Connected Home for the People

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The reason that I’d be happy to do so is that PC World seems to have has done its home work on this. It’s working with a third party installation company that has actual knowledge and experience of creating custom installations so you won’t have to worry about your system being sold to you by someone who doesn’t know the difference between Bluetooth and Blu-ray.

The main link with PC World seems to be that it’s basing the installations on Microsoft’s Media Center Operating System, rather than conventional hi-fi and home cinema components. While home cinema equipment is becoming more PC and digital music aware all the time, it’s a PC architecture that really makes it affordable so there is some logic to PC World#s approach. According to the company over 70 per cent of its PC sales are of Media Center systems, so it has some experience with it already.

It can also offer highly competitive prices on kit as PC World is of course part of the Dixons group, which has real buying power. While Dixons on the high street had a reputation for being pricey, I’ve noticed time and again that the Dixons web site is often the lowest priced source for a product. It seems moving online exclusively with the brand was a wise decision.

After the demo at the Connected Home event I talked to one of the guys heading it up and one of the technical people, and there did seem to be some meat to what they were saying. There seems to be some flexibility in that rather than just having to start afresh an installation could make use of existing equipment. I was also told that if you had some particular brands in mind and it wasn’t on the list of PC World's normal suppliers then they would look into getting hold of it for you. The installation could range from a single room to the whole house – hence the Connected Home moniker. The deal would even included ongoing technical support for several years depending on the package, with an engineer coming out within 24 hours.

If you want to know more about it then there is a dedicated web site for it, though you’d be hard pressed to find it by regular searching – PC World could learn a thing or two about optimisation for Google. It’s actually not the most inspiring web site, but it does tell you what you need to know and provides some good case studies to act as examples of the types of systems that could be in your grasp.

Of course, all of this won't be super cheap, and it doesn’t mean that everyone and his dog will have a Media Center based connected home. But the fact that’s it’s available through PC World, and not some exclusive specialist store is key.

For me the real killer feature is that it democratises home cinema. Anyone can walk in off the street and get a free consultation on what sort of system could be right for them and the budget they would need – and a full on demonstration on what a proper installation can be like.

Your average person may not ever be tempted to go into that expensive looking store with the projectors and super large LCDs in the window, but a PC World won’t be at all intimidating. The scheme has initially launched at seven of its major stores such as Tottenham Court Road in London, and enables anyone to walk in and get a taste of what a home cinema, and a connected home, could be like. There’s no need to wait for a specialist event such as the Stuff show to come around, it available all year round. I for one have had a long term dream to convert a garage into a home cinema. The problem is persuading the wife that this is a good idea, and being able to pop down to a local store and have a full on demo do the talking for me seems fantastic – even if it is in PC World.

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