Like you, I am one of the lucky ones, carving out a couple spaces that are entirely my own. Looking to fully evolve my Man Cave to the digital age, here is my watch list for CES 2010 with links to resources and information from across AMD’s website. 

Click To View as AMD’s Leslie Sobon Discusses AMD’s Technologies For The Man Cave with CBS From The Floor of the Consumer Electronics Show 2010

Look for the PC to emerge as the ultimate source of video and gaming for the Man Cave. Multi-screen gaming with ATI Eyefinity technology is incredible for desktops and the PC is the ultimate toolkit for working with online video, home videos and photos. The PC has a role inside the Man Cave as a gaming PC, entertainment source to your TV, or nexus of information and media.

For the big screen, I dropped paid broadcast TV and switched and free digital terrestrial and a PC for internet video streaming and online games. With sources like Hulu, Facebook, BBC, Tivo, and Blu-Ray, the PC has become my primary source of video displayed on my TV. In 2010 I am continuing to integrate my DIY home theater PC with my big screen entertainment and looking forward to:

• More HD video sources online for streaming and download
• Improved video playback quality and performance using hardware acceleration like ATI Stream technology with enabled applications
• Improvements to gaming graphics through Microsoft DirectX 11 and gaming physics through OpenPhysics
• Fully integrating video recording from terrestrial sources with technology like the ATI Theater PCTV technology that make it possible to watch and record digital broadcast TV
• Easy ways to stretch my PC experience into and out of my Man Cave, like HDMI over CAT5 solutions that make it easy to use a PC in one room but connect it to a TV in another
• A proliferation of large and small devices from big-screen TV’s to personal media players that can share content with the PC and allow flexibility in managing and playing content

Notebook PC’s are emerging as digital entertainment powerhouses. There are notebooks with Vision Technology from AMD being demo’d at CES 2010 that can play back 1080p high definition video and which have an HDMI port which can easily carry entertainment from my notebook to my TV. In 2010 I am looking for:

• Notebooks ready for HD and Blu-Ray video and feature HDMI outputs – like notebooks featuring Vision Technology from AMD
• More powerful notebooks that have graphics horsepower like ATI RadeonTM HD 5000 series discrete graphics and improvements in integrated graphics
• Sleek and powerful ultra-thin notebooks featuring Windows 7 that have multi-tasking performance and HD video capability that I need (and which are conspicuously absent from the vast majority of Netbooks)
• Peripherals that can bring a big-theater experience into the smallest spaces. In 2010 I hope to see more digital surround-sound headsets and high-contrast external LCD displays

I am looking for improvements in the controls and interface in the Man Cave. Windows 7 Media Center is looking like a good step forward. I want to see more websites fully designed to be used on a big-screen. In 2010 I hope to see full-motion controllers for fantastic gameplay and easy control of those big-screen ready websites.

At CES 2010 we should see should see new ways to connect the PC world with the TV, audio system, and displays and devices connected throughout the home. The annual celebration of the CE industry is an explosion of technology, ready to be focused on the evolution of your Man Cave. Skyrocketing online video and the Superbowl, Olympics, National Championships, Stanley Cup Playoffs, World Cup, and all falling in the first half of 2010, there has never been a more opportune time to fully integrate digital entertainment and PC tech into your Man Cave.

Be sure to check out Jay Taylor’s detailed blogs on Internet TV with Windows 7, building an HTPC and remote control of an HTPC. You can check out my blogs on ATI Eyefinity technology, ATI Stream technology, and AMD’s Fusion software for digital entertainment on Windows 7. If you are interested in the future of the home PC I have written a four part series on the creation of a digtal nexus which stretches the PC experience throughout the home.

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Simon Solotko is a Senior Advanced Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

From the Ancient Egyptian Poem The Thunder | Perfect Mind

ATI Eyefinity is a new technology from AMD that transforms the relationship of the PC and the display. It opens the door to entirely new avenues for home computing and simplifies the deployment of many commercial solutions. In the existing home computing paradigm, one user employs one PC with one workspace spanning one or two monitors. In the age of ATI Eyefinity, the paradigm evolves.

A computer of the future with a combination of entertainment, video productivity, and internet applications spanning multiple monitors.

There are at least three new use models availed or expanded by ATI Eyefinity. They modify the single-session | single person | single screen paradigm of old. The first I call Immersive, Panoramic Computing. Many displays for one person. The second and third I call Crowd Computing. Many displays for many people.

Immersive, Panoramic Personal Computing

The first model is single-session | single-person | multi-screen. One user surrounded with many displays creating an immersive reality or information environment. One user can enjoy information or visual simulations or real-time experiences, which were previously possible only with high-end workstations or simulators. Commercial or technical applications include simulation, design and analysis; equities trading, graphic design, intelligence analysis, and more. Consumer applications include gaming, advanced productivity, and impressing your friends.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzGtxlaPQqY

In this video technology demonstration, ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor technology is driving an immersive, panoramic gaming experience. AMD’s Lauren Larose is playing Tom Clancy’s Hawks at an amazing 5760x2400 resolution spanning six monitors employing the Display Port 1.1 interface.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHHxY8l00io

This video from the launch showces ATI Eyefinity with a combination of 3,6,and a whopping 24 display wall. You can see how multiple displays can bring people together and encourage collaboration and shared entertainment, which brings us to the next model.

Crowd Computing

The second model is single-session | multi-person | multi-screen. Many users enjoying the experience provided by a single computer with the added benefit of multiple-displays. For example, one user enjoying dual monitor productivity, and a second user or group of users enjoying a movie or game on a third or fourth screen. The central premise of this model is that it is a single session, one person is “driving” the visual environment -- one keyboard, one mouse -- kind of like a PC experience DJ who can launch applications for many to see. Adding the ability of each screen to have its own I/O and support for a separate user session, you arrive at the third model…

A computer of the future with panoramic 3D gaming, multiple video playback, and access to “cloud-based” resources on the internet on multiple displays.

In prior entries I have employed the term “digital nexus” or “central home computer” to describe the multi-session | multi-person | multi-screen  model. This model requires a multi-session operating system, one aware of multiple inputs and multiple users, which can map a separate set of inputs (keyboard, mice, remotes, game controllers) to each user and each screen. Imagine the possibilities of a fully configurable I/O environment where a computer can support many keyboards, mice, and free-motion controllers. Dad can be in the den playing Tom Clancy’s Hawks (against his son) while his daughter is doing homework in her room and mom is managing finances in the office, all on the same, centrally managed PC. You can think of this model as multiple, simultaneous instances of single-session | single-person | single screen.  The central computer would be capable of juggling multiple user sessions, multiple screens, and multiple input / output peripherals throughout the home.

I believe that we are on an inevitable path toward Crowd Computing. Many people, computing together, using many screens in many rooms with uniform and easy access to their user-settings, information, applications and powerful compute resources. The multi-monitor capability provided by ATI Eyefinity is an important piece of the puzzle, a powerful display adapter which can extend the computer to multiple separate displays in multiple positions or nearby locations.

In the meantime, the immersive, panoramic views offered by ATI Eyefinity will impress with panaramic, immersive, multi-screen 3D graphics, video and information. I believe ATI Eyefinity has a bright future. It’s the kind of innovation that encourages re-thinking the potential of a single computer. If you are looking for new directions for the PC, I would keep watch on ATI Eyefinity.

This is the fourth in a multi-part series.

<<-- Click Here For Prior Entry

More information on ATI Eyefinity is available on the ATI Eyefinity technology page.

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Simon Solotko is a Senior Advanced Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.