The Home
Digital Multimedia Network
"The PC is going to be the place where you
store the information and really the center of
control“ - Bill Gates CES 1/2001
Gordon Bell
Microsoft Research
Gbell@microsoft.com
www.research.microsoft.com/~gbell
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
The Home
Digital Multimedia Network
►Vision: All
digital content. IP on everything.
►All listening/viewing stations will be digital.
►In the 10+year, short-term, Digital Transformers
convert IP to legacy analog devices.
►Today
Digital Transformers = computers!
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
The Connected Home
Peripherals
Digital photos
SATELLITE
TV
TV
Gaming
TERRESTRIAL
DIGITAL CABLE
DSL-TELCO
Stereo
Screen
devices
Home Networks: PC-based
service
DSL, etc. input
Servers:
•Hold & deliver audio,
photos, video
•Encode TV content
Home IP network
Computers:
•Control, get content C.srv
from web, servers
Monitors: HDTV
X*
TV-sets: receive
encoded & CATV
content
C* = computer.
X = digital transformer.
X*
Spkr
TVset
CATV
Dist
X*
X*
Monitor
Rec/
AMP
HDTV
broadcast
Tuner
CATV Network
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Home media network with Digital
Transformers…
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
A Digital Transformer for Audio:
Gateway’s Connected Home
Audio Player
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Existing Home Entertainment Centers
...
set top
PVR
HDTV receiver
radio
CD
DVD
cassette
remotes
POWERFAULT DATA ALARM
camera
TV
HEWLETT
PACKARD
amp


DVD
Sniffer Server
monitoring/analysis
surround
speakers
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
The “Black PC” aka DHEC: Digital
Home Entertainment Center
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
ACTIVY Media Center
One H/W for multiple functions
1.
RC with 41 Keys
Reduces the number of devices, remotes and
wires around the TV
PC Architected Entertainment
Appliances
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
Up-market home theater styling
Quiet fan and Hard Disk
No messy wiring
No floppy (and hide give-away PC traits)
Uncompromised video quality, (eg good de-interlacing)
Premium TV receiver modules (eg Premium Satellite)
Hardware digital compression of analog TV
DVI connection to HD display (optimally 1024x768 or 1280x720)
High quality downscaling TV-out for existing legacy TV
Always available (through advanced power management)
Incremental purchasing (1394 & USB modules)

Recordable DVD, timeshifting HD, more TV receiver modules
►
Expandability (1394 & USB module expansion enclosure)
► Fast Ethernet & adapters for other home network types
► Range of remote control options (include cursor control)

BlueTooth: Basic remote, wireless keyboard, PocketPC/TabletPC
►
Legacy equipment control
► S/P-DIF, then 1394 active speakers
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Provides a wide range of rich entertainments in your living room
PC Architected Entertainment Appliance
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
alias: Media Center
alias: Media Server
alias: Gateway Server
alias: eHome Appliance
Single remote control
Easy to use, just pick an entertainment
Always on ready to entertain
PC architecture hidden inside running Whistler
(But consumer need not know)
Only does entertainments, not general PC activities
Seamlessly mixes TV and the Web
Incremental purchasing model enabled, eg device bay
Microsoft TV Technologies in Whistler provides
extensive enhanced TV capabilities

►
Range of 1394/USB receiver modules for premium TV
Forms the gateway server for the video home network
Dave Marsh, Microsoft
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Table of Interactivity, Media, and
Technolgy
Utility/
Media
Ambiance
(just being there)
Text
Entertainment;
& Education
Communication
at a distance
Books >>
ebooks;
newspapers
Fax >> email;
chat
Telephone >>
IP telephony;
voice chat
Live
performances>
>
Net jam sessions
Life-size
videophone.
Tele-meetings &
tele-conferences
Games>> local
& group games
, Web
Audio
CDs, radio>>
Ripped CDs, MP3,
Internet Radio
Internet Radio
Visual
Art, photos>> “TV
Screen savers”… art,
photos, posters, video
Web cams
tele-places
Audio/
Visual
MTV >>MTV
(digital)
“discovery
channel” >>
tele-learning
Interaction
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Content for future home
entertainment center
Content from nets and CyberAll
►
TV content (ala TiVo)
► WWW (pages, mail, etc.)
►
►
►
►
►
Personal Photos
Art (“TV-set” screen savers)
Personal videos
Internet radio and ripped CD audio
Virtual window (train ride, concerts, MTV)
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
If, therefore, the happiness
of an individual, like that
of a nation, may be taken
to vary inversely with the
materials afforded by them
to the biographer or the
historian, Adam Smith
may be considered to have
attained no mean degree
of human felicity. From
his ideal of life, political
ambition and greatness
were altogether excluded; it
was his creed that
happiness was equal in
every lot, and that
contentment alone was
necessary to ensure it.
"What," he asks, "can be
added to the happiness of
the man who is in health,
who is out of debt, and has
a clear conscience?" To this
simple standard,
Reading in bed on Plasma Panel
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Art
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Caneel Bay Vacation Jan. 1998
Gordon, Gwen, Brig, Pam, Fiona,
Bob, Laura and Kolbe
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Talking Head Telepresentation
with slides on 48” TV
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Train ride…
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Mitsubishi 42” TV set driven from a PC
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Cyber All, a 1 Tbyte, lifetime PC:
Cyberizing everything…
I’ve written, said, presented (incl. video),
photos of physical objects & a few things
I’ve read, heard, seen
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
"The PC is going to be the place where you store the
information and really the center of control“ Billg
1/7/2001
Cyberall is an “on-going” project to
“cyberize” all of personal bits!
►Memory recall of books, CDs,
communication, papers, photos, video
►Photos of physical object collections
►Elimination of all physical stores & objects
►Content source for media display: ambiance,
entertainment, communication, interaction
Goal: to understand the 1 TByte PC:
need, utility, cost, feasibility and tools.
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
CyberAll Jan. 2000
310 .ppt
180
.pdf
.pst (500 MB)
3
.xls 140
Music
6.0 GB
1.5K files
150 CDs
Books
25 MB
1K files/book
120 .gif
Working
2.0 GB
130 folders
1.9K files
325 .jpg
Archive
3.5 GB
340 folders
12.3K files
Video
2.6 GB
10 hours
Low res
14 GB (by size)
.doc 500
.doc 4100
4900 .jpg
.tif 470
.xls 120
.pdf 210
.ppt 250
Files (by number)
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Imagine the “killer app” for:
The One Tbyte, Lifetime, PC
CyberAll convinces me of a lifetime memory!
► Epaper is a great addition to the vision!
The most significant Office™ addition since HTML.
► Technology to support the vision:
1. Guarantee that data will live forever!
2. A single index that includes mail, conversations,
web accesses, and books!
3. E-book…e-magazines reach critical mass!
4. Telephony and audio capture are needed
5. Photo & video “index serving”
6. More meta-information … Office, photos
©Gordon Bell
7. Lots of GUI to improve ease-of-use
►
Microsoft
Tools, time, and cost
► Scanners:
HP Digital Sender,
flat beds with ADF, HP photo; fast one to come
► Photos: $1 or 0.5-5 min.
Large posters: ~ 1-5 hr.
Artifacts: ~ 10 min. including photo
► Scanning to TIF, PDF: <1 min/page
► OCR: for E-Paper or PDF: ~3 pages/min
► OCR: for editing 10 min/page!
► Books: scanned at CMU ($100/book)
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Tools
► Acrobat*,
Paperport* 6, Omnipage 10
► Indexing Service & Enfish (indexer/search)
► Conversion of DEC 8” floppies
► “Doubles” to reduce redundancies
*Microsoft epaper can replace these!
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Storing all we’ve read, heard, & seen
Human data-types
read text, few pictures
/hr
200 K
/day (/4yr)
2 -10 M/G
/lifetime
60-300 G
speech text @120wpm
speech @1KBps
43 K
3.6 M
0.5 M/G
40 M/G
15 G
1.2 T
stills w/voice @100KB
200 K
2 M/G
60 G
video-like 50Kb/s POTS
video 200Kb/s VHS-lite
22 M
90 M
.25 G/T
1 G/T
25 T
100 T
video 4.3Mb/s HDTV/DVD 1.8 G
20 G/T
1P
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Character of Cyber All Use
User
Personal
Context / (including financial)
Timelines
Professional
(work related)
Archival
Working
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Character of Cyber All Use
User
Context /
Timelines
Personal
(ambiance,
entertainment,
finance)
Professional
(work related)
Archival Documents, photos and Books, papers,
reference documents
(historical photo albums, music,
video memory-aid,
memory-aid and
reference)
entertainment, medical
history, progeny
reference
Working Documents, email,
(daily use) photos, CDs, video
Documents, email
content for profession
ambiance,entertainment use to communicate,
communication, finance and “work”
and “work”
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Connecting computers to receivers,
TV sets and/or large monitors
►
TANSTAAFL* for wiring, monitors, computers
*There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch!
► CAT5+ @100-10K Mbps is the best, fungible
audio, telephony, IP, and video net. CATV is still
required, but need not be with the right device!
► Computer & HDTV monitors replace TV sets
TV sets: unacceptable for browsing & mail…
fixable
► Every viewing or listening place requires a
computer or “digital transformer” for control and
Digital to legacy analog (radio mouse gives
location flexibility)
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Gordon’s wiring closet for:
3 studies and 3 viewing/listening
sites.
Love power
hogs
•DSL & Cable Modems:
DSL 0.9 vs Cable .001
•802.11b transceiver
•Siemens 2 line phone transceiver
•Fax switcher for line sharing
•Sonicbox firewall
•100 Mb Ethernet switch, patch
panel, and punchdown for 4 lines
•20 min. brown out battery
backup
•House Alarm
•Not shown: CATV distribution
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Wires and radio networks for in home
Network
Scheme
Data-rate
Advantage
Disadvantage
CAT5+
4 Twisted
pr.
1Gbps
New wiring. Useful for
audio and composite video.
Inability to transmit CATV.
CATV
R6U Co-ax
1 GHz
(150 6
MHz chs.)
Separate wiring; low
cost; easy install. Telco
compatible.
“Fungible” wiring.
Exists for TV sets;
could also serve IP
throughout the home
Telephone
2-4 Tel. pr.
10 Mbps
Uses existing wiring
Questionable data-rate
Power
AC Power
?
Uses existing wiring
Unproven; safety
1394
RF analog; no digital
Distance, lack of protocols
802.11b
Radio LAN
11 Gbps
No wires
Crowded spectrum, speed
802.11a
Radio LAN
50 Gbps
“
“
Bluetooth
1. Mbps
“
“ Short distance, speed
Home RF
1 Mbps
“
“ Low speed
Speed.
Install. skill; lack of home
net equipment
Fiber
1394,
SPDIF, etc.
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Digital all the way!
Don’t bother with TV sets
if you want to utilize the screens for
anything but TV content
Computer SVGA… etc. 5-10’
Hi Res.
Computer
Monitor
CATV
Dist.
Set
top
Cable
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Computer to Television
Alternatives*
► Display
 Hi-res. monitors with CATV/set-top input
… we MUST replace the TV set with a hi-res.
monitor
 Television sets, but inadequate for browsing, mail
► Source
(computer to composite | S-video)
 Video card
 SVGA to composite scan converter
 Portable with video output…(unacceptable quality)
► Distribution
to one TV set
► Distribution
to multiple TV sets
 Composite | S-video limited to 10’-50’
 Transformer coupling using CAT5 for long
distance
 2.9 GHz radio link is of no use
 CATV links using RF channel
* 1+ 2 x 4 alts!
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Alternatives for connecting
computers to legacy TV sets
Compos.|S-Video
V card
Computer
xVGA
Scan
Conv
Balun
Balun
CAT5
2.4 Ghz
TV Set
2.4 Ghz
Radio
Portable
Computer
Video out
Mod.
3 Source
alts.
CATV
Dist.
Cable
4 Distribution
alts.
CATV cable
Set
top
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft