Manufacturers already exhibit it at consumer shows

Mar 12, 2009 15:26 GMT  ·  By

For a long time, IT and entertainment companies have pondered the best possibility to bring the universe of digital media into the average living room, but the costs associated with turning someone's house into a digital outlet have been usually too prohibitive. Now, low-cost solutions may have been devised, as evidenced by the fact that more and more companies already start exhibiting their ideas at consumer shows around the world. Also, numerous start-ups are formed with each passing month, and they are all focused on making this dream an affordable reality.

And we're not talking just about movies, but also about music, pictures, and generally everything that can be supported in a media format. MySpace has already taken the first step, when it has announced that it plans to move its social media platform to TV sets as well, with other similar websites to follow. Basically, what everyone in the industry is hoping for is a multimedia center where people can access all the information they need with a touch of a button, or, why not, via vocal commands.

All major players on the multimedia scene, including music production houses, Hollywood studios, Internet service providers (ISP), electronics companies and cable networks have pledged to join in this effort and make all the information individuals might need to be easily available to them. Naturally, none of those things will come for free, and these companies and firms are already pondering new methods of making payments faster and safer, via TV sets. Other options are also considered at this point.

In the dominating vision, the digital living room is something more than just a collection of gadgets. Most of the components of such a space already exist on the market, but the majority of persons prove reluctant to buying new digital boxes, regardless of their purpose, so the market in this area has been somewhat stagnant. But the idea behind this concept is larger and envisions a futuristic layout, one that would make sci-fi movie script writers from the 1970s and the 1980s weep.

“We're seeing experimentation, which is good. I don't think any of the solutions nail it on the head, but we're starting to get closer,” analyst Ben Bajarin, who is working for the Creative Strategies technology consulting firm, says.