Sonos coming to a television near you

EXCLUSIVE: Says no to video streaming though

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28 July 2009 9:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Setting up your Home Cinema system in the future could get a whole lot easier if Sonos has anything to do with it.

The company has outlined plans to Pocket-lint that would effectively remove complicated amps with tens of connections, in favour of "intelligent" speakers that connect to a base station allowing you to manage your system from a remote control.

"Why is Home Theatre so complicated?" questioned Thomas Cullen, one of the co-founders of the company, citing the numerous connectors found on the back of today's amps, DVD and Blu-ray players.

In a candid interview with Pocket-lint, Cullen confirmed that Sonos is already working on ways to simplify setting up a home cinema system under your television.

The as yet unannounced device will be designed to sit in between video capable devices like the Xbox 360, taking the audio stream via an Ethernet connection. It would then give you greater control and access via a software interface seen on your television and controlled by a remote in your hand.

The move, which Cullen admits is still in the early stages with no clear launch date, could, if it follows previous device developments from the company, be in the home within 2.5 years.

"We could pull the audio out via an Ethernet connection and make it better", said the co-founder before confirming that the company isn't interested in streaming video around the home to compete against similar products from Kaleidescape.

"Aside from kids content, we rarely watch content over and over again", the co-founder says, suggesting there isn't a need at the moment to remove all those DVDs from your house like the company has achieved with CDs for Sonos users.

"We aren't interested in streaming video", confirmed Cullen. "We want to approach this from an audio perspective".