Hauppauge today launched its first network media receiver product in the UK. The Hauppauge MediaMVP, priced at £99.99 inc VAT, is designed to pull digital media from PCs via local area networks, and to decode and play the media onto TV sets and hifi systems.

(Image available at http://www.medialink.co.uk/Hauppauge%20MediaMVP.jpg)


Hauppauge Launches "MediaMVP" Network Media Decoder in UK
- Access files on any networked PC from the armchair
- Play Music, Video and Pictures in the living room

London, England, September 16, 2003 – Hauppauge Digital, a leading developer and manufacturer of digital video and TV products for PCs, today announced its first network media receiver product. The Hauppauge MediaMVP (Music, Video, Pictures), priced at £99.99 inc VAT and available in the UK from October, is designed to pull digital media from PCs via local area networks, and to decode and play the media onto TV sets and hifi systems.

The MediaMVP is an Ethernet set-top decoder device which provides PC users greater convenience and versatility with their audio/visual entertainment systems, by allowing them to view media stored in PCs on their TV set or through their home entertainment systems. Unlike other products, the Hauppauge MediaMVP will play video thanks to its high-speed Ethernet capabilities.

"Our MediaMVP will turn any TV set or home entertainment system into a multimedia playback device via the home network," said Yehia Oweiss, Hauppauge's UK Managing Director. "Now, from the comfort of the living room sofa, or indeed their bed, anyone can access and enjoy videos, MP3 music, family photos or other multimedia files on a TV set, without physically going to their PC. MediaMVP will also be great for setting up music and picture slideshows for parties."

Using MediaMVP, for example, individuals can play a video on their bedroom TV that's stored on a PC in the study, or show JPEG photos of a recent holiday - accompanied by MP3 music - on the living room TV with the MP3 music played through their audio system. Any hard drive that's available on the network is eligible for access to media stored there.

MediaMVP is suitable for home theatre systems as well as plasma screens, TV monitors, and conventional TV sets. It supports MPEG-1/MPEG-2 videos, JPEG and GIF digital pictures, and MP3 music files. The MediaMVP supports 10- and 100-Mbit/sec Ethernet local area networks; other versions to be introduced in 2004 will support the emerging high-speed wireless (802.11g) network connections.

Onscreen Menu
Navigating multimedia files from the TV is easy using MediaMVP's remote control and TV onscreen menu. Music titles can be accessed individually for random or organised playback; date, artist, or style can also group specific songs into playlists.

Photos are simple to select using the thumbnails displayed in MediaMVP's photo directories. Simply click on the "Play" or "OK" buttons on the remote control, and the selected photo will appear on the TV screen. With MediaMVP's slideshow function, it's easy to view digital pictures on a TV set while listening to digital music played from the PC through the TV or HiFi. Videos are played in the same way, with stop, pause, and fast forward/reverse controls available on the remote.

Continuous picture and music shows can be set up for family parties on the PC, and then played through the TV or home entertainment system via the home network. MediaMVP will play M3U, B4S, PLS and ASX music playlists from Music Match, Windows Media Player and Winamp.