Hewlett-Packard gunning for more home entertainment revenue -- why?

Although computer giant Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) has had its neck in the home entertainment arena for quite some time, the world's largest tech company wants to throw its past in the bucket and really ramp up home products. This is based on what the company unveiled at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. My only question is this: haven't we seen all this before?

The bridge that connects the internet to the home theater environment is so far from being a mainstream process that one would think many manufacturers would have abandoned the idea already. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has pitched this idea for nearly a decade, and even Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which released the AppleTV to bridge this divide, has seen middling success at best.

What can Hewlett-Packard do to re-ignite this field -- if it even exists in consumers' minds? Microsoft's Home Server, meant to shuttle content from anywhere in the house to anywhere, is not exactly burning up the sales charts.

The niche of home entertainment, so far, does not seem compatible with the PC industry's idea of extending PC functionality to the living room flat-screen. From viewing HP's lackluster plans that don't seem solidly planted in reality, I'd guess this incompatibility will sit on the horizon for many years to come.