Sharp will make its first play for the living room PC space later this year with a machine that looks less like a computer and more like a consumer electronics product.
The combination of its size, shape, and an "HDD & DVD Recording" label along the center of the machine means it could be mistaken for a digital video recorder. It's only when you start to use it--or look a little more closely and notice the discrete "personal computer" label on the front panel--that its real identity is given away.
The PC-TX26GS is a Windows XP-based personal computer with all of the standard software and a series of applications aimed at consumer electronics-type applications.
These include a video recording function, photograph viewer, jukebox, slideshow software, and Internet video phone. All these functions can be called up by pressing an "IT" button on the unit's remote control. It also has a wireless keyboard and, to make the living room look complete, is being packaged with a 26-inch monitor that looks like a television.
The PC side of the machine is based around an Intel Celeron D processor running at 2.66 GHz. It runs on Microsoft's Windows XP Home Edition SP2, and has 512MB of memory that can be expanded up to 2GB, a 250GB hard drive, and a DVD drive that supports DVD+/- R and RW (rewritable) discs and DVD-RAM.
TV Time
Its digital video function allows users to record television broadcasts onto the hard drive for later viewing. The drive can hold up to 119 hours of video in standard quality mode although in practice this will be reduced because some of the drive space is taken up by the Windows operating system and other PC files. Broadcasts are recorded in MPEG1 format and there is no digital rights management system employed, so the video files can be accessed from inside Windows applications or from other computers on the same network.
The display is capable of WXGA (1366 by 768) resolution and is suitable for showing high-definition broadcasting and a tuner for such services is available as an option. However, recording of high definition programs is not supported.
A downside of the machine's Windows XP base is that users are required to wait until the operating system has booted before they can watch television or any of the recorded programs--a process that can take up to one minute. Sharp worked around this problem in a notebook PC launched earlier in the year with a Linux-based subsystem that can bring up a TV picture in about 10 seconds, but isn't using it on the PC announced this week.
Sharp will put the PC-TX26GS on sale in Japan in the middle of December, just as Japanese workers are receiving their year-end bonus. This is typically the busiest shopping period of the year. In the last two years, two of the hottest products have been LCD televisions and digital video recorders based on both hard-disk and DVD drives. Sharp's proposition will be the ability to combine both these products and a personal computer in a package that will cost about $3150.
A version with 256MB of memory and without Microsoft's Office XP software package will be available for about $2700.
In contrast, a Sharp 26-inch LCD television can be picked up in Japan for about $2200.
The company doesn't have any plans to offer the PC without the monitor at present, says a company spokesperson. There are also no current plans to sell the computer overseas.
