Our homes - and our lives - are increasingly filled with electronics, yet more often than not, our home electronics are so independent of one another that they're cumbersome at best and useless at worse. A Media Center PC solves that problem by integrating any number of home electronics and, as a result, giving you the ability to unlock the full potential of everything from your home entertainment system to your home security system.

The secret to full integration is a Windows Media Center, also known as a PC Desktop Media Center. When connected to your TV or HDTV, the Window Media Center becomes the hub of your home electronics. Offering everything from personal logins for each family member to an incredible variety of software, hardware, and services, a Media Center PC gives every person their own document and media libraries.

When it comes to home entertainment, the Media Center PC keeps everything in one place. When connected to a home network, you can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and view photos anywhere in your home. You can connect your digital camera and manipulate photos, create slideshows with music, and even burn them onto DVDs. With the Personal Video Recorder (PVR), also known as a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), you can record up to three live television shows at once and watch them at your convenience. Best of all, the PC Desktop Media Center isn't simply a box dedicated to home entertainment; even while it's playing or slideshow, you can still surf the Web, check your email, and have all of the functionality of any desktop PC.

When it comes to a Media Center PC, home entertainment features are just the tip of the iceberg, though. You can also integrate video gaming systems and automatically synch your Windows Media Center with any number of portable devices.

Most compelling of all, a Media Center PC gives you the ability to automate any number of other devices around the home. You can, for example, turn your lights on or off, control the thermostat, and make sure your doors are locked - all with a click of the mouse or the remote control. You can also create your own video security system and run any number of other security devices right from your Windows Media Center. And, you can even set the entire system up to use voice control.

Although such functionality and integration may still seem like the wave of the future, with a Media Center PC, the future is now.