Allio 42-inch HDTV with PC and Blu-ray Player
It use to be that the big buzz word going around the industry was convergence. In the multimedia living room of tomorrow, a melding of the capabilities of various entertainment center components, along with the computer functionalities, is the end goal that will culminate into a more intelligent, connected entertainment center. Or at least it seems to be. Granted, the HTPC (Home Theater PC) has come a long way at making that goal a reality but you'd have to agree we're not there quite yet. Interestingly, in a reverse merger sort of fashion, Boulder CO company Silicon Mountain (mountain of silicon perhaps?) steps out today with the first fully integrated HDTV PC product. The Allio PCTV has a lot more going on under its hood beyond 400nits and a 2000:1 contrast ratio...
Silicon Mountain Unveils Allio 42-inch HDTV with Integrated PC and Blu-Ray Player Product, First of Its Kind in North America, Now Available Boulder, Colo. & Menlo Park, Calif. -- November 10, 2008 Silicon Mountain Holdings, Inc., (OTCBB: SLCM), a technology company specializing in high-performance interactive computing solutions, today announced its design for a 32 and 42-inch High Definition LCD-TV with an integrated, full-function PC and Blu-Ray/DVD player. Named Allio, this system will define an entirely new category of converged products, where entertainment and instant, on-demand information and productivity blend together seamlessly, in stunning high-definition. The Allio HD TV / PC is the first product of its kind in North America, and Silicon Mountain is the first company worldwide to develop a converged HDTV / PC solution that includes Blu-Ray. It is available now, in time for U.S. holiday purchases. Orders are being taken now at the Visionman website at http://www.visionman.com/. The flagship Allio model marries a Full-HD 42" LCD display with a combo Blu-Ray/DVD player, integrated digital recorder for PVR and a powerful PC, based on the Intel Core2Duo E8400 processor, 4GB of RAM from Silicon Mountain, a 1TB hard drive and the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium. In addition to the analog and digital audio-video inputs common to high-def televisions, Allio includes wireless and wired networking capabilities and several USB ports to extend the experience to other computers and peripherals in the home. Specifications
There you have it; an LCD HDTV with a fully functional on-board HTPC with 2GB of RAM, a Core 2 Duo processor, Intel's newly released G45 chipset with integrated graphics for full HD offload and a Hauppauge HD TV Tuner/PVR card. The specs list certainly reads like a PC with integrated 42" LCD monitor but with its digital comb filter and reasonably high quality LCD, this just may be one step closer to that convergence nirvana we've all heard about. There are lower cost units but the high-end flagship model shown here lists for $2799.
Additional information on where to buy Allio will be announced soon.;)
Allio 42" HDTV-PC - Click image for high res
We may be contacting Silicon Mountain soon to get our hands on an eval unit.
