The big tech news news this week is the joint launch by the BBC and ITV of Freesat a free satellite television service. Freesat is available to 98% of UK homes, including all those like myself when in the UK, that are unable to receive Freeview through a TV aerial. New users will have to make a single initial payment for a dish, set-top box and installation, but will not pay an ongoing monthly subscription.

So what with a free satellite service and the iPlayer from the BBC and the equivalents from ITV all giving the ability to download content, people are going to need something on which to save that content. For a long time I have looked at buying a media PC that was quiet enough to sit in the living room. Things like the Tivo have been available in the US, and we have the Sky + but media PC’s have yet to really take off in the UK. Things might be about to change however and I thought it might be worth looking at a few examples.

First here is one that would not be out of place in the most stylish living room, the Sony Vaio TP2 Home Theatre PC. Great looks, with a Blu-Ray disc player, a digital TV tuner, 2GB of Ram and 500 GB for all that digital content. The Sony is definately trying to redefine the PC for the living room.

In the next post I will look at another option with perhaps more substance than style. Do you have a Media PC? Is it a device whose time has come?