Hewlett Packard's Media Smart LCD television is equipped with high-speed wired and wireless connectivity, which means it can connect directly to your home network via the router that distributes the internet connection.

For almost 40 years, the television set has been the centerpiece of home entertainment, providing a window to the outside world through the various programs broadcast on the airwaves and over cable. But the rise of the computer and the internet are beginning to change this dynamic.

In some homes, the TV has been relegated to a secondary entertainment device as people tap into sources of information and entertainment using the internet. In some cases the TV even falls behind an iPod now in the pecking order of preferred entertainment devices.

TV viewing among teens is down in Canada by as much as four hours from what it was in 2000, according to Statistics Canada, and yet millions are viewing video content on the internet through websites like YouTube. Then there are all the videos and movies downloaded from sources and services on the web, illicit or otherwise.

And people aren't just turning to the internet because it's a convenient source of content. As the data storage capacity of home computers continues to increase, so does the size and quality of the average video file. That makes for a better picture than standard television — a picture that's ideal for the larger high-resolution screens that are becoming common in living rooms these days.

So does that make the PC a natural extension of the TV, or the other way around?

High-def gear

New products such as the MediaSmart LCD HDTV from Hewlett Packard are a good example of how TVs and computers can complement each other to enhance the so-called "digital lifestyle." The MediaSmart is equipped with high-speed wired and wireless connectivity, which means it can connect directly to your home network via the router that distributes the internet connection.

Through that connection, you would be able to transmit content like movies, music and photos directly from your PC to your TV. So basically you could download a movie on your computer's hard drive and watch it on the MediaSmart without the need to burn a DVD.

"People are already evolving towards the managed home where they have multiple devices that are PC-centric and are sharing files back and forth," says Jeff Cates, consumer business manager with HP Canada. "But for it to work well, consumers need to be able to pull their content off the home network in a user-friendly way."

The MediaSmart is an Internet Protocol (IP) device. An IP device has its own ID, just like any computer does, meaning that it can connect with other IP-enabled devices and service providers can add more features to it. The latest video game consoles, such as the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, are other examples of IP devices that can access online content through a direct internet connection or a home network.

Microsoft is one of the industry heavyweights pushing the concept of access to entertainment through IP. The Home Premium and Ultimate editions of the Windows Vista operating system have built-in capabilities that allow it to link with a network-ready TV. You could also connect a Vista PC to other IP devices like the Xbox 360, or stream pictures to a Wi-Fi digital photo frame, for example.

Under this scenario, you could view your entire photo album and listen to all your music on your TV by simply having your PC and TV connected to the same home network. If the TV is IP-enabled like HP's MediaSmart, it will connect directly to the network. If isn't, then a gadget like the Xbox 360 or an IP-enabled set-top box like the Apple TV [which can download video from the Apple store or clips from services such as YouTube] will act as the enabler.

In another interesting development, wireless TV technology that flopped in its debut in portable screens is about to make a second appearance in larger displays. The wireless TV is a little different from something like the MediaSmart — it has a special hub that connects to devices like satellite receivers, DVD players and video game consoles.

The Apple TV box can can download video from the Apple store or clips from services such as YouTube and play the video on a television set.(Apple)

The hub then sends the audio-video signal wirelessly to the TV, which can be a small handheld unit that's carried around the house or a larger screen mounted in an area that's not suitable for setting up a stack of audio-visual gear. It's a setup that pundits laud as being perfect for those who prefer to mount a flat-panel TV on a wall, because only one wire — the power cable — needs to be connected to the TV.

Manufacturers like Sharp, Sony and LG launched small 15-inch LCD wireless TVs in 2005, but the price (around $1,200-$1,500) was too high for the novelty and mobility they offered. While those manufacturers have abandoned portable wireless television for the time being, Samsung is set to test the waters with 50-inch and 58-inch wireless plasma TVs in the fall this year. Manufacturing specs suggest they should have enough bandwidth to handle up to 1080p screen resolution, which is the highest quality image that TV screens can display right now.

"We don't plan to generate a lot of volume from our wireless plasma displays within this year, since these are more like premium products that provide consumers with different options," says Qian Yi, TV Product Manager for Samsung Canada.

Yi adds that there will be a "multimedia center" as part of the TV, though details are thin in terms of whether that means outright PC-functionality or built-in features like a personal video recorder for existing programming from satellite or cable.

Bandwidth concerns

The key to making all these connected devices work smoothly is bandwidth. And that means people will need both a speedy internet connection and a fast link between the devices in the home.

"As the industry moves from analogue to digital and high-definition, bandwidth becomes critical," says Eddie Chan, a research analyst with IDC Canada. "Until we get faster speeds [for internet connections] and the prices drop for IP-enabled TVs, you can expect smaller step-by-step improvements for the next five years."

Chan says the jury is still out on whether devices such as Samsung’s wireless TVs will be able to handle high-definition signals higher than 720p due to the speed limitations of current wireless networking technology. As of now, the top wireless standard for consumers is 802.11g, which doesn't have enough capacity to stream ultra high-definition signals. But by September 2008, pundits expect a new and much faster wireless standard, 802.11n, will reach the market and take its place.

The move to 802.11n will mean faster connections for individual devices, as well as more bandwidth that will allow multiple devices in a home to exchange information simultaneously.

"It's going to come down to what kind of content, and how much of it, you want to pipe through your home network," Chan says.

And from there, he adds, the next step is streaming content from a home PC to a screen anywhere in the world. This can already be done through products like the SlingBox, but it's still not something the average consumer is doing, at least not yet.

"We’re already seeing an increasing adoption of wireless networks in homes, so it's a natural progression that will eventually lead to more mobility so that you can take your content with you on the road," Chan says.

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