The next big thing? Home media servers
BY MIKE LANGBERG
Mercury News

LAS VEGAS -- A single electronic box called a ``home media server'' could,
in the very near future, control every form of digital entertainment and
information in your home.

This year's Consumer Electronics Show, which ends its four-day run here
Friday, turned into a kind of baby shower for the home media server, with
companies lining up to describe their vision of the networked future.

Sony, the most influential company in consumer electronics, and Microsoft,
the most influential company in computers, each presented variations on the
home media server theme. Even companies that didn't introduce home media
servers trotted out impressive-sounding slogans to show they understand the
importance of linking devices together; Panasonic came up with ``Digital
Networking for Life'' to describe its new televisions, camcorders and DVD
players.

There's no clear definition yet for what a home media server should be, but
a rough outline is emerging.

The home media server will manage television programming, delivered by
cable, satellite or the Internet; and music, delivered by the Net or
transferred from CDs into the server's hard drive. The server also might
handle more computer-like functions, such as electronic mail, instant
messaging and Web browsing, as well as entertainment services such as
online video games.

This digital mother lode will move throughout the house, either through
wires or wirelessly, to TV sets, stereos, personal computers and futuristic
devices such as portable touch pads.

The most fully featured home media center on display at CES is Moxi
(www.moxi.com), from a Palo Alto start-up that operated under the cover
name Rearden Steel until Monday.

The Moxi Media Center, or MC, is a $400 box -- containing a DVD drive and
80-gigabyte hard drive -- functioning as a cable or satellite receiver,
digital video recorder, music jukebox and computer networking hub.

Video, music and data can be sent to other rooms through coaxial cable,
Ethernet wires or wirelessly using a new high-speed format called IEEE 802.11a.

EchoStar Communications, parent of the Dish Network satellite TV service,
will start testing Moxi this summer and could start offering it to its 6
million subscribers late this year or early in 2003. If EchoStar succeeds
in pushing through a deal to acquire rival DirecTV, Moxi would have another
11 million potential customers.

Cable companies also are looking at Moxi, though none has yet made a public
commitment.

It's too soon to say how much consumers would end up paying for Moxi. The
hardware would almost surely be subsidized by satellite or cable operators,
or even offered free, in exchange for monthly fees tied to various services.

Sony is taking a more subtle approach, preparing to turn its PlayStation 2
video game system into a home entertainment gateway. At a CES press
conference, after introducing the slogan ``Ubiquitous Value Network,'' Sony
Electronics President Fujio Nishida said an online gaming service for PS2
due later this year would provide access to America Online, as well as
music and video through the Real Player widely used on PCs.

Sony also has promised to deliver an external hard drive that would plug
into PS2, raising the possibility PS2 could morph into a digital video
recorder and digital music jukebox.

Again, it's too soon to report how much this will cost -- though Sony has
said consumers will need a high-speed Internet connection at home, such as
a cable modem or DSL phone line.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates offered the Windows PC -- no surprise -- as a
home media server during his CES keynote speech Monday night.

A new user interface called ``Freestyle'' would present Windows in large,
simple onscreen menus designed for easy reading on a television screen from
a sofa across the room. A PC equipped with a television tuner and a
hand-held remote then could become a digital entertainment center.

Gates also displayed a wireless touch pad tablet dubbed ``Mira'' that would
serve as a kind of detached computer monitor, making it easy to tap the
contents of a Freestyle PC anywhere in the home.

Samsung Electronics showed its support for Microsoft by displaying a
prototype Home Media Center, essentially a Freestyle PC in a shiny silver
case that would blend into the typical living room.

Pioneer Electronics, using the slogan ``Digital Network Entertainment,''
introduced a home media server called the Digital Library. Due late this
year or early in 2003, the Digital Library contains a music CD drive and a
60-gigabyte hard disk, connecting to as many as three TV sets around the
house and a home computer network.

From the Internet or a home computer, users could load digital music,
video and even photos. Music CDs placed in the Digital Library's CD drive
also could be converted to digital files on the hard disk.

As with Sony, Microsoft and Samsung, Pioneer isn't ready to talk about what
its home media server will cost.

San Jose-based TiVo, one of the first companies to sell digital video
recorders, announced a second-generation product at CES that qualifies as a
home media server.

The TiVo Series2, due in February at $399, includes a 60-gigabyte hard
drive that can store up to 60 hours of video. When connected to a
high-speed Internet line, the Series2 will play Internet radio and store
music downloads. Through a home computer network, users also could load
digital pictures into the Series2 for presenting slide shows on a TV set.

As all these products move into the market during the next year, an
important transition will take place: The future of home media servers will
no longer be in the hands of companies putting on fancy demonstrations at
trade shows, but in the homes of consumers who decide which -- if any -- of
these electronic impresarios can deliver worthwhile services at reasonable
prices.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Mike Langberg at mike@... or (408) 920-5084