Over the past decade, there has been a phenomenal amount of crossover

between computer technology and TV technology. This is especially

surprising given the fact that most Americans have largely rejected the idea

of a living room computer. However, most of the computer technology that

has found its way into the living room hasn't had the overt appearance of a

personal computer.

The earliest example of an acceptable piece of computer equipment in the

home entertainment center (that wasn't a video game platform) was the

digital TV receiver. The widespread use of these devices actually dates

back to the early nineteen nineties when satellite TV became economically

viable for typical households. By all outward appearances, it would have

been easy to blur digital TV receivers together with any other set top box,

but underneath it all was the fact that they converted digital data to the

sounds and images that made up TV.

The DVD player was a much more obvious example of the blurring

between computer and TV technologies. After all, by the time that DVD

players became common, CD-ROM drives had been on computers for

years. Since both are optical drives, and computers and DVD players

loaded their discs in similar ways, the resemblance was pretty plain. Of

course, CD's had been in stereo systems and computers for years, so

people were already used to seeing the resemblance there.

The next major change was the digital video recorder. DVR's as these

devices are more commonly known, can record video onto computer hard

disks and then play that video back later. Most models also automatically

record whatever the viewer is watching live in order to enable the pausing

and rewinding of live TV. Among the advantages that DVR's have over

VCR's is an ease of programming that none of the manufacturers of VCR's

ever got right. Another advantage of DVR technology is an ability to watch

recorded programs in any order. That's because a hard disk doesn't store

video sequentially like a video tape does. In other words, a video file can

simply be accessed without the time wasted cuing through other videos.

Over the years, computers have also taken on a number of the same

capabilities that's previously only been reserved for TV sets. For example,

it's been possible to buy a special TV tuner that can be installed in a

computer for years. These devices allow computers users to watch TV

right on their computer screens. These days though, this capability is

standard on many computers to some extent. For example, most modern

computers can display streaming Internet video on their screens and

laptop computers have been used to watch DVD's for years. There are also

now special adapters available that contain a TV tuner and connect to

laptop computers through a USB port so that users of laptop computers can

watch TV on the screens of their laptops.

The most obvious hybrid between computers and TV equipment is the

media center computer. These devices are DVD players, DVR's, digital

receivers, and Internet browsing machines all combined into a single unit.

They're likely to be the future of TV technology.