Despite the best efforts of Microsoft, Intel and their PC-making progeny, the acceptance of PCs as a living room device for entertainment has been nearly zero.
That is about to change.
According to a report from ABI Research, PCs will play an ever-increasing role in the management, distribution and playback of digital media in the home, with both network-connected PC media servers and in-living room PCs growing in adoption over time. PCs that come in traditional AV form factor and more traditional home theater PCs will grow to an installed base worldwide of 25 million by 2013.
The use of the Internet to deliver video entertainment and information to the home is expected to increase as a) broadband speeds increase, b) better compression technology becomes available, c) homes are equipped with networks capable of reliably handling high definition video and d) video producers, seeing the Internet-caused decline in music revenues, become more aggressive in offering their best stuff on the Net.
"There are two primary ways the PC can be incorporated into the digital living room," said principal analyst Steve Wilson. "One has a PC directly connected to a client device, a home theater PC, or in the form of a PC integrated with a display. The other involves using an embedded client to extend the PC output to a TV."
Microsoft's bundling of the Media Center application with Vista will help solidify the role of the PC in future living rooms, and clients running over home networks and extender technologies will be by far the leading way to connect a PC to the TV.
ABI Research believes these efforts will take time, and there will be some bumps in the road, as shown by the disappointing fate of Intel's Viiv program. Further, while new broadband-based services may bypass the home PC initially, the PC model will become more inclusive in the future.
There will still be a small market of home theater PC enthusiasts who buy custom-designed home theater PC systems that look like the audio-visual gear the consumers already have in a stack. While all-in-one systems are a bit bulky today, in the future more optimized designs for converging the PC and TV will appear.
"While the custom install market has some appetite for the best high end home theater PCs, it's a very limited demand," says Wilson. "Tech-savvy consumers who understand the advantages of a home theater PC are still price-sensitive and unwilling to pay ultra-high prices."
The ABI Research report "Home Theater and Media Center PCs in the Living Room" examines the forces driving the home theater PC market and how regional factors are influencing adoption throughout the world. Forecasts are provided on a regional basis for key markets and products.
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