Bridging the PC-TV Gulch

Illustrations by JAMESON SIMPSON A. Oh no! All your digital media is trapped on your PC.

B. And no one wants unsightly cables running all over the house.

C. Thank goodness one simple device can help move all that media to your home entertainment center for maximum viewing and listening enjoyment. Now your life is complete. Illustrations by JAMESON SIMPSON

Dept.: Geek Guide

Investigator: Steve Morgenstern

Home tech: PC-to-TV bridging

Cost: $200 and up

I have roughly 4,000 songs, 1,200 photos and several hours of edited video stored on my computer's hard drive?a virtual garden of digital delights, as long as I'm sitting in front of the PC. But my home office is no place to share this bounty with family and friends. I'd much rather pipe the pictures and tunes down to the living room, where there's a big-screen TV, a surround-sound stereo system, and no precariously stacked piles of papers and boxes revealing what an unholy slob I really am.



The problem is that I'm not just trying to connect a couple of network-friendly computers; I'm trying to convince my TV and stereo to join the party. That's where a new and growing crop of products fits in. That there really isn't even a widely accepted name for it yet is evidence that this is still an emerging category, but "PC-to-TV bridge" describes the functionality: taking media stored on your PC and playing it through a TV or stereo, either by copying the files to another hard drive, or by streaming them over a network.



Today you'll find a wide variety of strategies for making this connection, with varying prices and levels of complexity. No matter which route you go, you won't be alone: According to tech researchers Parks Associates, by 2007
the number of entertainment-related devices connected to home networks will be more than five times what it is today.

FOUR FLAVORS OF NETWORKED DEVICES

1. Game Console Software

More and more Xbox and PlayStation 2 owners are connecting their consoles to a home network to play video-games online. Now software is available for using consoles to share PC-based media. For the Xbox there's Microsoft's Music Mixer ($40), a karaoke system that will copy music and photos (but no video) from your PC to the Xbox's hard drive. PS2 owners can use the Media Player software from Mad Catz ($50) to stream music, photos and video over a network.

What's next: This fall, the Xbox Media Center Extender Kit from Microsoft will allow Xbox owners to stream music, photos and DVDs from a PC running Windows Media Center PC software.



2. Stand-alone Bridges

Lacking internal hard drives, these devices exist solely to stream files from a networked computer to your TV or stereo. If you own a high-definition set, consider Roku's HD1000 ($500), which plays music from your computer (video is coming soon) and displays high-resolution photos from your PC or digital camera's memory card. For most users, though, we prefer the compact and easy-to-install Prismiq MediaPlayer ($200). With a simple point-and-click interface, it serves up music, photos and video along with Internet-based radio stations.


What's next: Prismiq just signed a deal with CinemaNow to offer pay-per-view downloadable movies through its devices.



3. Integrated Bridges

Instead of adding another box to your home entertainment system, why not just buy a must-have component like a DVD player or DVR (digital video recorder) with network access built in? The Gateway Connected DVD player ($200) is a solid
performer with an onscreen menu even nontechies will understand. Another alternative is to add the Home Media Option ($100) to your TiVo Series2 DVR ($200 plus TiVo subscription), which allows streaming music and photos as well as TiVo-to-TiVo sharing of recorded programs.

What's next: Sharp is set to release network-capable LCD TVs in late spring. The 15-inch ($1,400) and 20-inch ($1,900) sets are not connected out of the box but allow you to add any type of wireless network card.



4. Server/Bridge Combinations

With prices rivaling those of stand-alone computers, hard-drive-equipped music servers (which store MP3 files locally instead of streaming them from your PC) have stayed a niche product. But the new generation adds photos and video to the mix, making the $750 you'll pay for an entry-level system such as Interact-TV's Telly seem much more reasonable. The Telly is a Linux-based (read: hacker friendly) server and bridge with CD and DVD recording and playback, an 80GB hard drive, and a wireless keyboard and IR remote.

What's next: Denon is introducing a muscular media server later this year in the $4,000 to $5,000 range. With two 120GB hard drives (one removable for swapping out file libraries), dual ReplayTV digital video recorders, and a CD player/ripper, network connectivity almost seems like an afterthought.

WIRED OR WIRELESS?



Most PC-to-TV bridge products can connect either via standard wired Ethernet or over a wireless (Wi-Fi) network. For those of us who don't relish the idea of pulling new network cables through our old walls, today's wireless networks are plenty fast enough for piping digital music and photos around our homes. Not so for video. Right now, a wired Ethernet connection is the best option, but by the end of the year, several new devices should be available that use the 802.11g wireless standard to stream smooth video playback.

FOR THE NETWORK-CHALLENGED

If setting up a network gives you the heebie-jeebies, don't despair?you can still enjoy digital photos and music in your living room. Here are some options:



While most digital cameras can connect directly to your TV, there are also stand-alone photo players, such as SanDisk's Digital Photo Viewer ($50), that accept photo-filled memory cards for onscreen playback and come with a wireless remote control.



Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition PCs are optimized for music and photo playback as well as TV recording, and can be operated via remote control. While early models were a bit pricey, Dell, Gateway and others now deliver capable systems in compact cases that fit neatly on a home-entertainment-system shelf for under $1,500. Note that these devices connect directly to your TV and not to a network, but many include a built-in Ethernet port should you decide later to plug them in.



Most new LCD and plasma-screen TVs can do double-duty as a monitor, as long as you don't mind a PC in your family room. Tube and rear-projection sets lack the proper resolution and inputs.



With a six-dollar "mini-to-RCA" cable from Radio Shack, you can listen to your MP3 player through your home stereo. Of course, you won't get a fancy TV interface, and audio quality may suffer.