[PCWorld]

Post your comments for It's On: The Battle for the Digital Living Room here

[wmcoverdale]

I clone my 50" HD monitor to my computer with a 25 ft $20 DVI to HDMI cable and avoided paying $400 for a Blu ray player by installing a Blu ray disc drive. I have Dish satellite with a 722 DVR. I'll buy a PS3 when it is priced at $200. I must have a hearing problem since I have never heard any sound from my computer other than 5.1 stereo sound from my the large speakers connected to my AV receiver. I just think the industry has done a miserable job of telling people the advantages of a "Digital living room". I use a desktop and connect with wires, but wouldn't a good notebook computer with an HDMI output eliminate the need for a wired connection to set up a functional system??

[gdenison]

LOL, Coverdale you are such a nerd. You have to realize that 60% of the population doesn't know what your talking about unless your a sunlight deprived 12 year old boy. Sadly, I understand your setup, but unlike you I have to have the latest console. I have all 3: Wii, PS3, and 360. Although they all collect dust the majority of the time as i waste numerous hours on my World of Warcraft. as I close escrow this week my imagination bewilders me as i haven't figured out what to do with my, Wife Permitted, 12x12 foot space. My 46" 120Hz Sony Hi dynamic 30,000:1 contrast TV is a given as well as all my consoles. This however becomes no longer a realm for living space... but a Digital Den. How many other Americans confine themselves to a digital area where a whisper is no longer allowed, or shoes to be checked at the door? Yes i know i am a bigger nerd than coverdale, or a geek if you will. But at least Spend the money and represent your nerdyness, and not wait for a fine piece of machinery such as the PS3 to get to $200.

[DS021]

I have a "digital den" with all 3 consoles, too. First time I get my own room, just for gaming and movies! I call it the ARCADE. But that should be obvious! :-)

I'm very interested in setting up a "Digital Living Room" that includes streaming from a central location, network connections, etc.... but honestly? I wonder if it's worth the trouble. The 360 will only work with Windows Media Server (which runs you at least $180 for the OS!), the PS3 has one of the clunkiest interfaces I've ever seen (do I have to confirm every decision?? No quick deletes???), and the Wii? Well, not so online friendly, as most of you know.

I think the PC is still the best option for a digital living room, cause the game consoles are simply too restrictive for network use. But I'm not bothering with all that cause I'd rather be playing a game or watching a movie in my free time, rather than call tech support when the inevitable error/problem occurs during setup...

[rdgxray]

I agree with the article that the xbox360 is far from a one size fits all digital media center for your living room. I was disappointed in the mention of Netflix and Microsoft's deal to let you stream movies to your xbox360. There was no mention of the many people who have a gold account with xbox live and also have a netflix account. If you have both of these, streaming movies from netflix is free.
I have been streaming movies to my pc from netflix for sometime and it works very nicely and they have a good selection of movies that are free to watch if you have a netflix account of $9 dollars a month. The only drawback is you can't watch these movies on your HD TV in your living room. Microsoft and Netflix to the rescue! Soon we will be able to stream them to the xbox360 and use are expensive HD TVs again! I personally am very happy for this free perk of being an exsisting gold xbox live and netflix subscriber. Kudos to both companies involved!

[StanO360]

You're forgetting Windows Media Center, which at this point if you are not a total nerd (like me, that is I'm a total nerd) is the best tv solution to feed tv, pictures, video and tv. Record, playback etc. in HD, unfortunately limited by the available tuner cards to QAM and OTA HD. It's also included on most PC's these days.