IFA 2006, Berlin, Germany – Following the launch last year of the first Philips Showline Media Center, Philips is introducing two new models that will further enhance the enjoyment of digital multimedia home entertainment.
The two new models – the MCP9360i and the MCP9480i – bring together advanced convergent digital technology alongside high-definition, high-quality video and audio playback and the convenience of wireless connectivity.
The new Philips Showline Media Centers build on their predecessor with the addition of two key enhancements: firstly, the installation of the Intel® Viiv™Technology next-generation PC platform that comprises an Intel® Pentium D (dual core) CPU and Intel G965 Chipset; and secondly, a doubling of memory from 512 MB to 1024 MB. Hybrid tuners enable viewing of both digital terrestrial (DVB-T*) and analog TV broadcast.
Both the MCP9360i and the MCP9480i are Microsoft® Windows™ Vista-ready, ensuring that their installed operating system, Windows XP Media Center Home Edition 2005 can be easily upgraded to Windows Vista Home Basic or Home Premium graphical operating systems when they become available in early 2007. Application of the Intel Viiv Dual Core CPU also enhances the flexibility of these two systems, providing two processors on the same chip, instead of one, for extremely fast and flexible processing. Intel Viiv greatly improves computer performance and multitasking for playing movie and music downloads, and gaming. Downloads that show the Viiv logo ensure that users have full performance and digital rights management (DRM) compatibility.
Feature-rich multimedia experience
The Media Center MCP9480i has the additional feature of My Philips Zone, a rich selection of plug-ins that improve and expand home entertainment functionality, as well as a 320 GB hard-disc drive. My Philips Zone enables easy access to a host of exciting applications with only two clicks on the remote. Applications include Blu-ray™ Disc (BD) functions, Digital Video (DV) Capture, DVD movie creation, TV Scanner, Media and TV Servers, SoftDMA and Audio Control Center.
Blu-ray Disc brings a professional-quality high-definition (HD) experience to the viewer. The feature allows playing of the latest HD movies, burning HD content for playback on other BD devices, and backing-up a huge volume of personal content. Philips has recently introduced 25 GB single-layer BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (recordable and erasable) discs that give the highest storage yet for HD entertainment and digital archiving. This capacity is equivalent to more than six hours of HD video, 12 hours of DVD or 36 CDs. Philips plans to introduce a 50 GB dual-layer BD-R disc in the near future.
Philips adds Blu-ray Disc and extra PC power to Media Centers – continued
The DV Capture application controls a digital video camera to import recorded content to the Media Center PC through one of the i.Link (IEEE1394/FireWire®) connectors. Scenes can be ‘rewound’, played forward and selected using the Media Center remote control.
The Make DVD Movie feature creates DVDs from recorded TV programs or personal files. Creating photo slideshows, burning to disc, making audio CDs and producing attractive DVDs with stylish menus using the built-in library are easily accomplished through the My Philips Zone button on the remote.
To share content stored on the Media Center with other devices on the home network, the My Philips Zone Media Server streams files to media clients like Philips SLM5500 or SLM5520 wireless adapters. TV Server performs a similar function for sharing live TV signals. Also, content can be stored on another PC, especially a laptop, using the SoftDMA digital media adaptor application that allows the PC to function as a Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) client for other Viiv-based devices. Media Server, TV Server and SoftDMA are applications developed by Cyberlink, specially adapted for Philips.
TV Scanner is a Philips alternative to Microsoft Windows for accurately searching for TV channels independent of region (Microsoft Windows Media XP Center Edition requires a download of a frequency table related to region). The tool scans the TV frequency band and copies the channel frequencies found to the Media Center PC. This also improves reception, minimizes noise and, if available, increases the number of channels. Audio set-up and quality can be enhanced using the Audio Control Center application to configure speaker systems via the Media Center screen and remote. The Media Center is Dolby Home Theatre™-certified for maximum surround sound enjoyment.
Both new Media Center models share the same, comprehensive functionality as the highly successful MCP9350i, including such innovative features as Digital Natural Motion, Motion Adaptive de-interlacing and LikeMusic smart and intuitive ‘personal DJ’. Moreover, easy navigation is afforded by the advanced universal remote that controls all AV devices – PC, TV, amplifier, satellite and DVD – as well as direct audio volume that eliminates ecosystem imbalance. A wireless keyboard is provided for further control convenience.