The end is nigh for the beige box ?
Over the last 30 years there has been a revolution in home entertainment and with the popularity of the Internet the expectations of the end user have never been higher.
The computer in that time has come from being a Games Console or Workstation to a multimedia centre and capable of replacing the Hi-Fi System as well as VHS, DVD and Cassette Players.
Freeview and Satellite have also played its part especially with the forthcoming switch off in 2012 of the UK Analogue TV Service. Digital Broadcasting is the future, offering TV, Teletext and Radio Transmissions.
The first attempt at replacing the PC was some 8 years ago with the Bush Internet TV, a very good concept where you could surf the net on a TV from the comfort of your armchair, unfortunately it never was accepted and being based on 1980’s Acorn RISC architecture extremely limited its capabilities and future expansion.
Apple must be given a mention here as they launched the PPC MAC / TV 5200 series all-in-one PC with a built in TV Tuner in early 1997, but the screen size was too small to be viewable in a living room.
The biggest problem today is the Internet is shuddering under its popularity and it is estimated around 80% of the traffic is unwanted emails, spam etcetcetc….. The only way to rectify this situation is to give more control ‘policing’ of the internet to Service Providers.
At the heart of any multi-media revolution is the Internet, and with speeds attainable on BT Lines of 22Mbps after the next upgrade, it is up to Internet Service Providers to provide us with the security we want and the only way forward is on-line computing.
Several Internet Companies have launched on-line services, for Office Suites, Music Lockers, Movie Watching, On-line Storage, Accounting Software and have no doubt this list will grow very rapidly over the next 5 years.
I appreciate that trusting all our Data to an unknown entity is a scary prospect, but so were ATM’s, On-line Banking and Shopping, but they have become a norm in our lives.
Therefore our homes will have a TV set with built in Digital Decoder, Internet Access, USB Ports and a HD DVD or BlueRay Player/Recorder at its heart, whilst Motor Vehicles will have a Digital Radio and a USB MP3 Dock.
Also worth mentioning here that we will also see the all-in-one phone handset which is compatible with Analoge, VoIP and Mobile Signal, that is until the demise of the Analogue Phone System.
Alas it is 2007 not 2012 but can we touch this future revolution, well yes we can, it is not cheap but being an early adaptor one must bankroll the future. Virgin-Media (aka NTL/Telewset) and HomeChoice are already providing services, therefore the following applies to BT Line ADSL Broadband (except AOL).
Replacing the PC with a Set Top Box (STB) is the first step. Currently Linux is the Operating System of choice, but Microsoft has an alternative in IPTV which is only released to OEM’s. The STB is also suitable for Businesses who do not require a Central In-house Server.
The following is the hardware required:
1) ADSL Broadband Homeplug Powerline Modem/Router
http://www.shopmagenta.com/product/NB7560.aspx
2) Mains Networking HomePlugs (optional) **
http://www.shopmagenta.com/product/SPLETH.aspx
3) Linutop STB*
http://www.linutop.com/
4) LCD/TFT Combined TV/Monitor
5) Standalone DVD Player/Recorder (HD DVD recommended)
6) USB Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
7) Linux Compatible USB Printer (HP supported)
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/index.html
8) MP3 Player
NOTE:
*The Linutop STB is a mini-PC with Linux O/S being run from a USB Flash Drive, I personally would prefer a Compact Flash ATA Disk Drive as I feel that USB Flash Drives do tend to have a limited life span. An alternative to Linutop is a standard PC.
**Mains (Powerline) Networking unlike Wireless does not have the security vulnerabilities or speed fluctuation, but is only required if more than one multimedia centre is required.
The following is the Open Source software required:
1) Operating System – Linux Distro (if using a PC)
http://www.pclinuxos.com
2) Streaming Media Server and Player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/streaming.html
3) VoIP Phone (optional)
http://www.gizmoproject.com/
4) Firefox Web Browser included with Linux Distro
On-Line FREE Services:
1) Think Free Office Suite (1GB Storage)
http://www.thinkfree.com/
2) XDrive (5GB Storage)
http://www.xdrive.com/
3) MP3 Music (Unlimited Storage)
http://www.mp3tunes.com/
On-Line Paid Services:
1) Movies on demand
In conclusion it is feasible to drastically reduce the electrical appliances cluttering up one’s living room, whilst there is no compelling reason not to have the Linutop and Modem/Router hidden in a cupboard and a wall mounted TV with hidden cables.
A Standard P4 PC could be used in place of the Linutop, though my own test rig was a P3 PC System running Windows 2000 and Unreal Media Server/Player in place of Linux and VLC.
…and so on an so forth
