Introduction to the Media Center PC Digital Video Recorder, Music Server, Broadband Entertainment... your home theater will never be the same!

If you've only recently heard of a media center pc, your not alone. The first generation of these devices didn't look like anything more than a regular desktop PC. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you ask most folks. What are you supposed to do?... close everything you are working on, put down the mouse, and pick a remote control to point at a computer that's only a foot away? Nonetheless, the media center pc platform was hailed by most as the ultimate future platform for playback of our digital entertainment. A media center pc is a single device that uses a hard drive to store all forms of digital entertainment. The simple to use, living room friendly interface, and included remote control, allows all users simple playback of their digital music collection, digital photos, recorded television, radio, DVDs, and much more. The following paragraphs will lay out several important factors around the concept of the media center pc.

Living Room Computing

If you want to watch TV, listen to music, browse your favorite photos, most people will point to the living room as the center of their home entertainment. So the logical next step is to place your media center pc in the living room, right? Wrong. Most people we have talked to agree with us, the traditional PC tower stands out like a sore thumb. There is simply no style in having a tower PC next to your TV. While most folks have taken a little pride in their living room entertainment center arrangement, the tower pc simply does not fit.

Additionally, there's the noise factor. Most of today's performance pcs need a fan to cool the processor, a fan to cool the power supply, a fan to cool the motherboard, and a fan to blow all that hot air out the back of the case. All those fans add up to one noisy machine. Even the quietest fans are too loud. Some will argue that the fan noise doesn't bother them in the living room, since they the noise from the television or stereo will drown it out. That's where we start to doubt these folks even have a media center pc. Assuming you are going to use your media center pc as a digital video recorder (think Tivo™), then your media center pc is going to be left on 24/7. That means that when you are enjoying those more traditional living room activities, like reading a book, thinking, staring at art, talking to a friend or family member, that media center pc is still ON, actively recording your favorite shows. TRUST US, even the quietest fans get annoying at that point.

The answers are plain and simple. A living room computer must be stylish and quiet.

Living Room Control So once you've settled on a quiet and stylish media center pc (you might take a look at our own fanless Niveus Media Centers), it's time to start enjoying the system. That will lead you to the next interesting dilemma, how do you control a living room pc? I'm sure you can't imagine yourself sitting two feet away from the television, using a mouse on a nearby magazine to control your digital entertainment? Well neither can we. Media center pcs use a combination of remote control and wireless mouse/keyboard to drive your experience. The remote control is used to navigate the media center on-screen menu, while the wireless mouse/keyboard is used to access the traditional desktop applications and start menu. As these devices evolve, you will be able to drive 100% of your experience from the included remote control.

So, since you still need to use a mouse and keyboard for some of your computing experience, it's important to understand that not every wireless mouse or keyboard will do for the living room, in fact, Niveus Media would argue that most wireless mice and keyboards don't work well in the living room. Imagine where you will be sitting when you use a living room computer. Most of us have a couch or sofa that allows us to sit comfortably, shall we say, for hours at a time. Whether there is a coffee table nearby or not, you don't want to be leaning over it, dependent upon a flat surface for your wireless mouse. That's assuming your even close enough to the wireless mouse receive to work. Most mainstream wireless mice and keyboards have a range of about 6 feet. Even more interesting is how hard you have to search for this information on the manufacturer's website. Through the testing of serveral products over the past several years, Niveus now strongly endorses the wireless keyboard/mouse combo as implimented in the Microsoft Media Center Keyboard Combo. The beauty of this combination is that not only do you not need a flat surface to use the mouse, but you also do not have to put once device down to use the other (keyboard & mouse). With this new product, you can now mouse and type from the same device. You can learn more about this media center friendly product here.

The future is open for enormous innovation in the area of input device/control. Starting with our own product, Niveus Pocket (Pocket PC) Remote, manufacturers are beginning to use wireless 80211.x networking to enable Pocket PC type devices to control your media center pc from any room of the house, or even from outside the house. Stay tuned for Niveus Media and other manufacturers to make major advances in networked remote controls over the next couple years.

Living Room User Interface While there are several other topics we can discuss in the future, we wanted to close with a few comments on the importance of the user interface, of central menu. If you haven't seen the menu to a media center pc, then you haven't seen the media center pc in full glory. One of the biggest advances the media center pc makes over traditional computing is in the area of ease of use. Hand the media center remote to anyone, turn on the media center pc, step back and watch. From novice to expert, anyone can easily use the media center in just a few minutes to start playing back their digital music, photos, or pause live TV. You can view a few screenshots here. Living room aside, this is a simple, but huge step forward for computing in general. Simplifying the interface like this, including a familiar device like a remote control, will bring digital entertainment to more people and new computer users more than the traditional desktop or office computer ever will. Just our opinion anyways.

Conclusions

Pretty simple, whether you consider a Niveus Media Center or that of a different manufacturer, just make sure you take the following factors seriously, as they will seriously affect your enjoyment of the media center pc.

Important Purchasing Considerations: