Cool Microsoft Media Center PC concept
One & Co is a design and engineering firm in San Francisco, the type that frequently get contracted out by big companies looking for fresh ideas.
Their "Microsoft Living Room PC" Concept looks so hot that I wouldn't even mind having a PC next to my TV or sofa if it looked like this.
(I don't know quite what's going on in the second image -- if that's a Bose-style speaker wall with a teeny-tiny screen on it, they should really add a bigger screen :)
Most people say that what is holding back the home theater PC from the mainstream is the ugliness, noise, and general unstable nature of PCs. If MS could find a manufacturer to sell Media Center PCs like this, I'm sure they'd have an easier time getting people to try them out.
It looks more like a fancy menu/display than an actualy screen. I think it's showing a pic of Gattaca with some menu items next to it, as a way to scroll through movies e.g., without interrupting what's on the main screen.
Posted by: Joost Schuur | April 14, 2005 at 04:56 PM
I think it looks like a sort of thumbnail image preview. Similar to what Joost stated before me. It could be a nice little feature. Maybe show mini animations similar to a DVD menu screen.
Posted by: http://tech-hawg.blogspot.com | April 14, 2005 at 06:14 PM
It should have a warning label on it that Window's is inside.
I would avoid something that looked like this like I would avoid the plague. XP <- this is an emoticon.
Posted by: Larry | April 15, 2005 at 07:25 AM
If you are a manufacturer of A/V devices, it may make sense to chart a course away from making DVD and CD players and beef up your expertise in the gear that doesn't run 'head to head' with this kind of device. If you believe that whole house, distributed audio is what people want, then it would seem practical to believe that there will always be a place for good amplifiers, receivers, and especially speakers.
There is also, of course, the observation that this is merely a mink coat wrapping 'commondity' (CD and DVD Players, hard drive, and processor) technology. Then again, there are more McDonalds in the world that 4 star restaurants. Sell to the masses, dine with the classes!
The question of MP3 sound quality will, of course remain an issue. As hard drive density and cost per gigabyte (the 10 Mb Bernoulli Box mass storage device had its 20+ birthday a few weeks ago) decreases, the compression necessity will probably decrease, so this could become less important. Likewise, there are ongoing developments in sending audio (and video) over Cat5.
As to the graphic -- it could be reminiscent of the touch-based control screen of a Classe Audio device. Who knows?
Posted by: Jay Whiz | April 15, 2005 at 10:57 AM