Intel's Viiv is not just a platform for the entertainment PC, but is positioned to become the dominant consumer PC platform for the future, Merlin Kister, director of consumer client marketing, told vnunet.com in an interview at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. 

"We hope that, for the consumer PC in the home, Viiv will take over from the other brands. From a Pentium perspective, we will shift that all to Viiv technology," Kister said.

A market will remain for non-Viiv PCs in niche areas such as gaming, he added, or users looking for a low cost machine for basic tasks such as browsing or text editing.

The Viiv logo programme is similar to the Centrino marketing campaign, telling buyers that a computer system works with Wi-Fi wireless technology.

This allows Intel to enforce which technologies are supplied in entertainment PCs and thereby guarantee a minimum user experience.

Computer manufacturers are allowed to use the Viiv logo if their devices meet certain criteria. A computer requires an Intel dual-core processor and remote control, and has to run Windows Media Center Edition to qualify.

In addition to the logo, Viiv comes with a collection of special software and online services providing access to exclusive free and premium content.

Intel officially kicked off its Viiv initiative at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. Manufacturers were quick to sign up; there are currently about 110 models for sale, the cheapest of which sells for $699.

By comparison, Dell offers the e310 'entertainment PC' on its website for $475. The system is powered by a single-core Pentium 4 and runs Windows Media Center Edition.