Digital home closer to reality, but obstacles remain

That day is coming, and in small ways, it's already here.

It's called the digital home. The idea has been percolating for decades, but only recently has it begun to appear both practical and affordable. Products are making their way into stores to let consumers do all sorts of things they could not do before, using the Internet and wireless technology to tie everything together.

Watch the same video on multiple devices. Listen to centrally stored music anywhere inside or even outside the house. Send photos and camcorder clips to a TV or PC in just a few clicks. Check home-security cameras remotely. Even control home heating and cooling while on vacation.

To be sure, consumers won't suddenly morph into the Jetsons, the futuristic family in the 1960s cartoon. Video providers, computer makers and electronics manufacturers still have many kinks to work out before digital living is woven into the fabric of everyday life.

For example, the technology has to become much simpler to use, and devices must connect more easily to home networks. Yet the trickle of new products into the market could soon become a flood.

"A couple of years ago, it was all hype, but now we are starting to see devices that actually work," said Van Baker, a consumer-technology analyst at Gartner.

The notion of the futuristic home is not new. Some homes are already highly automated, but the work usually requires the help of professional installers whose high prices put off most consumers. Rewiring a home is particularly expensive.

Newer technologies promise to change all that.

The biggest breakthrough has been the introduction of cheap wireless technology. The current standard known as Wi-Fi has allowed millions of households to link laptops and computers into one home network so family members can share documents, printers, music, video and photos.

"It just makes it easier to connect," said Jeff Talmadge, direct of product development at Denon Electronics. "Most people don't have wires running everywhere in the house."

Wireless networking is already found in products such as MP3 players; PlayStation3 and Xbox360 game consoles; handheld games like Nintendo DS; iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones; cameras and camcorders; printers and scanners.

Wi-Fi is now being extended to all sorts of existing consumer devices. Denon, for example, just released a tabletop radio and a premium receiver that can connect to a network wirelessly. These audio players can access music stored on computers or let listeners tune in via the Internet to radio stations in other cities or even other countries.
The next generation

These products wirelessly connect PCs to TVs, audio systems or even standalone speakers in other rooms. They let customers access Internet radio, listen to songs stored on their computers or view photos and YouTube clips on their home theaters.

While these first-generation wireless products still need plenty of refinement, they herald a new age of innovation in the development of the digital home.

"We are only starting to see this explosion of devices," said market researcher Charles Golvin of Yankee Group.

Most of these devices can also connect to a network with regular wiring, and consumers shouldn't overlook this oft-ignored feature. More builders are wiring new homes with Ethernet cabling so every room can be linked to a network.

Cable is not prone to interference from other wireless devices such as microwaves, and it does a much better job of transferring high-definition video, an important consideration for gamers and movie lovers.
It's a hard job

As cool as the digital home might sound, consumers won't bother unless it's a snap to set up and the benefits are clear.

"No. 1, it has to be easy to use," said Larry Hettick, digital-home analyst at Current Analysis. "You also have to convince consumers that they are going to save time and money."

Those are thorny though not insurmountable problems. The easier obstacle to overcome is cost. Most of the devices hitting the market aren't exactly cheap, but history shows the price of new technology plunges once it gains mass-market appeal.

Consider the case of hard drives, the foundation of the digital home. To store all their music, movies and photos, consumers can spend as little as $100 to buy huge 500-gigabyte hard drives for their computers or video recorders. It would have cost about $23,000 to buy the same amount of storage just 10 years ago.

The bigger challenge for the technology and entertainment industries is to make home networks easy to set up and manage so consumers can reap the full benefits. Right now that's not the case. Adding new devices to a network is often more trouble than it's worth.

"It's still a little too complex for the average Jane or Joe," Golvin said.

Many lessons could be learned from Apple. Most of its products such as the iPod and iPhone are elegantly designed and simple to use. The good news is that work is under way to resolve this problem and make it push-button simple to add devices to a network.