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Escient Debuts Fireball DVDM-552 Multi-Zone Home Entertainment Management System

December 23rd, 2005

Escient has introduced its flagship Media Management System, the FireBall DVDM-552, as well as its performance-extending companion, the FireBall MP-200 Digital Media Player.

Featuring the industry’s first-ever 2,000-DVD library management capability, the DVDM-552 establishes a new price-performance ratio in multi-room home entertainment networking, offering significant cost savings over higher-priced hard drive-based multi-zone media servers. Using its award-winning, easy-to-use on-screen interface, users can browse and play vast DVD and music collections in five connected mega-disc changers, in addition to over 8,000 CDs stored on its 500GB internal hard drive.

Ideal for high-end custom installations, the FireBall DVDM-552 offers users a variety of unprecedented multiple room capabilities. When used with the MP-200, users can literally watch any movie or listen to any song in their collection from a second room of their home. Music stored on the DVDM-552 hard drive can also be streamed and played in multiple rooms in the home simultaneously via multiple connected MP-200s or by using DLNA/UPnP compatible digital media adapters. In addition to being able to watch two different DVD movies in different rooms when connected to the MP-200, the DVDM-552 even lets viewers enjoy the same movie simultaneously in separate rooms.

Both the DVDM-552 and MP-200 are designed to give custom installation specialists the ultimate solution for creating the ultimate home entertainment systems. Pre-built external control interfaces and modules are available for many 3rd party control and automation systems including AMX, Crestron, Elan, NetStreams, and Russound.

For added flexibility, a web server built into the DVDM-552 allows users to browse, manage, and play their movies and music from any standard web browser, and integrated file-sharing features lets users transfer, backup, and play music files between the DVDM-552 and a PC or Mac. The DVDM-552 features a built-in CD-RW Player/Recorder for playing CDs, ripping CDs to the internal hard drive, and for creating custom mix CDs. It also plays MP3 and WMA Internet Radio stations.

All DVDs and CDs controlled by the DVDM-552 are automatically identified by the Escient MovieDB and the Gracenote CDDB disc recognition services via the user’s Internet connection. The metadata and cover art for each disc are automatically downloaded and stored on the DVDM-552. A built-in parental control feature allows parents to determine which movies can be displayed and played through the on-screen Movies Guide.

The MP-200 digital media player, a multi-zone audio/video player designed to work in conjunction with the DVDM-552, gives users even more advanced options for “connecting the dots” in home entertainment, providing additional options for remotely managing, browsing, and playing media collections from multiple rooms in the home. The MP-200 works by providing each room or “zone” in the home, with an independent on-screen TV user interface, full remote control capabilities, video inputs, and digital audio. In conjunction with the DVDM-552, the MP-200 can independently access the user’s entire DVD movie collection and watch the same or different movie in a second room.

In addition to providing DVD access and viewing capability in multiple rooms when connected to an Escient DVDM-552, the MP-200 is an advanced network music player that lets users stream and play digital music from any FireBall Music server. Key to the MP-200’s advanced performance is its 100% digital audio circuitry. Unlike other remote media players on the market, the MP-200 delivers a pure digital music stream for optimum audio performance. Users can stream and enjoy MP3, WMA, and FLAC (CD Quality) audio files into any room of the house, using standard home wired or wireless networks.

The MP-200 also plays MP3 and WMA Internet Radio stations, and thanks to its Gapless Audio Playback feature, there are no more gaps between tracks when playing classical or live CDs. For added flexibility, users may stream digital audio to up to four FireBall MP-200 players from one FireBall Server, for five simultaneous audio streams, and with its integrated Web Server and PDA Interface, the MP-200 also provides remote control and music streaming from any standard web browser or PDA.

Bernie Sepaniak, president of D&M Holdings’ ReplayTV, Escient and ACT divisions noted: “As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary in 2006, our continuing mission is to give our valued custom installation customers the best-in-class products and system-building options that will let them create customized home entertainment systems with unprecedented features and capabilities, both for convenience and for multi-room entertainment. The DVDM-552, along with the companion MP-200, provides the leading-edge, high-wow-factor features and solutions that support the high-end pricing custom installation experts require, and they represent the pinnacle of media management technology today.”

The DVDM-552 and MP-200 will be available in March 2006 at suggested retail prices of $5,999 and $999, respectively. Escient’s FireBall line of DVD and Music Managers also includes the FireBall SE-D1 (SRP: $999) the DVDM-100 (SRP: $1,999) and the DVDM-300 (SRP: $4,999).

Entry Filed under: Digital Home