Software and devices that help people move digital content from their PCs to their TVs without a degree in computer science are poised to be one of the hottest trends at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, which officially began today in Las Vegas.
“Consumers have said that they love watching (downloaded) movies on a laptop when they’re on the road. But when they’re home, they like to watch them on a TV set,” said Bob Greene, executive vice president of advanced services for Douglas County- based Starz Entertainment, which runs Vongo, an online movie download service.
For the past 40 years, the Consumer Electronics Show has unveiled some of the biggest advancements in how people live and entertain, from the videocassette recorder to the gaming console. Televisions, particularly giant, flat-screen, high-definition ones, have been the darlings of the show for several years.
Now with an explosion of music and movies available online, companies see a strong market for full, seamless integration of the personal computer with the TV and accompanying home entertainment center.
So all things related to television will dominant CES again this year.
Typically, customers have been skeptical about online movie download services, said Jupiter Research analyst Joe Laszlo. Only 7 percent of online consumers said they purchased movies via the Internet, according to a July survey by the market research and consulting firm.
“It’s too cumbersome and complicated,” Laszlo said. “Bridging technology between the PC and the TV is new to the market. Most in the industry feel it’s the holy grail … making Internet video a mainstream service offering.”
Starz’ Vongo was introduced at last year’s show. It’s expected to unveil a new version today that brings movies downloaded onto a PC to the TV. The new version of Vongo works with Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista, Windows Media Center set-top box and gaming console Xbox 360.
Television users can take advantage of the networking capabilities of Vista and Xbox 360 by using a remote control to access and view Vongo movies stored on their PC. The PCs and Xbox must be connected to a central home network.
The Xbox 360 and Windows Media Center device are “media extenders,” said Greene, of Starz. “We believe it has to be easy.”
Douglas County-based Echo Star Communications Corp. plans to roll out Dish Online, a service that allows customers to download movies from the Web and view them on their TVs using certain Dish Network set-top boxes.
The Consumer Electronics Show won’t be the only venue this week for products that link TVs and personal computers.
Apple may help consumers ease into the merger of the PC and TV, as the digital content giant is expected to show off its iTV device – a piece of equipment similar to a wireless router that can be hooked into a TV – at Macworld, which begins Tuesday in San Francisco.
This year will be “an interesting year to see more products on the market,” said Laszlo, who also is expecting offerings from home network giants Linksys and Netgear at the show. “We’ll have to wait and see if they have a combination of simplicity and low price to encourage customers to buy them.”
Laszlo said the biggest challenge will come on the business side. For example, cable operators’ on-demand services could be threatened as people are able to download more content from websites and watch it on TV.
He said any device would have to be $200 or below for customers to adopt it on a wide scale.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
