The inevitable melding of home theatre systems and personal computers will create a new category of convenience and versatility Convergence completely missed the boat when the concept took root in the consumer electronics (CE) market in the last decade. In theory, it was great. The dream of a single multifunctional box that will act as a computer, a telephone, a home entertainment unit and everything else you ever think of, was an alluring concept that whetted consumers' appetite. It was to be the Aladdin's lamp of home entertainment systems-and the concept naturally caught on. In practice, however, it was a flop. The concept was not alluring enough for people to put their money into untested technology and sloppy integration. Nevertheless, new hardware was introduced to make good on the promises. Remember Gateway's Destination PC? And yes, how could you forget Microsoft's WebTV-a box that sat on top of your television, offering e-mail and Web browsing without requiring a separate computer. The concept never really took off except in some parts of North America and Europe. Convergence failed because it was a concept that was pushed forward by the PC industry to carve a niche in the high returns CE market. That it failed, showed nothing about the fallibility of the idea. Rather, it revealed the unwillingness of a market to embrace a concept born and bred in the PC industry and served on a silver platter of unproven promises. PC makers, having learnt their painful lessons, are much more careful in painting a futuristic promise of convergence. Even Microsoft, a leading advocate of convergence in the home, is looking at the concept as a broad integration of several components-not an all-in-one, jack-of-all-trade media box. Commenting on the company's plans for its console box, Xbox, Brad Brooks, Microsoft's marketing director at e-Home unit, looks at it as an integrated component of the convergence of PC and home theatres. This time convergence has become a broader concept to define a paradigm, rather than a product. The new approach seems to be gaining momentum. Last year, Dell and Gateway in the US announced plans to ship TV monitors as part of their media PC concepts. Hewlett-Packard looks to follow suit. At the recent 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held in the US, Microsoft unveiled a slew of home appliances using its Windows and Media Center platform, including a peek at Creative Technology's new Creative Zen Portable Media Center. This diminutive device allows you to take digital entertainment from your PC with you on the go, including digital photos, recorded TV shows, downloaded videos and music. Microsoft also introduced the concept of Media Center Extender Technology. According to Microsoft's Brooks, the new software will power a new generation of products that will extend the Media Center Edition PC experience, allowing consumers to access their favourite digital entertainment, such as live and recorded television, photos, movies and music that reside on their PC, from any room in the home - regardless of where the PC is located. Media Center Extender Technology in its matured form will open up a world of possibilities, allowing access to rich content and services and enabling devices throughout the home to utilise the processing and storage capabilities of the PC, Mr Brooks adds. Alienware, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Tatung and Wistron are already looking to cash in on this new concept with Microsoft. Expect a variety of hardware form factors, including set-top boxes and televisions, by the 2004 holiday season. However, the real difference with the second coming of the convergence is that the push is not solely from the PC-side. Consumer electronics bigwigs, who traditionally watched from the sidelines, are also vying for a piece of the convergence pie. Even Marantz, which made its name in audio and home theatre equipment, offers high-end projectors that convert PCs into home theatre centrepieces. Take for instance the new Marantz VP-12S3 High-Definition Projector. It features DLP technology to deliver high quality home theatre images. The VP-12S3 incorporates the leading edge Texas Instruments HD2+ DMD chip and other refinements to provide superlative high-definition DLP projector performance, along with a host of useful features that offer exceptional installation and calibration flexibility. The VP-12S3 is compatible with virtually every digital and analog video programme source and most importantly includes dual component video inputs, as well as a DVI digital (DVI-D) video input with HDCP (High-Definition Content Protection), to accept the signal from a Digital TV set-top box, DV camcorder or other digital video source and maintain a pure digital signal path from source to display. The VP-12S3 can also display a native 720p progressive scan image from a DVD-video player, HDTV set-top box or computer up to XGA resolution. Another consumer electronics behemoth, Sony, is already cashing in on convergence. The Sony PlayStation 2 can play DVD movies out of the box, but soon it will have a version of Linux, as well as a network card to get it onto the Internet. Microsoft has similar plans for the Xbox (though without the Linux distribution, of course). Then there are the personal video recorders (PVRs) like Tivo, Moxi and ReplayTV, which already replace some of your home entertainment equipment with a computer that handles the same tasks. One area where convergence is occurring at a blistering pace is the melding of TV and PC. This is creating a new category of entertainment products that will give consumers more options by combining the best features of each in a truly converged environment that's as easy to use as a standard TV. Most high-end LCD and plasma TVs already come with digital inputs, like DVI-D Digital Input support in Hitachi's new Crystal Face Plasma TV. The distinct line dividing computer monitors and TVs have blurred to such an extent that consumers can now expect to use one product for both PC and home theatre needs. As in any fledgling category, products from different manufacturers will be incompatible. However, this will not last for long. After all, the PC industry is known for standardisation and the same effect will gradually take place in this category. Standards are good for consumers. They offer more choices, at better prices. It will also mean low margins for manufacturers and, for this reason, expect some resistance from the manufacturers. Personal computer players will also be cautious about aiming for standards. After all, this was the main reason why the PC market ended up with low margins and the reason why the PC manufacturers are envious of the high margins of the consumer electronics market. Nevertheless, standards are inevitable and eventually will allow companies from both the PC and CE industries to develop compatible PC-theatre products. Consumers will be able to select a display and a PC from different manufacturers and use them as a system without needing custom cables and complicated setup procedures. This was the main aim of the consortium consisting of Compaq, Hitachi, Intel, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC Technologies, Philips Electronics, Thomson Consumer Electronics and Toshiba, set up in 1997. They announced the 'PC Theater Initiative' and support for standards that will be created for this product category. The primary focus of this initiative is to develop interoperability standards between PCs and large-screen displays capable of displaying high-quality, progressively scanned, video. As this initiative matures, more convergence products in the arena of home theatres can be seen. Already, there some degree of convergence is available now, and it is inevitable that more will be available in the future - this is the future direction for CE devices. But if you are an impatient sort, you probably want convergence now. That is not a problem because all the technology you need for your own entertainment hub/convergence box/home theatre PC is readily available today, albeit in bits and pieces. Convergence is possible today, so long as you are willing to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty.
