Rampage 68

Time To Rethink The Living Room PC

EVERY TIME I SEE A NEW HOME ENTERTAINMENT PC, I FALL IN LOVE. A car enthusiast by nature, I'm drawn to sleek lines and long spec sheets loaded with the latest and greatest features. But good looks don't always translate into an exhilarating test drive. Perhaps that's why the living room PC concept has puttered along slowly, despite high-octane fuel from Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition and Intel's Viiv initiative. What's the problem? Too much PC, not enough appliance? Nowhere to put a mouse and keyboard while you're sitting on the couch? Trouble making connections from the back of a PC to the real hub of an entertainment center, the stereo receiver?

All of the above. I've had to force myself to use a PC in the living room. At first, it feels extremely unnatural. My Logitech Harmony 880 turns on the TV, the cable box, and the receiver, but then I have to stand up to hit the PC's power switch. Wired I/O drapes across the floor, thanks to two USB extension cords. I've long since given up on replacing batteries and finding a place for a wireless charger. And while it's easy enough to attach an optical audio output, the picture on my screen, piped in through VGA, is still way off-center and partially hidden.

Even if you're able to get customers past the eccentricities of using a PC on a 50" display from twelve feet away, you'll have to face their broader question: What do I do with this system sitting in my living room? There's gaming. There's music. Movies are an option too, though I'd rather watch a DVD using a DVD player I know won't skip or sacrifice picture quality. Time-shifting and recording live TV are supposed to be killer apps for the entertainment PC. However, incompatibilities with cable boxes, broadcast formats, and content protection schemes have turned me off to the idea of trying to catch the shows I want. Comcast or Time Warner set-top, anyone? If I can only snag over-the-air HD channels, I'll pass.

The Face Of The Living Room PC
Shuttle's SG33G5B helps solve some of the problems posed by previous home theater boxes. Sharp looks and an impressive spec sheet go well with today's software services feeding good content over high-speed Internet connections.

Maybe it's time to rethink the way you approach media center PCs. Instead of forcing the system with a TV tuner, desktop antenna, and component video output, try something new. What services don't your customers get from the cable company? Good music, for starters. I've been to enough parties with a TV tuned into Music Choice to know digital cable providers have nothing over online music services like Napster, Rhapsody, or iTunes. You can even do TV smarter than the cable company. Customers using a TiVo to save shows paid at least $100 for the baseline model and are locked into a $17/month contract for at least a year. Have them check out Amazon's Unbox service, which I didn't even know about until recently. Miss an episode of your favorite show? Buy it online and send it to your entertainment PC. There's a list of 42 channels Amazon covers, along with movies to rent and buy. Why bother living according to the network's schedule when you can download it for $2 and watch it—-in original quality—-at your convenience? That sounds like a hot reason for a living room PC.

Content is arguably the most important factor in making media center systems viable. Now that compelling content is available from many sources, you have to build equally compelling boxes. As with any other whitebox, the inside and outside are important. An attractive exterior stands the best chance of complementing a home theater rack. And the right features within guarantee trouble-free connectivity. Take Shuttle's new SG33G5B as an example of the entertainment concept done right. The barebone's chassis is brushed, black, and very elegant. But inside is where the magic happens.

Spec-sheet freaks like me will see the system's Intel G33 chipset and want to install the latest dual- or quad-core, 1333 MHz FSB Core 2 processors. There's only room for two DDR2 memory slots, but each supports 2GB modules, yielding up to 4GB of system memory. An Intel GMA 3100 graphics processor comes built in to the chipset. Though not Intel's fastest IGP, an available PCI Express x16 slot lets resellers offer an upgrade route to gamers.

Entertainment buffs should do well enough with the GMA 3100. Intel's Clear Video Technology accelerates DVD playback through MPEG-2 decoding, boasts per-pixel adaptive de-interlacing, and supports digital output through HDMI and DVI interfaces—-perfect for connecting to today's HDTVs. A Realtek audio controller delivers Dolby Digital Live! and DTS functionality across 7.1 channels, while a Marvell Gigabit Ethernet controller guarantees plenty of bandwidth for large content downloads. When it comes to storing all of the digital content your customers download, two internal 3.5" bays each accommodate a SATA drive. Drop a couple of 1TB drives in there and you're looking at more storage than most movie buffs can fill. Better yet, take advantage of the chipset's RAID 1 support and create a mirrored drive. Don't worry about expansion either. The SG33G5B is the first barebones chassis I've seen with a pair of eSATA hard drive ports. Attach two more external drives and you're suddenly looking at a workstation-strength RAID 5 or RAID 10 array from a svelte little entertainment box.

Connectivity Galore
You'll have no problem making connections with a system like the SG33G5B. HDMI, VGA, eSATA, and 7.1-channel audio outputs all set the box apart.

Of course, Shuttle's secret weapon is HDMI output, straight from the Intel GMA 3100 graphics core. The ability to interface with the latest high-def TV sets makes the SG33G5B more attractive. Note that this implementation includes the HDCP support needed for HD DVD and Blu-ray playback, so when high-def becomes an issue, there's no need for the extra expense of a discrete board able to accommodate the content protection scheme. Shuttle and Intel have that value already built in.

Resellers who combine entertainment room-worthy hardware and the software services that go above and beyond what customers can get from their cable box are in the best position to make lemonade out of the lemons that have been entertainment room PCs. I'm personally tired of trying to force the TV tuning PVR solution and am ready to download full seasons of my favorite shows while listening to on-demand music. At last, that living room machine has a purpose.