Intel is taking yet another shot at becoming the de facto home media device with their recently-announced Viiv campaign. This has gained new importance for them with all of the attention on the Xbox 360 / Playstation 3 contest to define the next home game machine, which is widely seen as the new generation of the home PC. The fact that both of these contenders are based on PowerPC architectures is surely not lost on Intel.

The press releases are predictably upbeat, but there is a fairly insightful analysis on the Register. They bring up Intel’s dependence on Microsoft’s Media Center Edition, which personally I haven’t been that impressed with. This leaves Intel dependent on a partner that is also betting on another hand – a weak position at best.

It is possible that the Viiv architecture will allow the creation of a series of creative PC-based embedded devices. The emphasis on lower power will certainly make it more attractive than it currently is, but the question is whether the profit margins will be at the levels that Intel demands. The x86 architecture is not as special as it once was. Is Intel thrashing here or are they really defining the future?

Larry Mittag