Digital Hubs Future or Fad

'Digital hubs' are not a new product category for consumers, but they're an interesting one, and one that is about to really take off. I believe that Tivo and Replay laid the foundation for digital hub revolution with their PVR (Personal Video Records) technology. Microsoft later popularized (notice I didn't say 'invented') it with it's Windows XP Media Center Edition.

There are now several different companies, selling several different products, with many different features, all competing to define the digital hub category. For example, I have seen special enhancements for Microsoft's XBox that enhances it's multimedia capabilities, TIVO has their Home Media Option, Sony is creating the PSX, etc..

One exceptional product that seems to really stand out in this category is the Gateway Connected DVD Player. What is really great about this product is its features and the price ($250 US). Not only is it a DVD player, but it can also play several different digital audio/video file formats stored on your PC (such as: JPEG, MP3, MPEG, etc..) over the network. Below is a list of the different digital media formats it can play, and diffent types of LAN capabilities it supports:

Media: DVD, CD, VCD/SVCD, Kodak Picture CD and MP3 files on CD-R/CD-RW
Formats: MPEG1/MPEG2 video, JPG photos and MP3/WMA audio files
Connectivity: Support either wired Ethernet or Wi-Fie (802.11b) connectivity to a Microsoft-based home network.

There is one major problem with all of these devices that will kill this market in the near future if it not addressed. There needs to be some form of interoperability standards so that these devices can communicate seemlessly with each other. These products can be 'jerry-ridged' to work together, but the integration is not very seamless. As these devices become more and more complex you have to become a 'home media architect' to hook it all up.

For example: What components, and connections would you need to hookup a DirecTV satellite receiver, Tivo Series 2, and a Gateway Connected DVD Player to your TV. You could use an integrated DirecTV/Tivo PVR, but you lose the ability to do some major modifications to the device. But if you a DirecTV receiver, with a regular Tivo Series 2 you loose the ability to record the digital content right to the hard drive. There are also several other things that you would have to consider in this configuration.

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