Rainer Mauth
Several vendors are gambling that by combining multimedia PCs with traditional home entertainment devices they'll catch the next big wave in home entertainment equipment. At this year's Computex trade show in Taipei, several Taiwanese vendors featured all-in-one PCs with an integrated TV, stereo, and CD-ROM drive.
In October, Olivetti (Ivrea, Italy) launched Envision, a home PC that looks a little like a VCR and has an LCD. It offers direct connections to a TV, VCR, CD player, and stereo and MIDI devices. The video controller, a joint development with Trident, produces a flicker-free display on all TV screens. Envision's cost will be in the same range as a multimedia home PC.
"Envision is a true consumer product," says Soren Bansholt, executive
vice president for sales and marketing at Olivetti Personal Computer. "We removed awkward PC features such as the booting procedure and incorporated sleep and stand-by modes to facilitate everyday use."
You can click on a globe for Internet browsing, launch a videocassette to walk down the memory lane of last summer's holiday, and open a toy box to start your favorite game collection. Windows 95 runs in the background.
Olivetti claims that today's multimedia PCs have failed to address key areas of the life at home, and thus 90 percent of Europe's households have been reluctant to buy a PC. However, one major family issue that Olivetti has smartly failed to address is who takes charge of the remote control.
What IS It??
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A VCR or a PC? The new all-in-one PC sports remote control, a wireless keyboard, and the ability to cruise traditional and new media.
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