Ross Rubin: Making Peace With the PC

Jan. 22, 2007 — -- Had Sharp Electronics shown the film "King Kong" on the 108-inch behemoth LCD television it introduced at the 40th Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, attendees might have fled in fear from the enormous lifelike display.

However, Sharp showed something almost as frightening. In addition to the standard high-definition footage of nature, food and lounging women, Sharp displayed a spreadsheet. As it turns out, a 108-inch TV can display enough cells to remedy the California prison shortage, but they don't make for great entertainment. Why, then, would Sharp choose it for a demonstration?

After years of criticizing personal computers as difficult and geeky, both giants and newcomers in the consumer electronics industry are tentatively extending an olive branch to the personal computer as it becomes the repository for digital content such as music and photos, and makes inroads toward video. Gaining access to this content increases the value of products such as televisions and stereo receivers.

PC video content includes Hollywood blockbusters from services such as Vongo, a library of television shows from iTunes, questionable karaoke from YouTube, and of course home movies stored on PCs from a camcorder or digital camera that will soon support high-definition movie capture.

Major networks are now starting to offer episodes or whole seasons of TV shows on the Web, and DVD rental company Netflix is dipping its toes into digital distribution with Web-based video credits tied to how much a consumer spends with the company per month.

In general, companies are taking two routes to the couch -- bring the PC into the living room or gain access to its content across a home network. According to NPD, sales of high-speed home networking routers that can handle high-definition video using the draft 802.11n are now 3.5 percent of the market.

Some consumer electronics giants, such as Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and Panasonic, sell PCs, although Samsung doesn't offer its laptops in the United States and Panasonic has aimed its durable ToughBook line at specialized business markets.