Media Center PCs might promise to bridge the PC-TV gap in our living rooms but in sales terms they have failed to take-off as expected, according to the latest results from a survey by GfK.

In the past 12 months, only 150,000 Media Center PCs were sold – representing just four per cent of all PCs shipped. Compared to shipments of two million DVD recorders in the same period, the manufacturers of Media Center PCs have a lot to do to educate customers. Despite the number of different models available doubling to 150 this year, there was only a modest increase in sales, GfK found.

The one piece of good news though is that while the overall desktop market is shrinking by 30 per cent year-on-year, sales of Media Center PCs are rising by 56 per cent. Even that result is tempered by the fact that retailers have slashed prices with Media Center PCs now starting from around £600.

GfK's IT Business Group Director, Jean Littolff, said:

“With some clever marketing, Media Centers could become as familiar to consumers as iPods. If the industry acts quickly, it may stave off the threat to Media Centers, the next generation of media gateways, which allow streaming from existing PCs to existing home entertainment systems. Media gateways currently available have sufficient bandwidth for the streaming of music, but once the new European standard is ratified, now expected for early 2007, streaming of video content will be feasible, and if Media Centers are not entrenched in the market by then, they may never be.” 

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