Personal computers are destined to play an ever-increasing role in the management, distribution and playback of multimedia content in the home, according to ABI Research.
The PC will be used as both a network-connected PC media server and in-living room PC, which the research group sees growing in adoption over time. Both A/V form factor home theater PCs and more traditional home theater PCs will grow to an installed base of 25 million worldwide by 2013.
Microsoft’s bundling of the Media Center application with Vista will help solidify the place of the PC in future living rooms, and clients running over home networks and extender technologies will be by far the leading way to connect a PC to the TV, according to ABI Research; however, the organization sees these efforts as taking time. But while new broadband-based services may bypass the home PC initially, the PC model will become more inclusive in the future.
For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.
