PC and TV monitor manufacturer ViewSonic said it is now shipping the Media Center PC it introduced in January during International CES.
The ViewSonic NextVision M2000 Digital Media Center, which uses the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, is available at select retail outlets, by mail order and through PC reseller channels, the company said.
The NextVision M2000 combines a Digital Video Recorder, CD/DVD player/writer, MP3 music library and still image or video photography albums into a centralized system. The unit is powered by a Pentium 4 2.8GHz PC equipped with a 160GB hard drive. The form factor allows the unit to be placed horizontally as a component in an entertainment system or in a traditional tower orientation.
The unit incorporates an NTSC analog TV tuner card, but does not include ATSC digital tuning out of the box.
Other features include MyDVD Media Suite for playback and recording of DVDs. The system is OpenDVD-compliant, enabling previously burned DVDs to be opened, re-edited, updated with new video and photo content and re-burned to DVD and CD recordable/re-writable media.
ViewSonic is positioning the piece as an “entertainment hub” for future in-home networks.
The NextVision M2000 carries an estimated street price of $1,895 after a $100 mail-in rebate.
