Westminster, Colo.— Aegis Systems’s Bluephire DVR/AV server is out of the beta-test phase and recently began shipping to custom-installation dealers.
The Linux-based product, the company’s first A/V server, combines multiple product segments into one: CD ripper and server, DVD ripper and server, EPG-equipped DVR and photo-storage device.
Bluephire distributes content through the company’s AVMS 2.5 eight source/eight zone A/V distribution unit, enabling one video stream to be sent to up to eight different areas of the house. The AVMS is controlled by up to eight in-wall touch screens placed throughout the home.
Up to three Ethernet-connected clients can also be installed to enable up to four separate video streams to be sent to different areas of the house independently of one another.
Installers can also connect Bluephire to a LAN, enabling networked PCs to access its content via a Web browser. Users would type the word “bluephire” into the browser, opening up an HTML page being served from Bluephire.
The AVMS accepts A/V ins and outs in RCA composite format, but Aegis also sells composite-to-component up-converters for consumers who want a progressive-scan display of their video.
The next generation AVMS, due early next year, will give customers the option of choosing a combination of composite, S-video, component or DVI inputs and outputs.
Bluephire is offered in 400GB and 1.2TB (terabyte) versions at dealer costs that weren’t revealed.
The EPG is offered by Tribune Media with no subscription fee.
Aegis’s ownership transferred from Lenbrook Industries to Clear Blue Entertainment in mid-2004.
