Iomega Announces Screenplay Pro HD Multimedia Drive

[btarunr]

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today added to its ScreenPlay series of Multimedia drives with the new Iomega ScreenPlay Pro HD 1.0TB Multimedia Drive.

The new ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive creates a convenient link between the home network and the home theater, giving users a convenient way to show off their family photos, play music, and enjoy their videos from the best seat in the house.



New features in the ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive include 10/100 Fast Ethernet for true network storage and more convenient access to files on the home network; wireless capability (USB WiFi dongle sold separately); new 1TB capacity (as well as a 500GB model in EMEA); better support for native high definition 720p and 1080i video; an Energy Star qualified adapter; a USB 2.0 connector for accessing additional storage from a portable hard drive or a USB Flash drive; as well as support for an even broader selection of formats for enjoying photos, music, and video
selections.

The Iomega ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive comes with a remote
control and holds up to 4 million photos, 18,500 hours of music, or 1500 hours of video, enabling family and friends to share high-resolution photos, music, and video clips in the comfort of the living room, without a computer. A key feature for many users is a built-in basic video recording capability from a set-top box, letting users save a standard definition video clip for later viewing.

"With the Iomega ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive, consumers can make the most of the video, photos, and music on the home network and enjoy them in their living room in all their high definition glory," said Loren Bryner, global product manager, Iomega Corporation. "Now that mainstream home entertainment products have gone highdef, the ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia drive lets consumers leverage that investment. With this multimedia drive attached to a home theater system, it becomes as easy to browse the home network for viewable content as it is to put in a DVD."

Iomega ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive Technical Description

The ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive weighs just 2.16 pounds (0.98 kg) and measures 5.7" by 3" x 7.26" (145 x 76 x 184 mm, L x W x H).

Inside the ScreenPlay Pro HD Multimedia Drive is a 1.0TB 3.5 inch 7200 RPM hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system. PC connectivity options include 10/100 Fast Ethernet and USB 2.0. Video connection options include HDMI, component and composite video. Audio connection options include composite RCA and coaxial S/PDIF outputs. Contents include cables for USB, HDMI video, and composite video, along with a remote control.

Using the HDMI or component outputs, the user can choose video settings from 480i/480p/720p/1080i. Supported media formats include MP3, AC3 (Dolby Digital Encoding), DTS, PCM, AAC, WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (HL/ML), MPEG-4 (AVI/DiVX 3.11, 4.x, 5.x, 6.x/XViD), mov, iso, vob, mp4, mkv, JPEG, and BMP.

System Requirements

The Iomega (R) ScreenPlay(TM) Pro HD Multimedia Drive is designed for use with the following PC operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP Home/XP Professional/XP Professional x64, Windows Vista.

Availability

The Iomega ScreenPlay Pro HD 1.0 TB Multimedia Drive USB 2.0/AV
is now available in the Americas for $299.99 (Price is U.S. suggested retail.) In Europe, the 500GB model will retail for 199.00 EUR, and the 1TB model will retail for 249.00 EUR.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[lemonadesoda]

Looks interesting. I like the record feature. But can it also stream videos from a separate NAS? I think so, but not 100% sure. You might need to transfer the files to the ProHD box first. http://www.iomega-europe.com/section?SID=23859ce8188a9ab560d0905caec25d130a7:4710&secid=40361

1./ Who put the ethernet socket ABOVE the HDMI sockets, when, in 99% of cases, the ethernet cable goes DOWN to the wall socket or router or hub, and HDMI cables go UP to the TV?

2./ The item that lets down most of these "net/media players" are their ugly remotes. (esp. nesting the most used keys within a budch of other equally sized buttons).

 

[cloaker]

lol, i think this eliminates the use of a blu ray player

 

[pjladyfox]

lemonadesoda,

I'd be curious about the NAS streaming support as well. I did a lot of digging and could not really find a clear answer one way or the other. I'm also a bit bummed that they do not sell a driveless version which would have made this unit quite a bit cheaper and allowed those of us who have spare drives to drop one into this.

Also, does anyone know which encoder chip this one is using?

 

[WarEagleAU]

That is pretty cheap for an awesome piece of equipment like this. Look at all those hook ups and connectors.

 

[Wile E]

Hmmm. Can it play styled subtitles out of the mkv files as well?

 

[realken]

real ken

i got the Iomega Screenplay Pro HD Multimedia Drive
last week,
really impressed except i have a lot of music and films on it and
the menu system isnt very user freindly,
kinda hard to browse and pick what you want to watch,
i know you can put everything into sub folders but it would be a lot better if you could view and browse everything you have simillar to a standard windows screen