Niveus Launching New Zone Players
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 9/10/2009
CEDIA Expo 2009 Atlanta - Niveus Media of Fremont, Calif., is coming to the CEDIA Expo with a newly launched networked media player, which is based on the Windows Vista Premium OS and incorporates built-in DVD/Blu-ray drive.
The new Zone Pro at $1,999 is three times faster than the company's $1,499 DVD/BD-equipped Zone player because it uses an 80GB solid-state hard drive in lieu of a mechanical hard drive with less capacity, said CEO Tim Cutting. Each Zone's hard drive is used primarily to support the Vista OS but can be used to store music and photos as well as recorded TV programming when connected to an optional Niveus digital cable receiver with CableCard tuner.
Also at the show, the company will unveil a new N7 player, due in 2010, with the ability to support eight digital cable tuners and with storage capacity of around 80GB or 120GB, he said. Niveus will also announce a service to reduce installation time and provide remote management of a client's installs, Cutting said.
Zone players network with other Zone players to share content with one another, including time-shifted cable programming from connected third-party CableCard tuners, but they also stream content from a Niveus' networked Cargo 16-bay storage server or from networked servers based on the Windows Home Server technology. With the new Zone Pro and new upgrades to the existing Zone player, HD cable content can also be shared, the company said.
On Cargo servers with capacities from 4TB to 32TB, consumers can store music, photos, PC video, and copied DVD and Blu-ray content. Although the Cargo lacks its own DVD/BD drive, discs can be copied to the Cargo via the drive-equipped Zone players. Although copy-protected DVDs and Blu-ray discs can be copied to the Cargo, they can be played back on the Zone players only if consumers install software that Niveus does not provide.
The Niveus system is promoted as Managed Copy-ready so that future Blu-ray discs with Managed Copy technology can be copied in an authorized way to a Cargo server.
All of the products are upgradable to Windows 7.
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