Wireless Media Devices

The role of wireless hardware in todays home theater

Wireless media is one way of describing those in-between Home Theater technologies that are creeping into the hobby. Basically these are devices that blur the boundaries between computer networking and Home Theater. Windows XP Media Center is probably the king of digital home media at this time. PC computers are sold pre-built with the Windows MC operating system (known as HTPC) already loaded, or you can find your own OEM dealers and build one yourself if youre so inclined.
Computer manufacturers like HP make a line of pre-built Win MC computers from their Z line. These computers are cleverly designed with slim black boxes that lay on their side so they look like a piece of Home Theater gear that might sit alongside your audio system. However, the home theater component design isnt necessary for a HTPC. Its not even necessary to store your Windows Media Center PC anywhere near your Home Theater system at all. With the use of Media Center Extenders you can have a support device, such as a smaller PC or dedicated Extender box, which could be an Xbox with the correct software loaded or, better still, an Xbox 360.

The Extenders job is to communicate (wireless of course unless youre using those retro RJ45 cables as a fashion statement) with the Home Theater PC streaming media from it to the Extender to playback on your main entertainment system. This could consist of movies or shows recorded from cable or satellite TV stored on your Media Centers hard drive like a PVR. You could also play back your digitally stored DVD movie or MP3 collection. Wireless media liberates your entertainment room from piles of CD and DVD cases and all those silver discs stored on shelves all over the place. Make no mistake: the future of media is wireless digital.

There are other devices that can perform in much the same way as HTPC and offer a level of compatibility to the wireless network. The TiVX jukebox is a device that connects directly to your TV and can playback all your digital media. An HDTV compatible version of TiVX can do just about everything that the Xbox 360 media extender can do. Cambridge Audio has already made the wireless Azur 640 Home Music Server. This is a high quality hi-fi device that communicates with your home audio system providing it with pure, clean sound in a way that a noisy PC or even media extender cannot. Its the audiophile choice for bringing entertainment media to your Home Theater system.

Microsoft has recently put their considerable weight behind the optical storage medium known as HD DVD; this is the next step from regular old DVD. Part of the reason for Microsoft to weigh in on the optical format war is that HD DVD supports key features that are important to Home Theater PC (HTPC) users. These include Mandatory Managed Copy; this is a feature that will let PC users copy hi-def movies in data file format. Obviously this feature brings in all kinds of copy protection issues, so MMC will have to allow for copyrighted materials being transported across networks in a way that keeps the data convenient to users while being permitted by the entertainment industry.

The other is iHD, a series of interactive features that will be implemented on Microsofts new operating system, Windows Vista. So far, Sony and the governing body of the Blu-Ray technology havent budged on these features despite them being heavily requested by at least one major hardware manufacturer who specializes in HTPCs: HP or Hewlett-Packard Co.