Iomega launches new media streaming players

 

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Posted on 25 Oct 2009 at 17:05

Iomega has launched three new ScreenPlay HD Media Players, including the flagship ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player, a 1080p media player for viewing content stored on your home network on your TV, with the ability to access online content from popular Internet sites.

The lineup comprises three different players with different features at different prices - in theory, something for everyone that wants to enjoy their videos, photos, music and all of their digital content on the TV without being in front of their computer. Plus, with up to 2TB of built-in storage, you can simply store content on the ScreenPlay??s hard drive and then use an intuitive remote to play it on your large screen TV.

Top of the Line: ScreenPlay Director
The new ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player supports full 1080p high definition playback (including 24fps support) and either 1 or 2TB of storage. It's also DivX Home Theatre certified and there's wide codec support including H.264, WMV and MKV, as well as plenty of others.

DLNA compliance allows the Director to communicate with other compatible devices on your home network, is pre-configured for services such as YouTube, Flickr, Shoutcast Internet radio, RSS feeds and podcasts. With three USB 2 ports, you can attach other storage devices, a camera, flash drives, or a WiFi adapter.

The ScreenPlay Director is available now and costs around £180 including VAT for the 1TB model; the 2TB version will cost significantly more at around £300.

ScreenPlay Plus
The ScreenPlay Plus is the entry-level model, which supports all high definition formats except 1080p and comes with either a 500GB or 1TB capacity. Like the Director, the Plus is DivX Home Theatre certified.

Format support includes MP3, AC3 (Dolby Digital Encoding), WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI-VOB), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX/XViD) and JPEG. Connection to an HD TV is easy thanks to an HDMI connection while there's a USB port for accessing additional storage from a portable hard drive or a USB flash drive.

The 500GB plus will cost around £120 including VAT; the 1TB version is better value at £130.

ScreenPlay TV Link Director
The TV Link Director is essentially a Director but with no hard disk. Instead, you can plug in your own USB drive or browse content on your home network. At £100 including VAT, it's the best option for those with exisitng USB drives or plenty of network storage.

We'll aim to review at least one of the new models in the next few weeks.

Author: Jim Martin