This Easter, US music server specialist Escient will launch a groundbreaking range of high-end AV servers with enormous storage capacity. Called Vision, the new range – which starts at £3,000 – features full digital vision management and allows both audio and videophiles to store, spin, import and stream not only music, but movies, too.
Sound and Vision
Although expensive, the Vision series is notable for its range of impressive features. The players are almost unique in being able to (legally) import an entire DVD – menus and all.
The ripped DVD’s encryption is retained (bit-for-bit) and the server then adds a further layer of protection to ‘lock’ the content to the machine. Users can also choose to strip out trailers and other pre-movie features and titles can then be searched by cover art – like in iTunes. Escient describes its fifth-generation interface as “the most sophisticated on the market”.
Further key features include 1080p upscaling – allowing users to watch movie content in HD, plus compatibility with the forthcoming Rhapsody music subscription service, with its 500-million-song database.
At the top of the four-strong Vision range is the mighty VX600 – a £5,499 AV monster packing in an incredible four terabytes worth of storage. At the opposite end, the range is the £2,999 VC-1, a dual 500GB entry-level Vision model.
