Imagine, no more DVDs to scratch. Have all your movies on today's cheap storage - EXTERNAL hard drives. Copy, delete, amend, all on the fly on your computer then attach to the multimedia player to play on your home theater or just TV. Why use or burn DVDs one by one and be afraid to scratch them, sort and re-sort them, lose DVD discs or jewel cases? Get this multimedia player and attach external hard drives to play your local content without a PC, without skipping as happens with optical media. Transfer your DVD movies or DIVX - XVID movies (including many-many more video and audio formats) to your hard drive (.iso or .ifo) and watch them on your TV while controlling all through a simple remote control.
Want to change to a different movie? Just select the one you want from a list and press play, no one has to stand up to change a DVD - is it not a point of having a remote control? What if you want a really quick fix? Copy a movie/music to your flash USB thumb-drive and watch that movie on your big screen under a few minutes! Do you have even less time? Stream it directly to your unit from your PC - movies, music, slide shows (or play from an external media)! Need to add, remove or edit a movie? Connect an external hard drive back to your PC's USB port, no need to burn new discs, hard drives are fast to edit data, make changes in seconds and then plug back to the multimedia unit. Well, you always could go old school and use a DVD drive to play your media.
For those serious users, they can use Ethernet to stream your movies to this multimedia versatile unit. Do you feel like Wi-Fi doesn't give you enough bandwidth? No worries, with power line adapters (not included with this unit) you can run Ethernet over existing power (alternative current) lines. There is no need to run Ethernet CAT cables through the whole house, the power line adapters bring Ethernet signal from every AC power socket in every room (same socket you plug your TV for power). Here is more information about the powerline technology.
Amazed? There is more! Run NAS (network attached storage) and access it through Ethernet or WI-FI. What is NAS? Imagine a hard drive, or a collection of them, that are networked, you would be able to access them through PC and this multimedia unit at the same time. This kind of a connection eliminates a need for USB external hard drives. Add-remove-edit and watch movies without a need to move storage through different devices. Have many hard drives run as one huge virtual hard drive, keep NAS anywhere you want, grow it with additional units or hard drives as your library expands.
Is it not the most versatile way to access your media to play it at your home theater while keeping your original expensive DVDs safe from harm's way?
Say, you have a collection of seasons of a show. To watch them all you would have to frequently change DVDs back and forth. With this multimedia unit you would be able to choose a season and access any episode you want. Or, sort your DVD images by genre by assigning different folder names: Sci-Fi, Martial Arts, Drama, Action, etc..
External hard drives are cheap? Today for $1 you get about 4GB of storage space or more (almost enough to fit one layer DVD). Hard drives are cheap and to make them external all you need is $20 external enclosure that supports USB version 2. Also, consider different ways to connect like power line adapters and NAS.
Description: The ZIOVA Clearstream CS505 High Definition Network Media Player gives users four connectivity options in one unit: wireless networking, Ethernet wired networking, optical disc playback and USB 2.0 hard drive connection.
The CS505's music playback capability handles all the formats enthusiasts have longed for, including the high definition FLAC lossless compressed format, OGG, AAC (commonly used in Apple iTunes), MP3, Windows Media Audio 9, CD Audio and others. It has unprecedented file format support including high definition Windows Media Video 9 and MPEG4 playback.
The internet is just a button away on the CS505, with instant access to features such as local weather, and support for streaming Internet radio stations.
Features:
HDMI Output with HDCP Support.
WMV9/TS/MPEG-4 High Definition Video Playback.
802.11g Wireless and Ethernet Networking.
Windows File Sharing (SMB).
FLAC Support. Incremental Pan and Zoom.
Skinnable User Interface (GUI).
Easy Navigation with Front Panel Display.
Emergency Firmware Recovery.
Specifications:
Audio Formats Supported:
MP2 (MPEG 1 Layer 2), MP3 (MPEG 1 Layer 3), WAV, CD Audio, OGG Vorbis, FLAC Lossless Audio, LPCM, WMA (lossy compression), AAC-LC (Low Complexity), AC3, DTS.
Video Formats Supported:
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 MP@HL (720p & 1080i), MPEG-4 ASP@L5 (720p & 1080i), such as DIVx, XviD, 3ivx, HDX4 etc.
WMV9 MP@ML (720p & 1080i), Nero Digital up to (Main) Cinema Profile, QuickTime .MP4 (MPEG-4 SP video with AAC audio), DVB/ATSC Transport Stream Support, DVD ISO and IFO Parsing Support, SRT, SUB, SSA and SMI subtitles.
Picture Formats Supported:
JPG/JPEG2000, BMP, GIF, PNG.
Playlist Supported:
M3U, PLS, ASX.
Network Support:
Ethernet 10/100 Mbps, Wireless 802.11g, SMB support -- access Windows shares directly.
Media Streaming:
UPnP enabled, View Pictures, Audio and Video Files from UPnP Media Server.
Internet Radio Support:
Integrated Internet Radio Player with access to SHOUTcast stations,
Add your own SHOUTcast stations.
USB 2 Device Support
(if the device appears as a mass storage device): USB Thumb Drives, USB HDD Drives.
DVD Player:
DVD-Video, SVCD, VCD 1.x and 2.0. DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW. CD/-R/-RW.
Extras:
Emergency Firmware Recovery (EFR), HDCP Support, ID3 Tag and display on VFD panel on player,
Incremental Zoom (fine grained control of zoom in .05 increments),
Firmware updates from OSD. Check for new updates, WEP Security Encryption support on Wireless 802.11g
Quick Skip (user defined skip ahead function).
Video Output:
HDMI, Composite Video, S-Video, Component.
Audio Output:
HDMI, Stereo, Coaxial, Optical (TOSLink), Analog 5.1.
Connectors:
10/100 Ethernet, USB 2.0, Wireless 802.11G.
TV Types:
PAL 576i/576p, NTSC 480i/480p, HDTV 720p50/720p60/1080i50/1080i60.
Physical Specifications:
Dimensions: 430mm x 260mm x 55mm.
Some shots came from similar cs510 model with out the DVD drive
Limited Warranty: One year from invoice date with Directron.com. 30-Day money back from receiving date with 15% restocking fee for non-defective returns. No credit or refund after 30 days. Customer is responsible for returning defective products including DOA due to manufacturer unless testing is paid before shipping. (dxy100507)
Notes:
(1) Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Computer. iPod must be formatted for Windows. Nero Digital is a trademark of Nero Software. Windows and Windows Media are Trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
(2) AAC support does not include Apple Fairplay digitally rights managed AAC files. Mac formatted iPods are not compatible with the ZIOVA CS510. Specifications and pictures subject to change without notice.
(3) 54Mbit/s is the theoretical maximum of the 802.11G wireless networking standard. Real life speeds vary depending on the environment and are typically around 20Mbit/s. If wireless networking reception is poor, users may need to reposition their wireless base station to achieve optimum media playback performance.
Images shown may differ from actual product.