How accessible are the systems described in the article below? I can see lots of benefits, but have doubts about accessibility.
With a PC's Power, That's Entertainment By TIM GNATEK ersonal computers increasingly fill home entertainment needs. And why not? They are already the repositories for digital photos, music and video collections. With an attached TV or radio tuner and digital video recorder and encoder, they can replace nearly every entertainment device in the house. But the demands placed on machines to store large video files and process them quickly can be too much for standard home computers. To fill the need, a new breed of multimedia systems is entering the market. Not only can they record, store and manage music, movies and television shows, but they can also showcase them on high-definition screens and in surround-sound audio, all with a click of the remote. Most multimedia machines come with powerful Pentium or Athlon processors, the latest graphics cards, FM radio and television tuners (sometimes more than one, so users can watch one channel while recording another), DVD recorders and enough memory and hard-drive space to store and play back hours of high-quality programming. Many also incorporate the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, which adds specialized multimedia features to Windows XP. Because the entertainment PC's are designed for living rooms, they come with wireless keyboards, mice and hand-held remotes for controlling functions far from the computer. Nearly every major computer maker is now producing entertainment PC's as laptops and desktops, and even as horizontally designed machines that resemble stereo components. For the Desktop One line of desktops, the Vaio RA series of digital studio PC's from Sony (starting at $1,799), presents bulked-up computers in tall, black cases that enclose Intel Pentium 4 processors, one gigabyte of random-access memory, and at least 320 gigabytes of storage. A 5.1 surround-sound speaker system comes with the packages, providing cinematic audio entertainment. To keep unwanted noise to a minimum, the computers use a liquid cooling system, rather than a standard fan, to carry heat away from the processors. Though the media computers can be priced higher than average machines, shoppers do not have to wait for less expensive models to come to market. This month, Gateway began selling a $1,000 media computer, the 832GM Media Center PC, which includes a Pentium 4 processor, a gigabyte of memory, a 250-gigabyte hard drive, TV and FM tuners, a DVD+/- RW drive, a speaker package, a wireless keyboard, two-button mouse and remote. Laptops Multimedia machines also come as laptops, and their thin profile may be preferable in small apartments or dorm rooms, or for users who prefer the small footprint of a portable device. One such computer, the Toshiba Qosmio, balances the portability of a laptop with the features one might expect from its larger cousins. Its premier model, the G15 ($2,599), has a 17-inch TruBrite liquid-crystal display, which offers a clear picture from peripheral angles as well as head-on. Built-in Harmon Kardon speakers mimic surround sound to lend a richer tone than is usually found in laptops. To get to the entertainment faster, CD's, DVD's and television programming can start in a powered-down mode without booting the whole operating system. >From Dell, the Inspiron XPS Gen 2 ($2,349 with promotional discount), intended more as a portable gaming station, has a similar 17-inch display and, like the Qosmio, provides quick access to media content when the computer is shut down. It is also the first laptop to come with the new, powerful NVIDIA 256MB GeForce Go 6800 Ultra graphics card, capable of processing feats like playing one high-definition program on the laptop screen while simultaneously showing another on an external monitor. For the Living Room Hewlett-Packard was an early purveyor of computers running Windows Media Center when it was released in 2002. Today, in addition to desktop and laptop models, it markets a system designed for the living room. The HP z545 digital entertainment center ($1,799 with rebate at hpshopping.com) features a horizontal brushed-black aluminum case that more resembles a stereo component than a PC. The system comes with a wireless keyboard and integrated trackball. For storage, the computer houses a 200-gigabyte internal hard drive as well as a 160-gigabyte removable drive, an ATI Radeon X300 graphics card, a built-in FM tuner, dual television tuners and 512 megabytes of RAM, expandable to 2 gigabytes. Users can even take their entertainment with them by transferring media files onto an HP iPAQ rx3115 Mobile Media Companion ($349 at hpshopping.com), a hand-held for carrying photos, music and video. A similar unit from Alienware, the DHS5 ($1,758), is also aimed at the digital living room. The slim computer comes with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor, 80 gigabytes of hard-drive space, up to three television tuners and Dolby Digital sound. Alienware, which has always catered to the gamer market, has also made its DHS line attractive to active play by adding Discover Console technology, which automatically loads, installs and optimizes PC-based games from a CD without troubling the user with prompts. The Operating System Most PC manufacturers developing multimedia machines have chosen Windows XP Media Center Edition as their operating system. The Media Center environment, which has expanded considerably since its debut, allows remote navigation of computer content. Media Center starts with a click of a button on a computer's remote control, and has a simple scrolling menu of television programs, FM radio, DVD's and recorded videos, photo albums and music collections. Using a multimedia PC for home entertainment does carry some risks: if your computer crashes, so does your television. But there are benefits to the arrangement as well. The My TV feature on Media Center, for example, can turn the computer into a digital video recorder without the monthly charge of dedicated services like TiVo. The system automatically downloads viewing guides, based on the user's location and provider, and allows for scrolling through programming lists, recording individual shows or entire series. In the 2005 edition of Media Center, viewers can record programs in high definition and manage up to three TV tuners, recording two programs while watching a third. The operating system can manage music and photo files as well. Media Center can search and sort music collections, using album cover icons as identifiers, and link to online music stores where users can purchase additional music. Another feature, Online Spotlight, provides a directory of additional Internet content, including access to National Public Radio programs, news feeds, sports clips and subscription radio, movie and music services. All these features on the living room screen can make other household TV's seem dull in comparison. But they, too, can become a node in a Media Center network. To carry the computer-based entertainment around the house, the Linksys Media Center Extender ($239 after rebates at Amazon.com) attaches to other nearby televisions and takes controls and recorded programs to other rooms over a wired or wireless network. The device can carry video programming, music and photos stored on the base computer, but cannot display DVD's, CD's or HDTV content. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
