The good folk at TechTV in the US have come up with their CES Best in Show product – the Denon NS-S100 multimedia server. Now there are a couple of things about this. First, I’m not that sure that supporting a company that refuses to honour product warranties if the device is bought from an ‘unauthorized dealer/on-line E-tailer’ is sending the right signals about the company’s attitude towards long term customer support.

And second, I am not so sure that the rash of ‘media center’ products currently hitting the shelves is going to amount to anything more than a short-lived fad. Do we seriously believe that the darling consumer – who has trouble programming the VCR clock remember – will happily manage to deal with file libraries, wireless networking and/or broadband connections as part of their daily entertainment ritual? Really? No way.

Sorry peeps, but it’s a bust. By this time next year home entertainment attention will be turned fully onto the real killer product line in the living room – the magnificent PVR. They provide real consumer value, are a doddle to setup and use and above all are replacing a well understood but very long in the tooth technology, the VCR.

And you don’t even have to program the clock, for goodness sake!