VidaBox launches ZERO™ - 100% silent HDTV Media Center with CableCARD support

VidaBox launches ZERO™ - 100% silent HDTV Media Center with CableCARD support



GARDEN CITY, NY – September 21 – VidaBox LLC, the innovator of Media Centers and home theater PC (HTPC) systems, today announced the introduction of its first completely silent model called ZERO™. ZERO™ utilizes advanced, engineered thermal management technology, resulting in a fanless system that is 100% silent. Its stunning design will be admired by even the most discerning home theater enthusiast.

“Many of our customers were looking for a completely silent Media Center solution that wouldn't be an eye sore in their living room,” says Sergio DeAlbuquerque, co-founder of VidaBox. “They have spent a lot of time and money into building a perfect acoustic environment for their home theater and can’t tolerate noisy equipment. ZERO™ fulfills that requirement, and it does so in style.”

At about the size of an audio receiver, ZERO™ stands only 5¾” tall. Featuring an AMD X2 dual core processor, 800MHz DDR2 RAM, up to 1.5 TB of VidaSafe™ protected storage, dual ISF certified standard definition tuners, up to nVidia Geforce 7950GX2 dedicated graphics card with HDCP compliance, optional dual HDTV tuners (for a total of four tuners), and optional Blue Ray and HD-DVD upgrades. (More Specs Here)

All existing ZERO™ systems will be upgradeable to CableCARD support next year in 2007, in conjunction with the release of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system and other VidaBox high definition CableCARD-ready models. Sergio continues, “Many of our customers are worried that their investment will be lost due to the new upcoming CableCARD release and high definition DVD formats. We responded by creating a unique, "high definition upgrade program" to address those concerns.”

Like all VidaBox Media Center systems, ZERO™ features rock solid stability (99%+ up time), complete system pre-configuration at the factory, complete Media Center software package, and quick easy installation.

For more details and specifications on the new VidaBox™ ZERO™, please visit the company website at http://www.vidabox.com/Products/ZERO.htm

About VidaBox LLC
VidaBox LLC is a systems integration company focused on manufacturing premium Media Center systems. VidaBox is on a mission to create user-friendly, stable, compact, and quiet Media Center systems that work right out of the box. For more information, visit www.vidabox.com or call 1-516-730-7500.

###
Interview Contact:
Steven W. Cheung, Owner
Telephone: 1-516-730-7500 x4201
http://www.vidabox.com

VidaBox LLC
172 Garden St.
Garden City, NY 11530
Voice: 1-516-730-7500
Fax: 1-516-730-7502

VidaBox ROOMMATE review - PVR Wire

We sent one of our media centers for review at - they took a thorough, comprehensive look at the VidaBox ROOMMATE, our tiny, ultra-small form factor media center system.



Everything is covered in this independent review - from the installation, to close up pictures, to functionality, even comparisons against other media center systems.

JJ Hawkins writes, "When I hooked up the RoomMate, turned on the TV, and went through the Media Center setup in about 10 minutes total, I was watching TV, and dual-recording to boot. Overall I was very satisifed with the results."

Read more of the review here!

VidaBox LLC Launches New Media Center Product Line

This is a new gadget and was featured on audioholics.com , so I thought it's be appropriate to showcase it here:

---

Give the site a visit, folks! - http://www.vidabox.com

---

Garden City, NY - July 19 - VidaBox LLC, a premium media center HTPC systems integrator in Garden City, NY, is announcing the launch of a new line of four Media Centers, named ROOMMATE, SLIM, LUX, and MAX.



== What is a Media Center? ==
Media Centers are entertainment convergence devices, which allow a user to do a multitude of tasks, such as watch DVDs, listen to and store music, watch television, record shows, view & store digital pictures or slideshows, all using Media Centers easy-to-use interface.

== What's wrong with current media centers? ==
As a home theater enthusiast, I was disappointed with the Media Centers currently available on the market today, says Steven Cheung, one of the founders of VidaBox LLC. I found the systems to be large and not well suited for my living room, as well as lacking many important features.

== Why VidaBox? ==
Steven continues, I wanted to have something that was intuitive, reliable, and maintenance-free, so I ended up building my own media center system. Many of my friends and peers were impressed with my results, and soon, people were asking if I could build them a similar system for their homes. Thats how VidaBox was born. VidaBox is now introducing its line of premium Media Center HTPC systems including two extremely compact models, with the ROOMMATE model being about the size of a small shoebox, and the SLIM model being about the size of a standard DVD player. The slightly larger LUX and MAX model are about the size of a standard A/V receiver and feature extremely large storage capacities with up to 3,750GB and 3,000GB of storage, respectively. The MAX models also feature an impressive LCD touch screen.

== Unique Features ==
Some standard features unique to the VidaBox include: virtually silent operation, builtin karaoke function, and a unique storage protection system called VidaSafe. VidaSafe technology allows the system to keep on running, even if one of the hard drives have failed, which is a potentially devastating problem plaguing other Media Centers on the market.

I was personally surprised that most of these features were missing from other Media Centers, adds Steven. I store all of my music and family pictures on my VidaBox. What would happen if the hard drive crashed? The memories lost are irreplaceable, which is why we offer VidaSafe technology. You can buy VidaBox systems through their dealer network or directly from the manufacturer's website at http://www.vidabox.com, or call 1-516-203-7401 for more details.

Yes, the media center (MC) PC is dead.

Yes, the media center (MC) PC is dead.

I had come across an interesting article on the Inquirer. While it's only a commentary, it does raise a few interesting points.

"Sadly, on the marketing front three years after launching, its not so much that consumers are frightened by them but that they dont even know that they exist. Far from leaping over the IT/living fence, Media Center PCs have instead managed to land on their nuts on the top," posted Martin Lynch, author of the article.

Of our personal observations, we did not even hear about MC's in the last 3 years, until our team wanted to make one ourselves. Essentially, whatever marketing that Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc. has done, in our opinion, has been a failure. In the UK, only 4f all desktop PC sales were media center systems. It's heard to be about as dismal in the US. Even worse, these MC's are usually bought and used as desktops - but it's never used as a MC. I know two friends that bought media center PC's, never ever caring that it can be used as a MC.
At any rate, as "perfect" as some may deem these media centers, there are still many severe problems with them.

***

1. People do not want to be attached to a PC. Most people watch TV, DVDs, etc. on a TV screen, not a PC flat panel/monitor. Many MC's come with TV-outputs, but are sometimes limited to composite or S-video, which are not suitable for high definition viewing.

2. Most media center systems have inadequate storage. Some of the MC's being offered only come with as little as 80GB of storage standard. Adding in the operating system, main programs, and other support utilities, you may have as little as less than 30 hours for television shows recorded at high fidelity. That's less than the standard 40 hours offered by most DVR/PVR/Tivo® systems. Add in music, pictures, videos, and other media, you can quickly see how conventional media center systems are very lacking. In additional, related to storage is point...

3. Lack of protected storage. Like most PC's, people have encountered crashes, hard drives (HD's) malfunctioning, etc. Can the public really trust their irreplaceable pictures, videos, and other memories to the risk of a HD crash? Can they replace their entire music collection? Backup systems are available which protect the data, but the system will still fail and stop working if a HD malfunctions.

4. Typical MC's are noisy. Because they come with stock equipment - standard fans & casing - noise is often a problem. How would a user like to hear a humming noise while s/he is watching his/her favorite movie? A small amount of noise maybe acceptable in a work environment, but not in a home theater environment.

5. Unsightly, large, and/or ugly looking cases. This is one of the biggest common complaints. Standard MC PC's - even the "small form factor" ones - are still too odd-shaped and/or large to be fitted into a standard entertainment center or TV stand.

6. Lastly, many companies have concentrated too much on price, and not functionality. Conventional MC PC's are marketed as that - PC's. The major manufacturers, so far, have tried to keep a low price on it (understandably), but at the price of limiting/removing many of the features mentioned above.

***

Even with these problems above, the premise of a media center system (not necessarily a PC) is not dead. How? By improving the basic design, which is what out VidaBox media center line of products has achieved.

1. The SLIM, LUX, and MAX media centers offer VGA, DVI/HDMI*, component, s-video, and composite outputs - 5 of the most popular video transmission formats available today. Connect the VidaBox to any TV you have - it's guaranteed to connect.

2. VidaBox systems come with 250GB to 750GB of storage - standard. They are also upgradeable up to 2.2TB (that's terabytes - 2,200GB) on the Max and Lux systems, enough for hundreds of hours of recorded TV, 100,000's songs, 500,000 pictures, and more. The ideal system should not limit your saved data and force you to delete precious items.

3. VidaSafe - our protected storage system - comes standard on the SLIM, LUX, and MAX. If a HD stops working - don't worry! You'll get a simple notification stating that an HD has stopped working - but your data is still safe, and the VidaBox will still operate.

4. Our advanced case designs are engineered to minimize noise. The ROOMMATE is as quiet as 27dBA - other models are 30dBA or quieter - which is softer than a whisper. Don't worry about noise disturbing your viewing or listening experience ever again.

5. Not only are VidaBox cases quiet, but they are also asthetically pleasing. With sleek and stylish designs, the ROOMMATE and SLIM, at about 4" tall, can fit easily into any home theater setup. The LUX and MAX, with their full size, can easily be rack mounted into any standard 19" A/V rack stand. See some pictures for yourself here!

6. Realizing that creating a cheap product that doesn't sell is pointless, VidaBox systems are designed to be Premium home theater systems. Complete in every respect, VidaBox units aren't just another everyday purchase - but an investment in your home entertinament experience.

* - DVI/HDMI output on the SLIM requires a video card upgrade.
Sincerely,


The VidaBox Media Center & Home Theater PC / HTPC Team

Permissible Peak CPU Temperatures

Hello everyone,

I came across this interesting article today regarding permissible peak/maximum CPU temperatures:

http://www.technibble.com/…cpu-temperature/

In the quest for the ultimate media center or home theater PC (HTPC) system, one criteria - overall system quietness - remain elusive to low end systems. Fan noise has traditionally been a problem, because standard stock fans are usually installed, making it sound like a jet engine.

Well, what does this have to do with CPU temperature?

If your motherboard has it, you can tweak your fan speed via the BIOS, or even with a program/application. Ideally, you'd want to set the peak limit as equal to the maximum allowable CPU temperature, so that your fan will only turn on or engage once it's starting to get "too hot," as to minimize fan noise.

However, note that this always isn't a good idea. Setting CPU temperature too high may cause inadvertent effects. For example, your entire motherboard may depend on the CPU fan action to cool other surrounding components (e.g. RAM, onboard video). Especially if you have a "larger but lower RPM" fan, the CPU fan may actually be cooling your TV card, add-on video, etc. Having a higher overall temperature may cause inadvertent effects, which can be unpredictable with the variety and myriad of hardware options out there.

Thus, for media center / HTPC DIY-ers, experimenting and tweaking for the best compromise temperature for good heat dissipation vs. low noise may be a many week endeavor. Be sure to start low, to limit any possible damage to components.

For those who are interested in a "ready-to-go" or "out-of-the-box" solution, we've engineered VidaBox™ systems to emit minimal noise / near silent operation. During normal use, VidaBox media centers emit less than 30 dBA at a 1m range. After installing it in any home entertainment center, the background noise of any home will usually drown out any noise that the VidaBox™ emits.

Have fun with your media centers!

The VidaBox Team
Media Center & Home Theater PC / HTPC System

Why are there very little technical specifications on the main site?

Hello fellow media center / HTPC enthusiasts!

This is a question often asked by our site visitors - "Why are there only general specifications for the VidaBox media center systems on your site?"

The answer is quite simple - it's because we keep constantly changing them all the time.

Unlikely standard media center and home theater PC / HTPC systems from major manufacturers, we didn't design these machines to be primarily computers, but designed them as home theater appliances. For example, you wouldn't necessarily compare the specifications of an XBox 360 directly with a computer - while they both can function as computers, the design of these two appliances are quite different, when one is designed to be primarily for gaming, and the other for productivity.

It may be good to publish specs so that consumers can have a 1:1, apples-to-apples comparison between our products vs the competitors. However, it may not be a fair assessment, because the design goals of our systems vs theirs are quite different. The majority of what people call "media center PCs" are simply PCs with media center installed. We designed our systems to be home theater systems first, and PC's second, for an optimal audio-visual experience. In most cases, very little or no tweaking, optimization, or reliability testing was done on these conventional media center PCs. It doesn't mean that these PCs are bad - it's just that they're designed primarily other tasks, and not really optimized to be an A/V server connected to a TV.

Furthermore, we keep constantly upgrading and updating our CPU's, RAM, and chipsets selections. The most basic specs are usually given, but as prices drop for certain components, we strive to upgrade those components for better performance, while maintaining the same price point.

Thus, it doesn't make sense for us to post one set of specs, have it change in 2 months, and then going back and updating all of the specifications. Much like an XBox 360, the important thing is that the machine works, not that it necessarily has the fastest processor or the most RAM.

At the end of the day, VidaBox™ media center systems, regardless of when they were manufactured or their technical specifications, have more than adequate hardware power to deliver an excellent audio-visual experience for any home theater. Theoretically speaking, we don't even need to keep updating the hardware, so that it's faster or better - but we do so because we believe in delivering the best possible value to you - the customer.

Sincerely,
The VidaBox Media Center & Home Theater PC / HTPC Team

Welcome to the VidaBox Weblog!

Hello, and thanks for visiting this blog! As new VidaBox, media center, and other HTPC developments come up, we'll post them here to keep our fellow HTPC and media center enthusiasts up-to-date. Thank you!

VidaBox™ - Premium Media Center & HTPC