August 19th 2005

iMuse Media Servers

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After previously introducing a digital audio server product to an unreceptive market, iMuse President and CEO Bill Duncan recognized that installers, integrators, and consumers alike yearned for something more - much more.

He began to attend major trade shows, coming into contact with hundreds of installers, and talking to countless consumers and retailers. All the while, Duncan asked many questions and carefully deciphered what product these groups silently demanded. However, the product he envisioned was not yet being offered by anyone.

In order to meet this demand, Duncan took 2 years off to design a system to once and for all totally integrate a family’s digital content, the Internet, and their collection of movies and music—all without sacrificing usability.

The resultant iMuse Media Server Series redefines the media server category. With the iMuse SIERRA, iMuse SUMMIT, and iMuse AVALANCHE, Duncan deliv-ers a completely connected content management system with unlimited scalability and expandability. The iMuse line provides several category firsts, such as 1080p resolution at every set-top client and 16 independent, simultaneous audio zones from a single iMuse SUMMIT.

The iMuse SIERRA, the product line’s set-top client, has more features and is more ca-pable than most competitors’ servers at a fraction of the cost. Designed with a living-room form factor, the iMuse SIERRA presents consumers with beautiful 1080p resolu-tion, a DVD player/recorder, and a multitude of control options.

Consumers can simultaneous view and upload separate movies when paired with an iMuse SUMMIT and can control their device from the included wireless keyboard and mouse, front panel navigation system, or optional Crestron controller. Additionally, every iMuse SIERRA has its own 250GB hard drive, capable of locally storing over 40 DVDs, hundreds of CDs, or many hours of television content.

With the iMuse SIERRA, installers and integrators benefit from a wide array of connec-tivity options. Every iMuse SIERRA offers DVI, VGA, S-Video, component, and com-posite video outputs as well as digital optical, digital coax, and analog composite audio outputs. Furthermore, the iMuse SIERRA has integrated WLAN, providing wireless connections to other components in the series.

Sitting in its sleek silver case (black is also available), the iMuse SUMMIT looks very similar to other media servers. However, the aesthetics are where the similarities end.

Taking from Duncan’s audio expertise, the iMuse SUMMIT supports up to sixteen inde-pendent audio zones with unbalanced RCA outputs, enabling simultaneous listening to several different music streams throughout the house. The iMuse SUMMIT delivers these pristine audio streams at less than .0002 percent total harmonic distortion (THD), almost eliminating nonlinear distortion all together.

With a standard 1TB of local storage, the iMuse SUMMIT can hold up to 160 full-length DVDs, thousands of CDs, and countless hours of satellite or cable content. In-stallers and integrators can rest easily knowing the iMuse SUMMIT can have problems remotely diagnosed and solved with software patches without the need for service calls.

Delivering up to 14TB of storage, the iMuse AVALANCHE completes the iMuse Media Server Series. The iMuse AVALANCHE was specially designed with hot-swappable drives utilizing Integrity technology—limiting downtime when adding or changing storage.

Despite having countless product and service differentiators, the iMuse Media Server Series has three important differentiating features that distance the competition the most. First of all, no other media server delivers 1080p resolution with an available DVI con-nection from each of its clients - enabling the highest quality picture for today’s pre-mium displays.

Next, the iMuse SUMMIT can deliver precise audio to up to 16 simultaneous zones - a category first. Finally, the iMuse Media Server Series offers unlimited expandability, scalability, and upgradability, allowing for the product line to grow with both the con-sumer and technology.

The iMuse Media Server Series gives end-users what no other media server has been able to provide: complete digital content management without sacrificing usability. With iMuse, end-users can browse through their content casually or use advanced meta-data search features to locate desired items. Multitasking the iMuse line’s features is also extremely user-friendly. With no other media server can a consumer upload digital photographs, listen to FM radio, and create a DVD simultaneously, let alone with the simplicity and intuitiveness that the iMuse line offers. Finally, the end-user benefits the most by iMuse’s unrivaled features-to-price ratio.