre edition is embedded with software that attempts to transform the personal computer into a household entertainment centre.

After the idea was virtually written off in the 1990s, PC makers see a market now ripe for such convergence. But some experts say consumers are just not ready to have a computer replace their television. So how will the Media Centre concept change the status of traditional entertainment devices?

Though it is the second launch of the system in the US, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway have their latest marketing campaign well under way. Gateway's slogan, "One system, one room and one remote" is typical of the pitch they are trying to make.

By combining elements of the typical household entertainment rack, it is the computer industry's latest bid to edge its way into the living room.

The operating system combines a television, DVD, digital video recorder, MP3 player, and digital photo software - complete with a remote control.

With this list of features, they make a good case. But can it supplant the television?

Many of the arguments over PC-TV convergence date back to the arrival of the desktop computer.

As the lofty predictions came back down to earth, the emerging consensus was that the desires of the passive couch potato and the active computer-user could never be reconciled.

In fact, just this month, Mr Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple Computer invoked a similar argument when he dismissed the current Media Centre concept.

"Generally what they want to view on television has to do with turning their mind off," Mr Jobs said.

But, proponents say the situation is different now thanks to developments in hard drive space and Internet access.

What they are offering is obviously more than just the ability to use the Internet on the television. Web TV - the failed service that banked on convergence in the mid-1990s - essentially proved this strategy defunct.

Though Web browsing is still there, the ability to record hours of television and music files is possible thanks to the vastly improved hard drives of today. And with the growth prevalence of broadband net access, the Media Centre is able to offer a fee-based service for downloading films.

New advances aside, some experts are still quick to write off the fabled marriage of the television and personal computer as the outdated fancy of marketing teams.

"That's so 1980s," says Mr Andrew Lipman of MIT's Media Lab. He says picturing the desktop PC as the focal point of the living room is pointless. "It's old-think from the days that you had one PC in the house." Microsoft's offering, he says, is nothing new.

But other analysts say the evidence proves otherwise. "It's really fashionable to say convergence is never going to work. It actually does work," says Mr Peter Rojas, editor of an online gadget website, Gizmodo.com. Mr Rojas says the Media Centre eliminates the need to buy popular components separately, so why wouldn't consumers be interested?

One of the main attractions of the Media Centre PC is the digital, or Personal Video Recorder (PVR), feature. With its user-friendly interface and its ability to catch entire seasons of programmes, the stand-alone PVR has already become the darling device of the gadget-obsessed in the US.

Cable companies are starting to ship their boxes with the service built-in and since the technology is simply a hard drive in a set-top box, the personal computer can easily perform the same service.

"In fact, the Media Centre software is just as good as theirs," Mr Rojas says.

Regardless of the popular features of the PC version, don't expect an Apple version anytime soon. Mr Jobs quickly wrote off the idea of an Apple version, calling it as ridiculous as the company making toasters.

Right now, the PC box does not resemble anything that could easily fit under the television. And having a desktop tower by the TV is one barrier to the Media Centre's appeal.

Ms Danielle Levitas, a consumer analyst with research firm, IDC says the exception to this is with second televisions. "But even as a secondary TV solution, it requires different behaviour. Do you leave the PC on?" she asks.

Though it may act like a typical entertainment box, it's still a computer and takes time to boot up. "I don't think it's the right strategy," Ms Levitas says. Instead, she thinks Media Centre works as a quality computer, but not in the place of a television.

If anything, she says, it will boost sales for the devices it supports, like digital cameras - a boon for the PC makers who also happen to make the cameras.

The gadget factor could also be a boon for the idea of the Media Centre PC, but this may limit the average user who might not be so tech-savvy.

Mr Van Baker, research director with Gartner says the PCs will go down well with the "digital enthusiast"but it is "overkill for the simple television viewing experience".

Whether or not the personal computer will be found in the average entertainment stack is still the subject of much debate. Despite the arguments over convergence, analysts agree that entertainment devices are becoming more like PCs and PCs are becoming more like entertainment racks anyway. There is no harm in operating systems doubling as televisions and Hi-Fi systems, they say.

In fact, it could become the standard, whether the PC's replace the need for other devices or not.

"DVD players are already coming with Ethernet ports for instance," Gizmodo's Mr Rojas says. "As stuff gets cheaper, this becomes just another thing that manufacturers automatically include."

At the moment, average prices for Media Centre PCs are several hundred dollars more than their conventional counterparts, but it is already getting cheaper.

And in what is likely to be the start of a trend, just last week, Gateway announced plans to ship a computer designed to blend in with the myriad living room set-top boxes.

If this is any indicator, future entertainment devices may actually be PCs without anyone noticing.