It used to be that TV viewers only had to contend with an antenna to pull in the three or four available channels. The video cassette recorder brought the movie house home, then the cable company put a box on top of your set to bring you dozens more channels.
The VCR gave way to the DVD player, then the DVD recorder, then the digital video recorder. Lately the market has been seeing set-top boxes designed to do away with video rental services, like Vudu and AppleTV. Taking advantage of these options has been almost out of the question for folks who haven't replaced their living room TV in the past three years, as there aren't enough places to plug all these gimcracks into older TVs.
Meanwhile, all these choices have drained eyeballs away from the broadcast networks, so they've responded by offering Internet-based playback of popular shows. The popularity of YouTube also figures into all of this -- but most people can't watch this stuff on their big-screen TVs, only on their computers and some portable devices.
Computers Join Televisions
So it's no surprise that the more imaginative folks among us are starting to hang actual computers off their home entertainment centers. Microsoft created Windows Media Center software that allows users to connect their computer to a TV set so they can play back DVDs and get DVR functionality.
And Apple fans have been hacking their AppleTVs with the help of software like Boxee, which expands the capabilities of a device that was mainly intended to stream iTunes content to the living room.
More ambitious Apple fans have found the AppleTV lacking even after hacking, so they've upgraded to the Mac Mini, a full computer with a DVD drive that sells for $599. With a bit of imagination and some external hardware from Elgato's EyeTV, the paperback-book-sized Mini can take the place of your DVD, DVR, and even in some situations a cable box, while also making it possible to stream movies from Netflix and watch other Internet video from your easy chair.
Apple even sells a $20 remote for the Mini, keeping all these modifications well within the realm of the couch potato.
No more Monthly Bill?
The really interesting thing about a computer-based home entertainment system is that it addresses the old "57 channels and nothin' on" syndrome in a way that won't make big telecom companies very happy. Folks who have gone this route suddenly realize they can get by without cable or satellite TV services.
Local channels can be pulled in free of charge with the help of a good roof antenna -- in full HD splendor, at that. The good stuff from the non-broadcast channels can be gotten online or via DVD.
Viewers won't be able to get much of it on the same schedule as those with cable or satellite, and channel surfing will be a lot more difficult. But the upside is that families will have more control over what plays in their homes.
Cable and satellite services are noticing the competition -- that's why they're offering more services like on-demand playback of popular shows and multiple feeds of the premium channels. The more they offer, however, the higher goes the monthly bill -- not a good development in a tight economy.
So don't be surprised if more people start putting computers in their living rooms.
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