Editor's View: Interactive TV Switch

by Matthew York
Winter 2002/Spring 2003

Interactive TV and computers are intertwined. You can't have the former without the latter. Without a microprocessor, there is no interaction. While the local storage of information and TV shows was not originally considered essential for interactive TV, today we consider a local hard drive a must. And anyway you slice it, a microprocessor and a hard drive, when used together, qualify as a computer.

Microsoft has its marketing sights set on mastering the "couch-front" (aka "the 10-foot experience"). You may have recently read about its Windows XP Media Center Edition, which according to Microsoft, "offers the best of computing and entertainment for the home user. Formerly known as 'Freestyle,' Windows XP Media Center Edition turns your PC into a media center, bringing together rich entertainment experiences with the freedom to access them from anywhere in the room with a simple remote control. Media center PCs with Windows XP Media Center Edition will be available for the holidays in 2002."

Microsoft will offer Windows XP Media Center Edition as a pre-installed item in a new class of media center PCs. The company may not stop there, however. Recent speculation suggested that Microsoft would somehow also combine the PVR functions of its Ultimate TV receivers with its Xbox game machines.

For media center PCs or any interactive TV devices to master the 10-foot experience, they must control all living-room services: watching VHS tapes, DVDs, broadcast TV, cable or satellite TV and recording video for later use. Most of these services can now come through a computer (via video inputs), with the exception of three orphans: VHS VCRs, cable and satellite TV tuners. The device that can switch between its computer-served video and the three orphans (external video inputs) will finally conquer the living room.

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center PCs will indeed feature this capacity, by way of video cards from companies like ATI or Hauppauge. I believe that the key to the success of the living room hub lies in the hands of software developers. You can expect to see something like a Linux OS-based Media Center (aka living-room hub) to appear on the horizon within a few months.

Look for additional interactive TV software applications to appear in the near future.