Iomega Introduces Three New ScreenPlay HD Media Players

Media players are out in force at CES, and Iomega is making sure it doesn't miss this train. Here at the show, the company has introduced an expanded ScreenPlay HD Media Player product line, which is capped off by the top-of-the-line ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player. As with most rivals, this unit is designed to give users easy access to online programming and then pipe it to one's HDTV. This one, however, includes Roxio CinemaNow software for snagging movies on demand, enabling films to be purchased or rented with a simple button press.

In all, three new products were introduced in the line; the top-end unit has 1TB of internal space, while the ScreenPlay Plus has 1TB as well and 720p/1080i playback support. What's it take to take one home? The new 1TB Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player will be available in the U.S. later this month for $249.00, while the 1TB Iomega ScreenPlay Plus HD Media Player is available now for $169.00, and the new ScreenPlay TV Link Director is expected be available in the U.S. later this quarter for $129.00.

Iomega ScreenPlay HD Media Player products create a convenient link between the home network and the home theater, giving users an easy way to enjoy their digital content from the best seat in the house. Users simply store content on the ScreenPlay's hard drive and then use a new intuitive remote to play the content on their large screen TV.

Roxio CinemaNow

The Roxio CinemaNow entertainment platform incorporated into the new ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player products (available only to U.S. consumers), gives users instant access to buy or rent movies and other premium content via the Internet to watch on standard and high definition televisions.*

"With Roxio CinemaNow, consumers will be able to access premium content directly from Iomega's ScreenPlay HD Media devices," said Huberman. "Now U.S. consumers can rent or buy movies over the Internet without needing their computer or ever leaving the livingroom. We are excited to partner with Sonic Solutions to add this functionality to our industry leading ScreenPlay line up and further differentiate our products from others in the marketplace."

Top of the Line: The New ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player

The new ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player boasts full 1080p high definition playback (24fps) and 1TB** of space to save all your multimedia files. The ScreenPlay Director is DivX® Home Theatre certified to play popular DivX video, and supports many of today's popular CODECs and file types, including H.264, WMV and MKV, as well as plenty of others. (For a comprehensive list of supported video, audio and photo files, please go to www.iomega.com.)

The ScreenPlay Director is compatible with PCs and Macs, and has an Ethernet connection so you can store, access and share videos, photos and music across your home network or store all the files in one convenient location on the ScreenPlay Director. The new ScreenPlay Director is DLNA compatible to interact with other compatible devices on your home network, and is WiFi ready so you can connect to your network wirelessly, if desired. (USB WiFi adaptor sold separately.)

The ScreenPlay Director also includes a selection of popular online media pre-configured for easy access, including YouTube, Flickr, Shoutcast Internet radio, RSS feeds and podcasts. You can also configure the ScreenPlay Director to add other RSS feeds and podcasts, making it a snap to customize the player with your choice of online content. With three USB 2.0 ports, you can attach other external storage devices, a camera, flash drives, or a WiFi adapter.

The ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player, available later this month in the U.S., can hold up to 4 million photos, 18,500 hours of music, or 1,500 hours of video***.

The New Iomega® ScreenPlay(TM) Plus HD Media Player

Another new product in the ScreenPlay product family is the new entry-level HD media player, the ScreenPlay Plus, which acts as both a high definition multimedia player as well a high capacity storage device for your media library. Available in a 1TB capacity, the affordable new ScreenPlay Plus supports native high definition 720p and 1080i video playback, and is DivX® Home Theatre certified to play DivX video, too.

The ScreenPlay Plus is compatible with such media formats as MP3, AC3 (Dolby® Digital Encoding), WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI-VOB), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX/XViD) and JPEG. The ScreenPlay Plus includes an HDMI connection and a USB 2.0 port for accessing additional storage from a portable hard drive or a USB Flash drive.

The New ScreenPlay TV Link Director

The Iomega® ScreenPlay(TM) TV Link Director provides all the capabilities of the ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player but at a fraction of the cost. A small, compact device with no onboard hard drive, the ScreenPlay TV Link Director gives users the flexibility to bring their content to the device using their own USB drives and USB 2.0 Flash drives or by browsing their home network. The ScreenPlay TV Link Director is DLNA compatible and is an ideal companion to Iomega's Home Media Network Drive. The ScreenPlay TV Link Director is perfect for users with plenty of storage capacity in existing USB drives.

All of the new Iomega ScreenPlay HD Media Player products come with an intuitive remote control that makes it easy to view movies and photos, listen to music and access the Internet without leaving your seat.

Premium Software from Iomega

The Iomega Protection Suite of software is bundled free of charge with many Iomega products, including the new ScreenPlay HD Director and ScreenPlay Plus Media Player products. Available via download, the Iomega Protection Suite includes Iomega QuikProtect for simple scheduled file-level backup; a choice between EMC® Retrospect® Express or Express HD to back up your data, plus applications and settings; and a free subscription to a market-leading software that protects your PC with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and web security protection.