MediaReady 4000 Bridges TV, Stereo
Lafayette device plays movies and digital files streamed from your PC.Kalpana Ettenson, PC World
LAS VEGAS-- Couch potatoes with an affinity for high-tech entertainment will want to take a peek at the MediaReady 4000. The multifaceted DVD player, being shown at the Consumer Electronics Show here, merges home entertainment media with PC files.
This set-top box from Lafayette is designed to help you manage your entertainment in the living room. It plays back DVDs on your TV and CDs and MP3s over a home stereo system. It can also connect wirelessly to a PC or to a LAN, allowing you to share and play back both music and other digital files.
An ethernet connection also allows the Linux-based MediaReady 4000 to connect to the Internet via broadband, enabling you to surf the Web or check e-mail using a compatible wireless keyboard.
The $399 player uses a Via reference board and a Sigma 8475 chipset, and has a 20GB hard drive. It also has a FireWire port, two USB ports, an S-Video port, and a TV-out port.
Upcoming Features
Lafayette already has plans for new functions in the next version of the MediaReady 4000, which company representatives expect will ship within the next six months.
The updated device will also be able to function as a cable or satellite set-top box, allowing users to play subscription-based video content. At this point, video content delivered to the box over a broadband connection would include pay-per-video, subscription video on demand, and long-term video "rentals," in which a movie is stored on the player's hard drive, according to Video Without Boundaries, another partner involved in the development of the MediaReady 4000.
The MediaReady 4000 includes Java, Macromedia Flash, and several Internet media players, including a proprietary player developed by CAC Media, one of the partners involved in launching the MediaReady box.
Future versions will likely include digital video recording capability, as well as a built-in rewritable DVD drive, according to representatives from Video Without Boundaries.
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