Sony's BluRay Living Room PC looks hot, but why now?
Published by Admin on 11.3.08 at 3/11/2008 08:20:00 PM.
Only, it's not a new concept at all. Remember Viiv? It was Intel's unsuccessful stab at a home entertainment platform from two years ago, back when digital home convergence was the big buzzword, Media Center Edition was a separate flavour of XP, and content providers and hardware vendors alike were busily coming up with solutions for the dramatic transformation of the living room that never actually happened.
Most of the big names like HP and Dell have long since withdrawn their Viiv media centre PCs from the market, and we don't hear so much as a whimper from Intel about its failed foray into home entertainment as a platform.
Nonetheless, Sony has seen fit to release a new model of its media-centric TP series with a larger 500GB hard drive, faster 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor, and a Blu-ray disc combo drive. As with its predecessor, it also comes with a matching wireless keyboard and remote control.
The TP2's white colouring and minimalist aesthetic give it a close resemblance to the Apple Mac Mini, and on looks alone, it's certainly attractive enough to keep company with glossy flat-screens and sleek stereo hi-fis.
But the trouble is, Sony already sells an incredibly powerful 'living room PC' with a built-in Blu-ray drive for a third of the TP2's asking price (the PlayStation 3, in case you were wondering).
Is there really that much appeal in being able to run Windows software from the comfort of your sofa?
If the past is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding "No". Surfing the Web and reading email is hardly a family activity, and playing photos, music and digital video on a high-definition television can be achieved by any number of significantly cheaper means, not the least of which is plugging a flash drive or digital camera into it directly.
Given that the TP2 doesn't bring anything new to the table other than a Blu-ray player, it's hard to see how it can succeed where the others before it have failed to capture mainstream interest. Even if Sony tries to market the TP2 as a souped-up Blu-ray player with a 500GB hard drive, its $2399 pricetag is a tough pill that I'm doubtful many people will be prepared to swallow. Link
Most of the big names like HP and Dell have long since withdrawn their Viiv media centre PCs from the market, and we don't hear so much as a whimper from Intel about its failed foray into home entertainment as a platform.
Nonetheless, Sony has seen fit to release a new model of its media-centric TP series with a larger 500GB hard drive, faster 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor, and a Blu-ray disc combo drive. As with its predecessor, it also comes with a matching wireless keyboard and remote control.
The TP2's white colouring and minimalist aesthetic give it a close resemblance to the Apple Mac Mini, and on looks alone, it's certainly attractive enough to keep company with glossy flat-screens and sleek stereo hi-fis.
But the trouble is, Sony already sells an incredibly powerful 'living room PC' with a built-in Blu-ray drive for a third of the TP2's asking price (the PlayStation 3, in case you were wondering).
Is there really that much appeal in being able to run Windows software from the comfort of your sofa?
If the past is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding "No". Surfing the Web and reading email is hardly a family activity, and playing photos, music and digital video on a high-definition television can be achieved by any number of significantly cheaper means, not the least of which is plugging a flash drive or digital camera into it directly.
Given that the TP2 doesn't bring anything new to the table other than a Blu-ray player, it's hard to see how it can succeed where the others before it have failed to capture mainstream interest. Even if Sony tries to market the TP2 as a souped-up Blu-ray player with a 500GB hard drive, its $2399 pricetag is a tough pill that I'm doubtful many people will be prepared to swallow. Link