The Digital Home - Curse or shape of tings to come?

Over the last years I have spent many hours trying on the bleeding edge of Home Entertainment. Starting with my original Higrade Digital Media System (DMS) many evenings were spent effing and blinding at what was obviously a product that was not ready for mainstream. Through the various versions (Media Center 2002, 2005, Vista and now the various builds of Win7) I have seen the product progress from something very basic to a relatively mature (but still buggy) product that has now become an essential part of our daily lives.

Many less technology savvie people who come round our house are immediately smitten by the slick interface, 10 foot remote control experience and ability to have your entire digital life at your finger tips. With my new rather slick Moneual case not only the screen looks slick, the unit itself also cuts a rather handsome figure.

Basically, people see it and they want it. However, this also presents me with a bit of a problem because generally I value their friendship and I am not foolish enough to risk it by recommending they invest in a product that will have little or no WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor for those amongst us that are no techie geeks). Hell knows no fury like a friend's wife who has just missed Grey's Anatomy because MC decided it didn't like the latest MS patch and gave up recording. And if enthusiasts like me don't want to recommend it to their friends, does the product have a future in the mainstream?

However, there is no denying that the digital home is here to stay in some form or another. In fact, MC has only touched the surface on this and the box currently only does a fraction of what it should really do. VCR capabilities are still not up to Tivo standards (pre-emptive recording anybody?), there is little out of the box integration with streaming services and integration with online messaging services (like MSN) existed and then got scrapped between XP and Vista.

In truth, most of the problems are related to the TV tuning services and this is not an easy nut to crack. Different TV standards in different countries, DRM for Cable companies and protected content make the whole thing a bit of a pain. To me though one predominant thing is clear and that is that the product should have more of an appliance than a PC focus. With a Home Media Center the key focus should be on stability and recording should work 100% of the time, not 99%.

The solution? MS to build an MC appliance with a strong focus on stability. Forget about it also being a PC, nobody wants to browse the internet from 10 feet away. Strip the OS down to the bare bones (with Win7 it is now possible to turn off unwanted features even though they don't really get removed), focus on stability and supporting a wide range of TV standards and file formats, software extender support on a hardware platform that runs quietly, relatively cool and does S3 standby 100% reliably. Throw in an open and extendable development platform and a competitive price point (and MS can afford to be a loss leader) and you have a winnnig platform.

The prize at the end of the line? The same dominance in the Digital Home arena that MS currently enjoy on the desktop, but to achieve this reliability is key.

For all the slating and swearing I have done at Bill and Steve's expense over the last few years, it is obvious though that as far as the digital experience goes, their product is way above anyhting else in the market in turns of overall coverage. When the time came to replace the replace the previous MC with a new model, Mrs PasstheDutchie was offered the various alternatives like PVRs or Sky+ for her use but decided the new shiny 7MC was what she and the kids wanted to use. Who am I to argue with that? Having said that, if it fails to record the Grand Prix on Sunday, look out for a shiny new Media Center on Gumtree.