HP drops Media Center PCs for own design
updated 01:25 pm EDT, Wed March 28, 2007
HP drops Media Center PCs
Despite having been one of the first companies to sell a Media Center PC, HP has decided to drop its Digital Entertainment Center line, featuring systems with large hard drives and a host of AV connections for abilities such as DVR programming and VHS video conversion. The company will instead focus on its new MediaSmart televisions, which use custom software to play media from a remote computer, much like Microsoft's Media Center Extender.
While HP channel development manager Doug Robert will only cite "resource constraints" to explain the switch, CE Pro speculates that DECs may simply not be selling, since they often require complicated setup processes and are saddled with artificial DRM restrictions. The computers can also be as noisy as regular desktop systems, disrupting the quiet environment of a home theater.
