For the past decade mankind has bathed in the ever developing and intriguing pool of technology. Todays households are a much different place from that of the late 90's. Set top boxes, wireless routers, HDTVs, game consoles, PVRs are some of the most prominent pieces of technology that adorn the average living room in the US and Europe. I'd put a firm bet on 95% of you reading this that sitting under your main TV is at least 2 pieces of tech. Currently sitting under mine is an Xbox 360, Wii, PVR, and a home theatre receiver. Whilst some of these can do the same thing e.g. play DVDs they still each have their own individual use that is only available to me from that unit. So it got me thinking, will we ever see the day where one box will sit under our TV that does everything we want in terms of entertainment? Is it possible at the current time to only have one? and would you want to have just one box?

This trail of thought came along after I recently considered picking up a PlayStation 3. My main reason for considering the purchase was that I am a huge Metal Gear Solid fan and MGS4 just gets closer each day. However there is also the fact that the PS3 offers me Blu ray, a big hard drive that I can upgrade, online capability and in the near future I will be able to receive digital TV through it using the PlayTV attachment. So for £299 I would be getting a lot of functionality from just one device, I could potentially knock my current five device set up down to three or possibly even two boxes. Freeing up real estate under the TV means less wires, less to clean and best of all only 2-3 remotes/controllers.

There is however that single vital flaw in such a proposition: I don't get all the available options I had before. I gain HD disc based movies and lose Video Marketplace, I gain MGS 4 and Uncharted but lose Gears of War and Halo 3, I gain a media center but lose family fun. It comes agonizingly close to realizing the singular box dream for entertainment centers everywhere but falls short by just missing some minor details that can mean a lot.

Personally I would love to have one device that suits all my entertainment needs. A good example that I currently enjoy now is having an iPhone, all possible manor of functionality that I require whilst on the move is right there in the palm of my hand. It's simple to use despite having a large variety of functionality, it saves me space and above all it meets my needs. So how about something like that for the living room?

So I put it to you the Detoid faithful, one box to rule them all? Does putting all your eggs in one basket concern you? Would you be prepared to lose some functionality in favour of others? Have you already cut down on the clutter under your TV? Would love to hear your ideas on the subject.


Lazlow out.