HP has introduced a stand-alone storage accessory - the HP Personal Media Drive - and a new series of Media Center PCs.
Giving PC users more space for their digital content such as home videos, digital photography and music, the HP Personal Media Drive can slide seamlessly into an easy-to-access bay in the front of the new HP Media Center PC chassis or be used as an external hard drive with any notebook or PC with a port supporting the common USB standard.
When used with the HP Media Center PC, the HP Personal Media Drive gives consumers up to 160 gigabytes of additional storage and can be inserted without having to open the PC case or turn the PC on or off. The 160-gigabyte drive allows consumers to store up to 2,600 hours of high-quality digital music recording, up to 180,000 digital photos, or up to 160 hours of standard-quality TV.
Once the device is inserted into the PC, consumers can easily transfer large data files to the drive or set it as their primary storage mechanism. For example, consumers can set their HP Media Center PC to record their favorite TV show and program the PC to save it directly to the HP Personal Media Drive.
Whether the drive is being used with the new HP Media Center PC or as a second, external hard drive, memories and content are safely backed up and consumers can take their digital content with them wherever they go.
The Media Drive docking bay will be featured in current configure-to-order HP Media Center PCs and in a Compaq Presario configure-to-order model to be announced later this month.
"The ability to take your data with you whether that's around the house or while away from home will become key for consumers as they wish to interact with their digital data throughout the day," said Randy Giusto, vice president of Personal Technology and Services, IDC. "In addition, as Media Center PC customers grow their libraries of digital media, it will become increasingly important to provide not only portability, but easy-to-use backup capabilities as well."
Featuring the integrated HP Personal Media Drive bay, the HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PC is designed with the digital media enthusiast in mind. The PC now supports xD flash memory cards in its front chassis 9-in-1 media card reader and more conveniently located input/output ports in the mid-section of the PC casing.
Another industry first, the m1000 series offers a convenient camera docking area on the top of its chassis, allowing users to quickly attach their HP digital camera and download videos and pictures to their hard drive without the need to attach and re-attach camera cables. For users that do not own a camera docking station, the top of the case provides a storage space to conveniently house a digital camera, cell phone, CDs or DVDs.
The HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PC also offers an enhanced version of HP's exclusive photo and editing software, HP Image Zone Plus. With the new version of the software, HP Media Center PC users can for the first time interact with all their digital photography content within the Media Center operating system environment with a few clicks on the remote control - giving them the ability to view, print and easily access their favorite photos by date, keyword or place.
"HP was the first to market with our HP Media Center PC in 2002, bridging the gap between PCs and cutting-edge digital entertainment," said Sam Szteinbaum, vice president, Consumer Computing - North America, HP. "It is only natural that we continue to pave the road for digital entertainment enthusiasts with innovative and forward-thinking products like the new HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PC and the HP Personal Media Drive, further steps in changing the way people think about and interact with their PCs."
Highlights of the HP Personal Media Drive and the HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PC include:
HP Personal Media Drive:
- Uses a USB 2.0 interface for high-speed transfer of all sorts of data and is backwards-compatible to USB 1.1 for a fast and easy way to add incremental storage space on any PC.
- Provides an easy and portable way for consumers to store and back up digital files from digital cameras, camcorders and MP3 players without opening up or turning off their PC.
- Allows valuable data from a desktop or notebook PC to be archived or easily transferred between computers.
- Included software, power adapter and USB cable make transfer and data backup between PCs and notebooks easy.
HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PC allows consumers to:
- Watch, record and play back TV programs, pause and rewind live TV programs.
- Using the integrated Media Drive bay slot, store recorded TV programs on the optional, easy-to-use HP Personal Media Drive.
- Easily dock a camera and download photos, or store peripherals and accessories with a convenient storage area on the top of the chassis.
- Transfer content for on-the-go or perform system backups, store music, photos and more on the optional HP Personal Media Drive.
- Easily organize entire music collections, listen to FM radio and do multimedia slideshows.
Specifications
- Choice of latest processors including Intel Pentium 4 520, 540, 550 and 560 megahertz with Hyper-Threading Technology
- 512 megabytes PC3200 DDR or 1 GB PC3200 DDR
- Choice of 160, 200 and 250 GB 7,200 rpm Serial ATA and 80, 160, 200 and 250 GB Parallel-ATA internal drives
- DVD+RW/CD-RW drive / DVD-ROM&CD-RW combo drive
- Choice of DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive
- Choice of 128 MB or 256 MB PCI-Express or 128 MB or 256 MB AGP graphics
- 9-in-1 memory card reader; now featuring support for xD flash memory
- Six USB 2.0 ports and a minimum of two FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports
- 10/100BT Ethernet port high-speed modem
- TV/FM tuner card
All HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PCs include:
- HP Personal Media Drive bay
- Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
- HP Image Zone Plus software with Media Center compatibility
- High-performance TV tuner card with personal video recorder capability
- Free and downloadable electronic programming guide service
- Easy to use remote control with infrared receiver
- FM tuner with antenna (part of TV tuner card)
- Front A/V connectivity for analog video capture (composite video, S video and Audio L/R RCA jacks)
- High-performance 2.1 audio sound system on select models
- Apple iTunes for Windows pre-loaded on the desktop - a digital music jukebox for importing music, organizing a collection and more
Estimated U.S. street prices for pre-configured HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PCs are expected to start as low as $1,049, after a $50 mail-in rebate. Estimated U.S. street prices for configurable HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PCs are expected to start at $899, after a $50 mail-in-rebate, depending on the configuration ordered. Estimated U.S. street prices for the HP Personal Media Drive are expected to be an additional $219.