News

Chord Redefines Home Cinema With Electronics Media Engine (14/1/2004)

Chord Electronics has enjoyed great success with an acclaimed range of Audio-Visual solutions Ð the class-leading DSP8000 and DSP 8000R processors, and a host of high quality multi-channel amplification.

Our unique take on the problem of an Audio-Visual source offers superlative audio and video quality DVD playback combined with the latest video scaling technology, and terabytes of hard-drive storage.

In the future we expect to be able to upgrade the Media Engine with the next generation of DVD, thus protecting our customers' investment in our product.

The Chord Electronics Media Engine

Genuinely Future-proof and upgradeable

In the Audio-Visual world, there will always be a next-generation delivery format around the corner, which promises great things compared to what we have today. It is therefore essential to use as modular an architecture as is possible, instead of a fixed hardware solution which would become obsolete overnight. The Chord Media Engine has a clearly defined upgrade path for the next generation of DVD.

Relevant

This does not just mean films on DVD, or those 'high-resolution' music discs, which sell in tiny quantities. Vast numbers of people nowadays are enjoying music in downloadable formats, and with the increasing availability of broadband Internet connections, video is becoming increasingly possible. Improvements in compression technology and bandwidth accelerate the process. We were therefore eager to embrace these newer methods of content delivery.

Perfect Vision

With ever-larger projection devices and video panels, poor quality video has nowhere to hide. Using the best image processing technology to upscale the available resolution, hi-definition video quality can be achieved from DVD and broadcast sources. The Media Engine can also be used as a video scaler for your external video sources. Any available digital display device can be driven at its native resolution, and at the optimal refresh rate. DVI-D connectivity ensures that the image stays in the digital domain and remains as clean as possible.

Serious storage

Portable music players are great for compressed music on the move. How much better to store your whole collection of uncompressed music, along with films and TV programs, and call them all up from a central library where required? The Media Engine offers several terabytes of storage Ð enough for hundreds of films and the biggest music collections. If you manage to fill up the standard storage package, an additional media server can be added Ð and placed anywhere in your home.

The ultimate upgrade for DSP 8000

Some digital audio formats prohibit digital transfer at full resolution. Therefore, the Media Engine provides both digital and hi-resolution analogue outputs for compatibility with a wide variety of AV preamplifiers/processors.

The Chord Electronics Media Engine answers all these problems and more. Its inbuilt RAID hard drive array Ð and the capacity to add further storage as the need arises Ð mean it can be used as a Home Entertainment server for both music and films. Additionally, DVB and Analogue TV options even enable very high video quality from broadcast material.

www.chordelectronics.com