During a recent meeting a senior Intel executive admitted that Intel was "not focusing" on Viiv this year due to a lack of interest.
It has also been revealed that HP is pulling out of the Digital Entertainment Center (DEC) business. The company that pioneered the living-room form factor for Media Center Edition (MCE) PCs has decided to drop the line. The company instead will focus its energy on MediaSmart, a new brand of TVs with digital media adapters built in.
These are not Microsoft Media Center Extenders that link media centres with remote TVs, but HP's own solution for distributing photos, music, video and other content including Web-based information. HP designed the DEC as a sophisticated product with a full complement of audio/visual ports to connect to any television set, according to Pat Kinley, public relations manager for digital entertainment at HP. The product, more expensive than PCs running Microsoft's Media Center OS and designed to look more at home in a living room than a typical PC, was pitched to specialty retailers selling custom installations for high-end home theaters, she said. The company will now stop development of the line, although it will sell and support the remaining units in the marketplace.
