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To: Scumbria who wrote (135505)	5/19/2001 9:34:15 AM
From: tcmay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Recordable t.v. in computers Scumbria wrote: "We don't watch the boob tube, but I have a hard time picturing a family sitting around watching a 17" monitor with a noisy CPU fan, dissipating 50-100W, in the background." The nuclear family sitting around watching a t.v. set has been in decline for a decade or two. Most households with t.v.s now have multiple t.v.s. Junior has his t.v. in his room, Sis has hers, and there may be one in the kitchen. Maybe even one in the garage. Those same kids who watch MTV and "South Park" won't mind combining functions on a PC or Mac. (Besides, the monitor is increasingly likely to be an LCD and the PC or Mac is on anyway.) "Set top boxes (powered by 1W embedded CPU's) will soon have DVD and recordable magnetic storage for delayed playback. I think that is a much more likely future than PC's in the living room." The conventional "set top box," a la Malone and Ellison, is nowhere to be seen. The new set top box, a la UltimateTV, TiVO, Replay, is already a recordable (30 hours) system. (The DVD is usually in a separate box. Or in the computer.) A lot of kids use their computers as their primary DVD playback--Paul's son, for example. Looking further into the future, HDTV is selling poorly. Lack of programming, lack of broadcasting or satellite distribution, lack of a compelling (to the consumers) reasons to adopt. And the current popularity of DVD probably gives conventional NTSC another several years, at least. I expect that the computer will be the likely path for many to switch to a higher resolution format like HDTV. Digital, in other words. Instead of a very large CRT bottle dominating a living room, various users in a household will perhaps choose 20-inch or larger LCDs running HDTV and High Res DVD and computer uses. (Check out the Apple Cinema Display sometime. "Microcenter" in Santa Clara has one on display. Made, we hear, by Samsung. 22 inches, diagonal. Absolutely spectacular. Currently $3000. Likely to come down in price. Not large enough for a living room t.v., but spectacular for use in a dorm room, kid's room, study, den, etc. And overall sizes should reach 30 inches in a few years. This is the "flat panel display" revolution predicted decades ago.) --Tim May

To: Scumbria who wrote (135505)	5/21/2001 2:13:42 AM
From: Amy J	Respond to of 186894

Hi Scumbria, today's college students gather around the PC to watch DVD movies, not the TV. I've watched DVDs from a PC too, with one other person. Large groups would require modified technology. RE: "set top box vs. PC" Maybe neither. Today's set-top boxes aren't exactly intelligent devices and they are limiting for people who have experienced the interactivity and freedom of choice of the Internet. OTOH, today's PC's are too unreliable, too complex to use and too costly to be the home entertainment centers of the future. So, the ultimate device will be some kind of hybrid between the two, and I hope, originating from the PC side of the industry which has the margins for innovation and also where, hopefully through innovation, Intel et al would not have to sell chips for $1 (the TV industry has higher margin pressures). Regards, Amy J