Iomega Release ScreenPlay 500GB Portable HD Multimedia Drive [Promises to ‘Leave the PC Behind’]

Iomega have announced via a press release made available today that their new ScreenPlay Portable HD Multimedia Drive offing 500GB of storage capacity is now available allowing you to experience HD multimedia content via HDTVs and home theatre systems via a highly portable device that negates the need for a PC.

Billed as being capable of storing up to 2 million photos, 9,250 hours of music or 750 hours of MPEG2 video at 780 x 480 resolution, Iomega’s 500GB capacity ScreenPlay Portable HD Multimedia Drive, which measures in at a mere 7.7” x 2.3” x 5” or, according to Iomega, ‘about the size of a paperback book’, offers 480i/480p/720p and 1080i video (with 720p and 1080i being achieved courtesy of upscaling) complete with HDMI and composite outputs (as well as Scart) and also comes with RCA coaxial S/PDIF outputs and USB 2.0 interface.

Iomega ScreenPlay 500GB Portable HD Multimedia Drive Key Features:

• Convenient – Enjoy watching digital files on your home theatre or TV without being connected to the computer
• Cost Effective – Multimedia player plus hard drive storage device
• Large Capacity – For photos, video or music files
• Compact – Slim enclosure to complement your home entertainment environment (remote control slides into bottom of drive)
• HDMI connector
• PAL/NTSC – 480i/480p; scalable to 720p/1080i
• WMA and OGG Vorbis playback
• Playlist manager
• Music playback during slideshow
• Audio Formats – MP3, AC3 (Dolby® Digital.Encoding), WMA, WAV, OGG
• Video Formats – MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB), .MPEG-4 (AVI/DiVX 3.11, 4.x, 5.x/XViD)
• Photo Formats – JPEG
• PAL/NTSC – 480i/480p; scalable to 720p/1080i
• AV connections: SCART (RGB); HDMI.Composite video and audio R/L; .Component video: Y, Pb, Pr; Coaxial S/PDIF output

Loren Bryner, ScreenPlay product manager, Iomega Corporation, introduced the ScreenPlay 500GB Portable HD Multimedia device stating that, ‘Today’s mainstream home entertainment products are entering the high-definition era, which presents a huge opportunity for media devices in the living room like the Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive…The ScreenPlay Drive is a great solution for Windows users — there’s no better way to leverage a big-screen LCD or plasma TV investment. The combination of ScreenPlay and today’s televisions give users a seamless way to show off family photos, play music, and enjoy their videos from the best seat in the house.’

Iomega’s ScreenPlay 500GB Portable HD Multimedia Drive is already detailed on Iogear’s online web store and is listed as retailing for just shy of £220.

Iomega