The new domestic commodity?

Hey all! Hope you are all enjoying your semester (even though it's the cold one).

Last week in FTVMS 211 (Watching TV) we had a lecture about television being the domestic commodity. It started out as a family thing - the central point of attention in anyones living room. It has now become more individualised, in that we have our own TV's in our bedrooms etc. I was thinking that in someways the home PC has replaced TV as the major domestic object in the average household. I know since we invested in broadband internet at home, I very rarely watch TV and spend most of the 'primetime' hours on my computer.

I have a friend who's parents are extremely 'tech-savvy' and have three computers and a XBox all networked together. They constantly are downloading movies and music. When a movie is downloaded they can send it from one of the PC's to the XBox and watch it through their big screen TV. So although they are sitting in front of a television, what they are watching is from a computer.

In the last few years PC manufacturers have tried to push the 'media-PC' which is basically a PC, TV-tuner, hard-drive recorder, and stereo system in one. These have not taken off, possibly because people like to have their TV and PC in seperate rooms. Or because we would just rather have seperate devices for all those things. Personally I can't see myself sitting on my couch typing my assignments, or watching a movie on an uncomfortable computer chair.

So, is the home PC going to be the new number one domestic commodity? I think it probably will. And I think we should all have a laugh at Mr Hewlett Packard for scoffing the idea (see- Pirates of Silicon Valley). Let me know what you think!