Switched On: Media centers engender extenders, relenters

[sainswor99]

Interesting (albeit brief) read about the 800 pound gorilla in the HTPC market.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/06/s...ers-relenters/

[wvpolekat]

This article echos my thoughts on the HTPC. It's a very simple "I don't want a PC hooked to my TV!"

This, all by itself is what killed XP/Vista Media Center.

Yes, you will get the college student or geek factor that will do this and enjoy it. Big problem is that either they don't have any money, or don't pay for software.

Mom and pop at home have ZERO desire to put the PC next to the TV. They would be just as happy putting a appliance device like a tivo there.

Enter the extender. This is the silver bullet for the HTPC. It should have been a requirement for XP Media Center from the very start, and it should have been cheap, less than $100. Right now, it's treated like an after thought. Adding it to the Xbox 360 was brilliant, but a day late and WAY too expensive.

When I first started researching doing this, I had a few goals, that I suspect are pretty close to what most people want.

1) Replace the VCR\perform timeshifting
2) Play my digital media
3) Do above without a PC in the living room

Where I think the market research fails is understanding #3. You can ask 100 people how great it would be to do all the things that a HTPC does, and you will get many positive responses. But, I bet they never asked about the PC sitting next to the TV.

If, from the beginning, they would have required/offered an affordable extender from the beginning, they wouldn't be able to keep these things on the shelves.

All of this is exactly why I settled on SageTV over Media Center. While I could have gone with Media Center and an Xbox 360, to the tune of $500-600 in hardware just to get started, I can do the same thing in Sage without spending 50% of the budget on set top box.

At this point in the game, the real 800lb gorilla is DRM and fair use. But, in reality, I have little fear of that. There will always be ways of coping with it for those that have the desire.