At 5:00 PM -0500 11/23/04, Mark Aitken wrote: >We need a common interface "platform" so that folks can be about the >business of "hookin' up" their prized possessions. > >IMHO... > Many of the pieces are already in place. IEEE-1394 DVI WiFi And perhaps most important - a progressive display that can easily support both filtered and unfiltered image sources and combine them in the interface they will use to drive their systems. What is lacking at the moment is the will of manufacturers to take the plunge. At the moment, Mitsubishi is probably further along than the other CE companies. But companies like Apple may have the upper hand, as they have been developing the core technologies to make all of this work for more than a decade. One of the keys here is auto detection of sources as they come online or leave. The other is the ability to store the path to a source and recall it on demand via a simple command. E.G. if you select a program in your EPG the system should be intelligent enough to handle the signal routing. If the asset is "offline" (e.g. a DVD on the shelf) the system should tell you where to find it, open the tray on the DVD player, and route the signal. I do, however, detect growing interest in these capabilities among consumers. Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.