Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 27, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Iomega International is introducing the Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive, a portable external drive that allows multimedia content to be used independently of a PC in connection with HDTV and home-theater systems.
“More and more mainstream entertainment products today are high definition, creating an enormous opportunity for media devices such as the Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive in the living room,” said Fredric-Olivier Laurent, ScreenPlay Product Manager at Iomega International S.A. “The ScreenPlay drive is a great solution for Windows users—there is no better way to make optimal use of a large-screen LCD or plasma television. Combining ScreenPlay HD with modern televisions allows photos, music, and video to be enjoyed conveniently at the highest quality.”
The portable Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive includes a remote control for easier navigation and has HDMI and component-video outputs for displaying high-resolution digital photos and video. The Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive has a capacity of 500 GB.
“We incorporated all our experience from earlier ScreenPlay products and created an optimal media-sharing tool for multimedia content,” Laurent continued. “The new ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive is an intuitive, user-friendly solution that not only makes all kinds of digital content easier to use, but also makes it easier to carry and play that content in different locations and on different displays.”
The 500 GB ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive weighs 907 grams and measures 196 x 58 x 127 mm, approximately the size of a paperback book.
Inside the ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive is a 500 GB, 3.5-inch, 7,200 rpm hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system.
Video connection options include HDMI, component and composite video, and SCART (RGB). Audio connections include composite RCA and coaxial S/PDIF outputs. Connection to a PC is through USB 2.0. USB, composite-video, and component-video cables are included.
Using the HDMI or component outputs, users can choose among 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i in the video settings; 720p and 1080i are achieved through upscaling. Supported media formats are MP3, AC3 (Dolby Digital Encoding), WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX 3.11, 4.x, 5.x/Xvid), and JPEG.
The Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive can be used with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, XP Home, XP Professional, XP Professional x64, and Windows Vista.
The Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive USB 2.0/AV 500GB is available internationally now for €179.99.
