cM :: MORLEY|DIGITAL

I’d say that my love affair with Microsoft’s Media Center started with a BANG last year when I was the first to launch digital cable tuners in Windows Vista.  And while I moved a lot of boxes for that company, I had no idea just how expansive the whole home theater ecosystem was and what it was like to actually integrate this technology into a real-world environment.  I learned very quickly that PC companies just don’t get it.  Their systems are built in a vacuum and treated like a PC.  The PC world shoves technology down the A/V industry’s throat so fast it almost turns most A/V dealers off of anything PC related. 

But not so at Fluid Digital.  I spent months not just focused on the hardware or the software, but the actual usability and real world experience that high end customers demand.  It’s one thing to sell this hardware to tweaks and geeks who have been waiting for it and are techno-savvy enough to deal with issues, but quite another to sell the product to someone who has never even heard of Media Center before.  And once you inject yourself into someone’s TV watching experience, you better be damn sure that your system is going to be more reliable than their cable box.  Because people can stand a blue screen or two with their computer, but interrupt American Idol and there will be blood.  I also took this philosophical approach when I designed MAINGEAR’s Axess HD.

So, here are some pictures of the last high end install done by a Fluid Digital dealer, Home Entertainment, Inc.  And yes, that’s Media Center being controlled wirelessly by a PSP.  You can watch and control 100% of your Fluid Digital media server any where around the world, including high definition premium cable channels, for less than $750 retail.

BTW, that new project I mentioned I was working on?  It should be announced at NVISION at the end of the month.