Click! It's a PC. Click! It's a TV. Click! It's a DVD player.

11/07/2002

By DOUG BEDELL / The Dallas Morning News

Pictured is the H-P Media Center model 873n, which retails for $1,649. The monitor is sold separately. Monitor H-P's packages are priced without monitors. Video output is intended for a cathode ray tube, flat-screen or flat-panel computer monitor. But the XP Media Center Edition software menus can be viewed clearly if feeds are hooked into a standard television and navigated with the remote control. CPU The H-P Media Center PC 873n includes an Intel Pentium 4 2.53-gigahertz processor, 512-megabyte DDR memory, a 120-gigabyte hard drive, a networking card and a modem. Its NVidia 64-megabyte GeForce4 MX420 graphics card is designed for a high-quality visual experience, whether in watching DVDs, editing video or playing three-dimensional PC games. The unit has multiple inputs, including FireWire and a cable jack for the television card. Six-in-one media card reader Display photos and play music from six types of portable media, including Flash and IBM Microdrive. DVD-Writer Use the dvd2001 combo drive to burn either CDs or DVDs from the content stored on the computer hard drive. CD-ROM Play music or games and load programs from the 48X CD drive. Remote control Aim the infrared remote control at the small receiver box on the monitor base to navigate through a free, downloadable television program guide. Schedule the computer to store upcoming shows by clicking Record on the remote. Play, rewind and fast-forward through stored video. Pause live television. Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers A 200-watt audio system produces Dolby Digital 5.1 and analog surround sound from the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy, a 24-bit sound card. It includes two desktop speakers and a subwoofer.

Microsoft has teamed with Hewlett-Packard to showcase a fresh version of its Windows XP Professional operating system. It's designed as an all-purpose digital hub for dorm rooms, teenagers' bedrooms, game rooms and small apartments.

As Christmas nears, H-P is releasing three sleek Media Center PC packages ranging from $1,350 to $2,000 without monitors. The idea is to offer a full-blown PC that quickly converts into an entertainment center for watching television and DVDs, storing programs with a TiVo-type personal video recorder or DVD burner, displaying photos and playing music in multiple formats.

Many hardware packages from Sony and other computer makers offer the same capabilities. But for these versions, Microsoft has modified the XP operating systems to give them life beyond the traditional two-foot viewing range of PCs. To do that, the company has developed a clean, menu-driven interface that can be seen easily across a room.

Users can switch from the usual XP desktop to XP Media Center menu screens with commands from a mouse or the included remote control.

Feeds from the XP Media Center can be funneled to a large, flat computer monitor or any modern television.

The design is not free of controversy. At the behest of broadcasters and the movie industry, Microsoft initially scrambled any recorded television program entering the box so that it couldn't be replayed on any other PC. The same technology also would have kept DVDs burned with recorded shows from playing in standard DVD players.

Just before launching the XP Media Center software in late October, Microsoft changed its copy protection system to end complaints from analysts and beta testers. By the end of the year, software upgrades will allow most recorded shows to be moved to DVDs and other computers for viewing, a company spokesman said last week.

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Screenshots of Microsoft's XP Media Center Edition

Many analysts are skeptical about the demand for Media Center products, seeing them as no more than a niche market. But H-P and Microsoft are convinced that this ambitious combination will appeal to young, upwardly mobile technophiles. As a result, they predict, the PC will evolve into a household entertainment server.

E-mail dbedell@dallasnews.com