Viiv Falls Flat

smilingman writes "The Washington Post (Retina Scan Required) is reporting that Intel's Viiv media center, which was supposed to revolutionize home entertainment and kill the living-room PC as we know it, fails miserably to deliver in its first incarnation. From the article: 'During a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, chief executive Paul S. Otellini unveiled Viiv -- a combination of hardware and software that would combine functions of the TV, the DVD player, the VCR and the video game console... In April, Viiv doesn't look much like that vision. On a typical Viiv box, Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion m7360y, it amounts to a smattering of free Web video clips and discounts on online music, movie and game rentals -- plus a nifty rainbow-hued Viiv sticker on the front of the computer.'"

Comments

Re:VIIV has no soul

[TubeSteak]

What is VIIV? I have scoured the internet and Intel's site to figure this out.

Scour harder?

http://www.google.com/search?q=viiv+criteria
leads you to http://www.intel.com/support/entertainment/viiv/sb /CS-021546.htm

Viiv effectively encompasses a motherboard, CPU, the OS + software and an optional remote.

Maybe you're underwhelmed because... the criteria is fairly underwhelming. No HD size requirements, no graphics requirement beyond onboard video, no tv/vivo requirement, no min RAM, etc etc etc.

I honestly don't understand the point of their marketing campaign if it isn't mandatory that Viiv includes a tv tuner + remote. At least Centrino meant that your computer had a wireless card.