HP Exits Media Center Business

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 27, 2007 @02:57PM from the pioneer-with-arrows dept.

MCE writes "The first big adapter of Microsoft's Media Center Edition is quietly dropping MCE. HP is ceasing production of its Digital Entertainment Center, the only real success story for Media Center PCs in a living-room form factor. As the first company to embrace Microsoft's MCE, at a time when the platform was still half-baked, HP was simply spent by the time Vista rolled around. Now the company will put its resources into MediaSmart, a new line of TVs with a digital media adapter (not an MCE) built in. HP insists that its departure is not a statement about the viability of the Media Center platform."

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I think it was just a matter of... by bluemonq · 2007-03-27 15:07 · Score: 3, Insightful

...too much computer. If it was a pared-down machine with WinXP embedded, simplified interface (as in, maybe only Media Center?), etc. and brought it in under $500, it could have had a shot. However, computing on the couch (with a TV, no less) just feels odd to me, and probably to a lot of people out there. In addition, people who want a full-blown computer in their living room AND desktop are fairly limited in number - or at least that's what gut instinct is telling me.