News

Living Control announces Studio6 MediaServer for HD entertainment all around the home (19/5/2009)

Stand C5, CEDIA UK Expo 2009

Performing at the cutting edge of entertainment server technology is the truly high-end Studio6 MediaServer from UK multi-room wizards Living Control.

When installed at the centre of a multi-room entertainment system, the Studio6 is capable of sending two independent streams of FullHD (1080p) video and four independent streams of high definition 24bit/96kHz audio simultaneously to six or more rooms in the home. This means that at any one time, it’s possible for a family and friends to be enjoying two different FullHD movies and four different audiophile-quality music selections wherever they are in the home. As powerful as entertainment servers come, Living Control’s new Studio6 offers a home full of the highest quality audio and video entertainment from a single box.

Supporting a wide ranging library of video and audio formats including AVI, MP4, QuickTime HD, H.264, VC1, DiVX 4/5/6, Living Control's Studio6 offers the most comprehensive choice of playback options available at a higher quality than any other playback engine.

Its proprietary modular design, developed and built entirely in the UK, is based on Living Control’s own Linux platform, which is powerfully future-proofed via LC’s ‘openCODEC’ system. Updates will enable a choice of the latest generation of Full HD optical storage for Blu-ray or other future HD optical formats. Gigabit networking enables the streaming of video and music across the network, as well as importing video and music from other sources.

The Studio6’s control interface is designed to be simple to use and sophisticated in operation. A vast selection of high quality audio and video entertainment is selectable from Living Control’s easy-to-use wall keypads, TVs and a range of wireless devices including Nokia Tablets and the iPhone®. On-screen video selection is via list, thumbnail or Yu-Gi-Oh interface (named after a Japanese card game) with filtering by genre, actor or director.

In addition to its role as the source for a Living Control multi-room entertainment system, the Studio6 is offered as a formidable standalone device. It offers a four-line display, with touch sensitive keys providing a series of simple to use menus for setting up from the box. It’s also compatible with a variety of third party multi-room controllers including Crestron and AMX, as well as Sky TV and Philips Pronto remote controls.

Pronto, PC, Mac, Linux and Nokia Tablet interfaces allow the full management of all audio and video files including the comprehensive editing of playlists and podcasts.

Conceived for duties at the centre of the finest multi-room entertainment systems, Living Control’s Studio6 has the capability and the flexibility to define the future shape of luxury home entertainment and storage.

Studio6 features:

*Twin simultaneous FullHD outputs (selectable HDMI/Component).
*Twin digital audio outputs (1 Optical, 1 Coaxial) 32bit-192kHz with optional stereo downmix.
*Up to 4 separate high resolution (24bit-96kHz) analogue audio-only outputs including stereo movie downmix for surround decoding.
*Two additional audio outputs with audio downmix for multiroom distribution.
*Native 1080p playback with high quality up-scaling.
*Proprietry Living Control ‘Picture-Perfect’ playback engine based on gstreamer multimedia framework, utilising CODECs from Fluendo S.A for smooth playback of all video formats.
*Video selection via list, thumbnail or Yu-Gi-Oh interface with list filtering.
*Proprietry ‘openCODEC’ system provides support for multiple future HD formats.
*Support for the majority of major video formats including QuicktimeHD, H.264, VC-1, Theora, WMV, WMV HD.
*Support for the majority of major audio formats including WAV, FLAC lossless, MP4 (M4A).
*3TB internal storage through Seagate Pipeline HD Pro Hard Drive, capable of operating at drive case temperatures up to 75ºC. Designed and tested for always-on applications, 24x7.
*High specification soundcard: 36 bit mixer means audio maintains integrity through mixer channels.
*Control interfaces for Pronto TSU9600, Windows, Linux, OS-X, Nokia N-Series Tablets and iPhone®.
*Multiple Remote control options (per-output selection).
*Touch sensitive front panel buttons.
*Gigabit networking.
*Drag-and-drop files on to the Studio6 over the network.
*3U Rack mount kit available.
*Expandable with additional MediaUnits.

Availability: June 2009 Retail Price: £8995

www.livingcontrol.com