Comments for Digitalwerks

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by Flash Beta 10.1 and the Future of Online Video

Flash Beta 10.1 and the Future of Online Video — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:22 +0000

[...] video. Prior to 10.1 I would never attempt to watch services like Hulu in full screen via my mini-ITX Ion-based HTPC, but now that is essentially not a problem any longer. Merely uninstalling Flash 10 and then [...]

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by Boxee heading to a box

Boxee heading to a box — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:12:16 +0000

[...] personal preference for this kind of functionality is however to use a small, low power and quiet HTPC. Boxee makes for a great HTPC front end, and with the overall trend towards smaller more [...]

Comment on A boxee box? by Boxee heading to a box

Boxee heading to a box — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:10:04 +0000

[...] Blu-Ray player, set-top-box, etc. Boxee’s move to hardware is a bold, but certainly not unexpected move for the young start-up company as they attempt to bring both local downloaded content and [...]

Comment on Start-Ups in the Sun by jakesheehan

jakesheehan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:41:26 +0000

Loved Radioweave for user-generated content streamed with podcasts, tweets, your music, etc. Heard a blackberry app is in the works. Also liked Wuse. Why didn't these 2 startups get DemoGod awards? Ridiculous.

Comment on Start-Ups in the Sun by slightlyoffbeat

slightlyoffbeat — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:09 +0000

There were so many companies creating applications for the iphone. Some also developed for android and WinMo as well. It almost makes me sad that I decided to go with my palm pre and WebOS.

I also enjoyed seeing Waze and their idea for cheap GPS made possible via crowd-sourcing. It seems a lot of companies wanted to "change the way you look at email" or "change the way you look at surfing the web". Perhaps their method is superior..but I'm just don't see them hitting critical mass or getting mass adoption. Not as many people are focused on finding a public need and addressing it.

my 2c

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by grizzly1

grizzly1 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:38:55 +0000

Integrating all this into the TV itself is a horrible idea! It's the same logic as the old TV VCR combos. The VCR will fail and then you have to throw away your TV too!

I have had my Dell with an over the air tuner in my living room for over a year now and I love it. I have a wireless mouse and keyboard. The only thing I would like is some sort of app that allows me to type on the screen with my mouse if I can't get to the keyboard or if I only have one hand available. This is most useful for web searching.

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:18:43 +0000

Thanks for visiting java_jack! You are absolutely right that HTPCs and streaming devices are niche, no doubt. I do think, though, as netbooks, nettops, etc. become more prevalent, and cheaper, and as people begin to amass more and more computers in their homes, then they may be more open to using them in dedicated ways, like an HTPC. A $300 nettop with GPU acceleration might become pretty tempting to people accustomed to getting a lot of content from the Internet.

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:14:28 +0000

Those are good points, and I'm not sure I have much to add. I would love to get a sense of where you think IPTV standards might be moving, is there a current project that you think is a good indicator of where things will likely end up?

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:12:07 +0000

Well, when it comes to input, let's just say I'm agnostic about sources. Nonetheless, with the Hauppauge capture device, I can get all my cable shows in HD, so a CableCARD right now is not particularly appealing.

Comment on Is there a future for Home Theater PC's? by java_jack

java_jack — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:20:35 +0000

Nice blog. I would agree that the PC platform is the most versitile solution to meet the demands of the consumer. However, it is also the best kept secret of the industry.

I have 2 HTPCs in my home...when friends come over and I demo it to them, they are stunned at everything I can do with it. When I explain that this a PC, they are even more blown away. When I explain that I was able to dump my cable and strictly use my HTPC for all my TV viewing needs, a look of disbelief crosses their faces.

The mainstream audience does not know about it and that is a problem. The HTPC will have a hard time crossing the gap unless a CE vendor picks it up and introduces it to the larger audience.

I am excited about the changes that Win 7 is bringing to the table, but MS needs to do a better job of reaching out to the audience to show them what they are missing.

I see plenty of "I'm a PC" commercials on TV, but where is the commercial that shows off an interface like Media Center?

Currently even the best streaming boxes have a very small audience when compared to the mainstream market.

HTPCs, streaming boxes, etc. are still a niche play. Connected devices like those shown at CEDIA last week will help open the audience up to the online world in the livingroom, but the HTPC has a long way to go to gain mind share.

Now, I have a series of blogs that I have written to try and show consumers why the HTPC makes sense and how they might get into the game, but there is no easy way to reach the large audience.

For those interested in reading the blog series, you can find it at:

http://links.amd.com/Home

We would love to see the HTPC platform grow as that would be good for our business, but there are some challenges to overcome.