One of the focuses of Intel CEO Paul Otellini's IDF keynote on Tuesday was the home and consumer market. So where do we stand with PCs in the living room? Will we all eventually have them, or will we have clever set top boxes that connect with our PCs located elsewhere? Otellini spoke of the latter.
Intel announced a partnership with DirecTV at CES in January. Through that partnership, DirecTV has developed a new set-top box, the DirecTV Plus HD DVR, which has an integrated digital media adapter (DMA). Further, as one might expect, Viiv certification of the product will come through shortly, said Otellini.
The set-top box does the usual DVR thing. It can record 200 hours of SD telly, or 50 hours of MPEG4 encoded HDTV. But with DMA and Viiv, it can also retrieve photos, music and videos stashed on computers (Viiv ones... yeah?) stashed around the home.
Intel's Digital Home Group VP, Kevin Corbett, was pleased to see Viiv certification headed towards set-top boxes: "Having the nation’s leading satellite television service provider with a 15 million and growing customer base introduce the world’s first Intel Viiv technology-verified set-top box is a significant milestone, accelerating the number of connected digital homes."
Viiv doesn't seem to be taking off as quickly as the Centrino platform did, but perhaps Viiv needs HD for it to flourish? As the entertainment system upgrades pick up, so too will the penetration of Viiv. Viiva la revolution.
