Salt Lake City –
a startup manufacturer of home-based digital
entertainment server products, this week introduced at the Integrated Systems
Europe (ISE) show in Amsterdam,
new Blu-ray Disc server systems designed for “set-and-forget” reliability.
The Mozaex system, according
to the company, allows instant playback of media stored on its server,
including Blu-ray and DVD movies, CD and MP3 music, photos and on-demand
NetFlix movies and Pandora music via the Mozaex NetPlay online media service.
Any media can be easily played
simultaneously in any room.
Unlike Media Center Edition PC-based media servers, Mozaex is a
dedicated, proprietary media server appliance, the company said.
Mozaex is now offering two types of expandable systems: the first
are player/server systems that support up to 30 Blu-ray playback zones and are based
on individual players and a centralized storage server. Three player models are
available with varying chassis, pricing, and audio and video features.
The second are all-in-one systems based on a single, fully
integrated unit, combining one or several players with an integrated storage
server. The Solo series includes both a Blu-ray player and storage, while the
Bravo and Quartet are four music player-based servers with and without an
integrated Blu-ray player, respectively.
Pricing starts at a $2,495 suggested retail for a single Blu-ray
zone player; the all-in-one, 1TB Solo 1 model has a suggested retail price of
$4,195.
Servers are available with up to 15TBs of RAID 6 protected
storage and start at $5,995 for the 4TB Server 2U non-RAID model.
Systems are said to offer interoperability with a broad base of
control systems, including touch panel controllers from companies including
Crestron, AMX and Control4.
The company also just released new interfaces for the new
Philips’ Pronto and NetStreams’ touch panels.
Mozaex employs SurePlay, an online remote-access system
maintenance program that allows either the dealer or Mozaex to update and
maintain the system anywhere in the world. Also offered is EasyUp single-click
user software updating utility, enabling off-site maintenance.
Mozaex was started by Axonix founder Douglas Kihm with the goal
of redefining personal multi-room, multi-media Blu-ray entertainment, the
company said. Now fully funded and
operating, key members of the Axonix team are now part of Mozaex.
“After developing MediaMax and listening closely to the needs of
leading custom home electronics dealers, I decided to form a company that
addresses the un-served need for a premier Blu-ray media server with never-fail
reliability, online system service, and unmatched quality,” stated Kihm, who is
Mozaex’ CEO. “There really is only one other competitor left in the media
server market and they don’t support Blu-ray, photos, or online media, nor do
they provide full online system maintenance or a no charge three-year warranty
service program. Mozaex uniquely fills this demand.”
Kihm explained that while the Mozaex systems are is designed to allow
playback of content stored on its servers, Mozaex does not make use of or
install illegal decrypting software that would break AACS copy protection in
loading that content onto server memory. Discs must be in clear to copy.
“We do not make, sell, ship or
provide any product with any unlicensed decrypting, so like a PC it is 100
percent legal,”
Kihm said. “We
do ship with a licensed tool to play back physical movie discs. Mozaex is a
multi-purpose, multimedia device that can play all types of media and dozens of
online media “channels” (ie: Pandora, NetFlix etc.). As it is the case with millions of PCs shipped
every year with similar media “center” server, movie playback
software, if the user wants to load and play loaded movies it is the sole
responsibility of the user to configure the product to do so and obey all
copyright laws.”
As for future
compatibility with discs that may be produced to support the Managed Copy
system, which is included in the completed AACS spec issued last June, Kihm
said, “We do not currently support managed
copy. We are studying the Managed Copy (MC) specification and we expect that we
will someday support MC when it is fully released hopefully later this
summer. It appears that MC will only
allow the one viewer to locally watch the movie stored locally on the unit and
not allow multiple users to view the centrally stored movie.”
Kihm said Mozaex is using eight domestic rep firms and 10
international distributors to support and carry its products to its network of dealers
and installers.
Mozaex products are covered by a limited three-year warranty and
free product lifetime telephone support. Mozaex is also currently offering
service and support for the no longer manufactured Axonix MediaMax product
line, the company said.
