03-03-2004, 10:30 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Yahoo News: "PC Makers Try Again with TV Computers"
"Despite the best marketing efforts of big technology companies, personal computers have never felt much at home in the living room. But a new PC makeover by the likes of Intel and Gateway could soon give the home computer a central role in the way consumers watch television and listen to music.
The device, which Intel calls the Entertainment PC, is designed to connect directly to the television, and will look more like a souped-up DVD player than a personal computer. Entertainment PCs could be on the shelves as early as the second half of this year, starting at $799. Controlled with a remote, the Entertainment PC can flip through and record television channels, play music and movies, and even connect to the Internet to download shows and songs not available from cable or satellite TV operators."
I was doing the home-brewed media PC in 2000, when I hooked up a computer with a DVD-ROM and ATI All in Wonder card to a 51" Hitachi TV. I used an IR keyboard with a build-in pointing device, and had it hard-wired with Ethernet for LAN access. How well did it work? Well, it made me feel like a super geek, but the truth is it was noisy, awkward, slow, and generally more trouble than it was worth. It's nice to see that we're seeing some evolution into making this solution work better.
Any other DIY media computer geeks out there? What have your experiences been, and what sorts of hardware/software solutions have you found to work the best?
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