Plasma Tv Entertainment Center

Twenty years ago, when PC makers were trying to convince a skeptical public about the benefits of a home computer, they offered the promise of storing recipes on a hard drive and using number-crunching software to simplify tax returns. It wasn't an alluring sell. Early on, few foresaw the sweeping advances that the Internet would bring. The idea that the home computer would one day become the central vault for family entertainment was as remote as MP3 music.

But a look at the latest wave of audio/video products shows that's just what's happening. Sure, consumers might still bring home a DVD from Blockbuster, but a new generation of products is changing the organizational chart of the electronic home. Legitimate music-download services are pointing to the future of music and movie distribution, and network-friendly audio and video products are becoming peripherals to the PC.

Whether the revolution occurs next year of next decade, it's all more fodder for structured wiring. The high-bandwidth wires of a networked home will be the pipelines supplying the connected audio and video products of today and tomorrow. Unlike custom-distributed audio and video systems affordable only to wealthy homeowners, these PC-based solutions are affordable to mainstream buyers. Whole-house multi-room entertainment will no longer be limited to the carriage trade.

These audio and video devices are appearing in a variety of shapes, sizes and configurations. Everybody--from mainstream audio/video companies to PC sound card suppliers--wants a piece of this emerging market. Network connectors will be as standard in digital products of the future as the AC power cord is today.

Onkyo, a traditional audio company, sells standard audio/video receivers and desktop music systems outfitted with Ethernet jacks for connection to the home PC. One of the first audio companies to identify and develop products designed to work with the PC, Onkyo launched the Net-Tune concept a couple of years ago in a high-end $1,500 audio/video receiver. Now the company has brought the entry point below $1,000 in the TX-NR801, a 700-watt, 7.1-channel A/V receiver with a full palette of surround-sound formats and enough inputs to manage a tall stack of A/V gear.

The NR801 comes with Net-Tune software that users load onto the PC. Music stored in MP3, WMA, or WAV files on the PC hard drive is organized according to artist, album, genre, or in custom playlists that users can access from the Onkyo receiver in the home theater. A Net Audio button calls up the PC music, and using an on-screen menu users select tunes via playlist, artist, genre or album. Users can also create playlists from the hard drive library. Net-Tune also pulls in several hundred Internet radio stations and offers 20 presets for quick access to favorite stations.

Net-Tune not only liberates music from a PC but distributes it to 12 rooms in the house. Onkyo "clients" amplified music systems with an AM/FM radio and an input for a portable music player, bring PC music to any room with wired or wireless network access. The NC-500, without speakers, has a suggested retail price of $399, and its counterpart with speakers sells for $499.

The PC itself is becoming an entertainment device in the form of Microsoft's Media Center PC, which is currently available in PCs from HP and Gateway. Connect a large-screen monitor--Gateway would suggest one of its 42-inch plasma TVs--and the PC becomes an all-in-one media center. The Media Center PC's DVD drive plays back movies, music is stored in MP3 or WMA music files on the hard drive, and digital video recorders similar to ReplayTV and TiVo record TV shows from a connected cable modem. With the TV record feature, users can store as many programs as the hard disk allows, receive 14 days of program guide information, search for programs by actor or title, and pause live TV. Unlike TiVo or ReplayTV, there's no subscription fee. Media Center PCs even come with a remote control for operation from across the room.

Media Center PCs are hot in college dorm rooms and small apartments where there's not room for stacks of electronics. In larger homes, a Media Center PC is likely to reside in the office and act as the entertainment server for the rest of the house. Gateway has a solution for that application too. Its Connected DVD Player--available both in wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi versions--acts as a standard DVD player in the living room but can also tap into the PC to release music, video, and even photos stored on the hard drive. You can view last night's "Sopranos" recorded on the PC, watch a slide show from the family vacation or listen to a holiday playlist--all from the living room entertainment system. The amount of space available for music and video is only limited by the size of the hard drive.

Gateway's wireless version ($199) of the Connected DVD Player comes with an 802.11b networking card, and the wired Ethernet version ($189) has an Ethernet port on the rear panel. The devices support Windows-only networks.

HP's Digital Media Receiver 50013 ($199 for the wired and $299 for the wireless 802.11b version) streams WMA and MP3 music files from a PC to an audio/video system elsewhere in the house. As a supplier of PCs, digital cameras, printers, and scanners, HP is pushing the digital imaging benefits of a connected home. The Digital Media Receiver enables users to play back a wide variety of digital image formats, and you can also play back music and photos simultaneously in a multimedia slide show.

It's not just hardware companies that are delving into digital media receiver products. Pinnacle Systems, known for consumer and professional digital video editing software, is using its video expertise for the ShowCenter ($299), a Windows-based set-top box for the TV that plays back music, images, and video stored on a PC. Users load ShowCenter software onto the PC and the software automatically locates all media files and organizes them by category into manageable lists. Users then access those lists on TVs connected to the ShowCenter box.

It wasn't long ago that only doctors and lawyers could afford cell phones, and now it seems everyone has one. Digital technology is having the same leveling impact on distributed entertainment in the home. There will always be a place for high-end control systems that separate the luxury entertainment systems from the mainstream, but in the home of the future multi-room audio and video will be as commonplace as cable TV. Structured wiring is laying the foundation for the future.

Rebecca Day specializes in writing about home electronics. She can be reached at customhomerd@aol.com.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Hanley-Wood, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Welcome to My World (AdWeek)
Think you know the neatly apportioned media-consumption habits of today's Americans? Consider these snapshots from the country's heartland last month. Joel, 30 years old, spent an entire workday not just with TV, but with radio as well.

The holiday weekend continues with entertainment at area bars (Delaware County Times)
Singer Joe Shazz entertains at the Aston American Legion on Concord Road tonight with two shows. The first show at 9:30 p.m. features songs of Buddy Holly, Neil Diamond and Roy Orbison. The Shazz’ show at 11:30 p.m. is all Elvis Presley songs. Shazz of Clifton Heights has been entertaining at bars, clubs and nightclubs in the area for more than 20 years with his renditions of all the old ...

Tinsel and Tech: The Consumer-Electronics Gift Guide (Fox News)
Even in tough economic times, there's always something you can rely on for gift giving -- gadgets galore!

Bay Area bargain hunters hit the malls on Black Friday (Pleasanton Tri-Valley Herald)
Janice Williams stood by a shopping cart crammed with bags holding knives, flashlights and fleece jackets, digging into sausage and pancakes courtesy of Bass Pro Shops, her Black Friday hunting expedition successfully completed at 6:30 a.

Bay Area bargain hunters hit the malls on Black Friday (Contra Costa Times)
Janice Williams stood by a shopping cart crammed with bags holding knives, flashlights and fleece jackets, digging into sausage and pancakes courtesy of Bass Pro Shops. Map: 2008 holiday lights around the Bay Area

Dining Guide (gazettes.com)
Editor’s Note: Once a month, we present an abbreviated compilation of restaurant listings.

There's a new game in town (Bradford County Telegraph)
Princess and Pirates Family Entertainment Center is now open in Lake Butler. Located on SW 2nd St. just behind Jackson's Building Supply, the new fun center offers several arcade games along with tabletop video gaming, indoor slides and play areas for toddlers along with 10 outdoor bounce houses.

How to Buy an HDTV Today (or Any Day) [How To Buy An Hdtv] (Gizmodo)
digg_skin = 'compact'; digg_bgcolor = '#f1f8fa'; digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/How_To_Buy_An_Hdtv_How_to_Buy_an_HDTV_Tomorrow_or_Any_Day'; Despite this month looking like the kick-off to...

NEW: 'Black Friday' still draws crowds11/28/2008 3:43:22 PM (The Findlay Courier)
Despite recent economic worries, thousands of people again flocked to Findlay stores on the biggest shopping day of the year.

High Point show (Savannah Morning News)
HIGH POINT, N.C. - Like they do every fall and spring, the mandarins of the furniture business gathered in High Point last month to introduce new designs just as consumers were flinging their 401(k) statements into the trash.