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Home Theater PC

When the home computer was introduced in the mid eighties it was designed for the occasional word processing or calculating; therefore it resided in the study or den. The industry has come a long way since then, and it seems that the marriage of the PC, TV, and entertainment system is inevitable. I personally have several hundred dollars of equipment on top of my television. It seems that as the PC becomes more integrated with home theater capabilities, that we will eventually have one box on top of our television that merges the DVD player, stereo receiver, satellite receiver, digital video recorder, and of course your video games!

Microsoft was the fist corporation to try this in the nineties with WebTV. The idea was a set top box that would allow you to surf the web and send email from your television. The graphics were sub-par due to the fact that a television could not display the same quality of a good computer monitor. The idea started to catch hold, but as computer prices dropped below $1000 the cost trade-off of buying a $300 set-top box to surf the net became less appealing. WebTV did not have any home theater capabilities, but it was the first attempt at merging the PC with the TV.

Sony and Xbox were the next to help push the Home Theater PC to the next level. Sony Playstation 2 announced that it would have full DVD capabilities and many people justified the cost of buying the PS2 with the fact that you also got a decent DVD player. Xbox went a little further and did a nice job of integrating online gaming into the Xbox console. TV, DVD, and online video gaming are now available in the living room, but the integration of the Home Theater PC is still not complete.

Microsoft and HP recently came out with a new set-top console that has digital video recorder capabilities plus some PC features like email, picture viewing, and MP3 capabilities. They also took advantage of the fact that high definition televisions can display a crisp and detailed picture which is very close to a normal computer monitor display. They only thing missing is a stereo receiver and full PC capabilities.

As CPU speeds increase and stereo capabilities merge inside the PC someone will finally come up with a slim computer that has full windows features so you can write a document, surf the web, or play video games on your large HD TV display. This PC will wirelessly connect to your high speed DSL or cable modem. Also, this integrated Home Theater PC will also have HD DVD player and recorder capabilities. Include a high definition satellite receiver plus the final touch of an excellent sound system. This slim PC will compel buyers to get rid of all the hardware on top of there television and replace it with the perfect Home Theater PC system. What ever company gets this right and makes the interface easy to understand will make a huge amount of money and a lot of satisfied customers!

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