Usually I don’t post links on this blog unless I have something to add to what the link is all about. This time I will make an exception. Chris Anderson has a very interesting article about Media Center PCs on his Long Tail blog. And, I can’t add much more than “I totally agree” and “I’ll recommend you to read it“. Chris is the editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and a very interesting thinker and writer.

From the article:

For us, Media Centers have five big advantages over traditional DVRs, including TiVo.

* No monthly fees.
* Centralized storage means that all TVs around the house have instant access to the same content.
* Unlimited storage capacity.
* Can stream all the other media on your PC to any TV, including music and home videos.
* By DVR standards, it’s a relatively open platform (certainly compared to the DVRs offered by your cable company), and there are an increasing number of plug-ins that expand its features.

Finally, there’s a strong Long Tail angle to the Media Center. It is, at its core, a platform for unlimited-choice TV. It connects the Internet to the TV screens around your house via a simple, TiVo-like interface. Right now, most of the video content comes over the broadcast network, is cached on your PC, and then streamed over your home network. But that content can just as easily come from anywhere on the net, and independent video marketplaces such as Brightcove and Akimbo are planning to release their services as Media Center plug-ins to deliver just that.

Via Ian Dixon