[mpgxsvcd]

Ok I was under the impression that Panasonic and Samsung bailed on the whole Windows Media Video idea and so the only WMV player was going to be the VINC D3. However, this press release explicitly says that the new APEX AD 700 DVD player and the KISS DP-600 DVD Player will support WMV9. Heck the Kiss player has the sigma chip so it should even support High Def WMV9. Is the thegreenbutton.com a legit site? Do they know what they are talking about. All of the other press releases from Microsoft say that the only WMV9 players will be from Malata North America. I think they were affiliated with Polaroid at one time. So which one is right. Can someone confirm whether there will be any other WMV9(Video and AUDIO not just AUDIO) players? Also does anyone have any links or information on the Malata DIVA-1 and DIVA-2? I can’t find a single website that talks about these players.


Can anyone tell me what choices I will have that will play Windows Media 9 video?

http://thegreenbutton.com/mblast/page492-692301.asp



-- Apex Digital unveiled its new AD 700 DVD player that supports playback

of WMA 9 and WMV 9, one of the first DVD players with this capability.

It will be available for purchase in April, 2004. Apex Digital

announced support for WMA and HighMAT(TM) technology in its entire line of DVD players for 2004.


-- KiSS Technology, a globally leading Scandinavian manufacturer of DVD

products, will launch three new products: DVD Player DP-600, DVD

Recorder DP-678, and a streaming device, SB-020, with the new decoder chip from Sigma Designs that supports WMV 9 playback. KiSS Technology's booth at CES is South Hall 2, Booth 17731.


-- Malata North America introduced two models of the DIVA, a new

generation of entertainment console featuring the world's first Windows Media-based personal video recorder (PVR). It offers consumers the ability to record television onto a DVD-R or CD-R with up to 15 hours of quality television programming using WMV, or 70 hours of WMA music

per DVD-R disc. The DIVA (co-developed with Equator Technologies Inc.

and Aeon Digital Corp.) also can serve as a broadband Internet browser

able to "stream" Internet-based movies and music like a PC, and

supports HighMAT for photos, music and video as well as the ability to

play back digital home movies made with Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Movie Maker 2 in Windows XP.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

I guess I actually answered my own question. It doesn’t look like it will do HD WMV though. Any thoughts?

http://www.onlinereporter.com/#Meet the DIVA, a New Type of DVR

The DIVA, which will be the first Malata product sold in the US, is coming out in March in two models. The $299 DIVA-1 unit has a CD-RW drive rather than a DVD-RW drive. The CD-RW drive is configured to play all digital video formats and record TV shows to disc.

The DIVA-2 adds full-fledged DVD-RW capability. In addition to recording more than 11 hours of TV or 70 hours of digital audio per DVD, it will also record to CD when a smaller recording footprint is required. DIVA-2 will retail for $449.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

According to the Apex website they will update their site on January 21st for all of the 2004 products. Their site was down most of the day today but it is up now.


Would any of you consider buying an APEX DVD player if it upconverts DVDs, has HDMI, and plays WMV videos for under $300? I know that some Apex DVD player's had problems. Any thoughts?

 

[sspears]

They are all using the new Sigma chip.

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/news/pre...ses/040107.htm

 

[ropedrag]

I looked at the KISS gear at CES a week or so ago and was very impressed. The new stuff is flying the windows media 9 logo however the unit on display was playing Microsoft's HD demo off the units hard drive and not the DVD player. I do not know if the DVD player was not working or they did not want to fuss with it all day, every day. Anyway like I said their gear was very nice and IMHO the best looking solution for anything above consumer grade home audio/video networking out there right now. They could not give me an answer on when the two new units will hit the street and could not give a price either. FYI, they really do not have a US distributor at this time but they were trying to get one interested at the show.

Slightly off topic but if you know I'd like to hear, I was really interested in gear that will playback WM9 audio recorded using their lossless compression as it smokes that nasty MP3 business. I went in thinking that the player would have to be WM9 compliant to playback at the higher bit rate. A lady I spoke with at the MS booth told me this is not the case and that any audio player that will playback any WMA file will play a WMA9 lossless file, I don't really know if I believe her or not.

I do have the littlture for the KISS booth if you have any questions.


Take care,

JB

 

[potus]

Questions about the KiSS:


The SIGMA website claims the chip has:


"Video decoding of WMV9, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 streams, at HD or multi-stream SD.

Audio DSP supports decoding of WMA9, WMA Pro, WMA lossless, Dolby Digital, MP3, MPEG-1/2 (layers 1, 2, and 3) and MPEG-4 AAC."


Now, given that the KiSS player has built-in 10/100 ethernet, does this imply that it will be able to stream all this content from a networked file server? That would be sweet! Kinda like a Roku with a built-in WMV9 compatible DVD player!!


Also, does the KiSS player up-convert standard 720x480 DVDs to HD resolutions?



- Frank

 

[ropedrag]

I don't know if this helps anyone but here it is. This info is straight off the brochure I picked up at their CES booth, Since the company is from Denmark the damm thing is not the most straight forward thing but at least it's in English. Here is a link to their site as well but it has no info on these units, wwwkiss-technologycom. The DP-600 looks like the DP-470 found on their site while the DP-678 is one sweet looking piece, I'm told the same footprint as a standard piece of AV gear, but the picture makes it look about 3" tall, no external buttons, no visible DVD/CD tray face, black with a silver inset on the face and sides and it's my guess that the DVD/CD tray is hidden in this. I did press them for a price on the 678 and they did not what to say but finally guessed 800 to 900 US.


The Kiss units that are coming out are the,


DP-568. I'll not spend the time on this unless someone really wants it,


DP-600.Summary. The new Kiss DP-600 is based on the Kiss DP-508 DVD with full DiviX, XviD, MPEG-4, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, JPEG... playback, ethernet and built in 80GB hard drive disk for storage. On top of these functions the DP-600 adds playback of two new formats from microsoft: WMA and Windows Media 9 files allowing video on demand. These new features put the DP-600 in the middle of the home-computer-cinema solution. Thanks to it's ethernet connection, enabling Kiss PC-Link, the DP-600 can stream audio/video/picture files found on a connected PC. The connection can also be done wireless with a PC card and access point (not included), as the DP-600 also has a PC card slot on it's back. It provides an 802.11g wireless connection to the player which permit the streaming for video files. Those network connections also enable Kiss WebRadio to be played from the DP-600, if connected to a broadband internet connection. Kiss PC-Link give the user the possibility to store audio/video/picture content on it's optional 80GB or 120GB hard disk. The content can then be viewed or browsed from the player. This gives the advantage of having a collection on multimedia files all stored on the player... at a finger tip. As all the other Kiss DVD players, the DP-600 is also firmware upgradeable.


SPECIFICATIONS. Full DVD/MPEG-4/Xvid/CD/MP3/WMA/Ogg Vorbis/CD-RW/DVD+/-RW compatibility. JPEG picture CD viewing. Windows Media 9. High definition MPEG-4. Progressive scan video out. Time search. Repeat playback. Title/chapter search. Parental lock, multi language, multi subtitle, multi angle. TV type (PAL and NTSC). Configuration setup menu. S-video output. Composite video output. Component output. Dolby digital, MPEG audio decoding. Dolby digital/MPEG 5.1 digital out. S/PDIF outputs. Analogue stereo. Ethernet 10/100. Wireless 802.11g. Web radio. Kiss PC-Link. Track name search on audio CDs. Firmware upgradeable. Optional 80/120GB hard disk.


DP-678. Summary. Kiss DVD recorder and hard disk recorder with full playback of KiSS' standard file formats. The DP-678 also adds playback of windows media 9 and WMA files, allowing video on demand and digital rights managements. Thanks to its TV tuner, TV programmes can be recorded on its 80GB hard disk as well as on DVD's +/-RW. An ethernet connection can be found on its back enabling Kiss PC-Link for streaming audio/viedopicture files from a connected PC, as well as WebRadio with its thousands of radio stations available.


SPECIFICATIONS. Full DVD/MPEG-4/Xvid/CD/MP3/WMA/Ogg Vorbis/CD-RW/DVD+/-RW compatibility. JPEG picture CD viewing. Windows Media 9. High definition MPEG-4. Progressive scan video out. Time search. Repeat playback. Title/chapter search. Parental lock, multi language, multi subtitle, multi angle. TV type (PAL and NTSC). Configuration setup menu. S-video output. Composite video output. Component output. S/PDIF outputs. Analogue stereo. DVD +/-RW recorder. Hard disk recorder. MPEG-4 encoding. TV-tuner. Ethernet 10/100. Wireless. WebRadio. Kiss PC-Link. 80GB hard disk. Firmware upgradeable.


DP-688. Summary. Probably one of the most complete DVD player/recorder in the world. The Kiss DP-688 is based from the same design and engine that the one used on the DP-678. This enables the same functions and file playback with the bonus of having a built-in class D Watt Digital Amplifier, ready to be connected to standard external speakers for THE ultimate home-cinema experience. In addition this player gives the opportunity to receive radio stations thanks to its internal AM/FM tuner.


I do not know why they did not include a DVI output but since it's not on the market yet who knows????

 

[tim8alete]

Comments on the Kiss D-600 as well as a picture of the components inside are here:

http://www4.tomshardware.com/busines...2004_2-02.html


Tim

 

[potus]

ropedrag:

Thanks for taking the time to type in that brochure...


There is NO mention of HD output (720p or 1080i). I'm beginning to wonder if it even has it. Also, it lacks specifics about what formats it can stream via PC-Link...


On the other hand, full WMV9 support, and the use of that Sigma chip would _imply_ HD output. Wouldn't you expect them to mention something this significant in their marketing blurb, though? Nothing in that snippet screamed out "HD" to me.. It was clearly more focused on network and local storage features.

 

[lachris]

Malata HD DVD Player/Recorder

New Malata Universal DVD Player/Recorders With HighMAT Audio, Image and Video


Malata North America unveiled two new DVD player/recorders at CES 2004 that will support HighMAT (audio, images and video). Malata's new devices will support both playback of Windows Media? Video 9 and recording of video into Windows Media Video 9. This enables consumers to record and play back hours of their favorite television content on CDs and DVDs using Windows Media Video 9, as well as play back home movies made with Windows Movie Maker 2. The DIVA-1 and DIVA-2 (co-developed with Equator and Aeon Digital) are the first devices to offer HighMAT support for video as well as photos and music.


I assume that the Malata DVD recorder can record HD programs in WM9 format, but I may be wrong. If so, this is the second HD DVD recorder I have read about, other than the Sony blue ray HD DVD recorder available in Japan for $3800.


From the HighMAT press release at CES 2004

http://www.highmat.com/press/release.asp?id=010704


Malata's website is

http://www.malata.com.hk


The WM9 Malata DVD player/recorder is not described at the website. You can probably e-mail Malata and ask questions. Malata also has a Chinese website (in Chinese). There is again no mention of this DVD player/recorder.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

Just wanted to move this up because today is the Day that Apex is going to update their site with their new product line. They should be coming out with a good .WMV DVD player. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/

 

[Tomas L]

Quote:

I do not know why they did not include a DVI output but since it's not on the market yet who knows????

No DVI would be a BIG mistake. Let's hope for good deinterlacing and scaling too, but don't expect to find anything like a Faroudja chip in these players. Maybe next generation?

 

[mpgxsvcd]

I have been checking their site all day but it doesn’t look like they have their 2004 products up yet. It appears like they have a new look for their site with a new link to their 2004 LCD TVs but the page is blank. It says page 1 of 0. I guess they are not as good at making a quality website as they are at making a quality DVD player. And that is not saying much. Just wait and see!

 

[greeno]

I was looking at KiSS players awhile ago and found this company that distributes KiSS Products in the use here. They don't show any of the new gear that is mentioned in this thread, but you might ping them to see what they know. The sales team is quite responsive.


Best,

jeff

 

[mpgxsvcd]

Here are some of the press releases from the Apex site.

http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/news.asp


I am not sure if any of this is new news.

 

[ropedrag]

Regarding the question about the ability to play HD. From the little (very little) knowledge I have MPEG-4 can playback at HD levels. My question is if the unit has MPEG-4 encoding can/will it record HD broadcasts to it's hard disk and then be available to playback as high definition MPEG-4?? Basically an HD PVR?

 

[DWAnderson]

Based on the brochure on the new KiSS products I picked up at CES, it looks like the new products only have SD tuners. Nothing explicitly says that, but the only mention of HD is with respect to playing back MPEG-4 files.

 

[gimp]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tomas L No DVI would be a BIG mistake. Let's hope for good deinterlacing and scaling too, but don't expect to find anything like a Faroudja chip in these players. Maybe next generation?

I asked about DVI and was told two players with DVI were planned for announcement later in the year.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

Now this sounds really cool! What are the odds that it will be able to play windows media High Definition? For $200 would that be possible?


The AD-8000N marries the cutting edge

technology of wireless home networking with high quality DVD video and CD audio playback capabilities.


The device allows users to play virtually any audio,

video or image file stored on their computer’s hard drive on their television, via an 802.11b wireless network.

http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/images...al-AD8000N.pdf


Oh yea it can also be used with a wired network.


With a standard Ethernet adapter (not included) the AD-8000N can be added to a wired computer network to access media files in the same way.

http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/news.asp

 

[DWAnderson]

Quote:

Originally posted by mpgxsvcd Now this sounds really cool! What are the odds that it will be able to play windows media High Definition? For $200 would that be possible?

I don't see any way it could play 1080p WM (which requires something like a 3GHz P4) and probably not 720p WM either. Maybe in a successor device in a couple of years...


Doug