Digital Home Thoughts: Velocity Micro Announces the FUZEbox

"Velocity Micro introduces the Velocity FuzeBox, the world's first whole home media experience. Take control of your entire media collection-movies, video, music, and pictures-like never before with the FuzeBox intuitive user interface. Then distribute content throughout your home to turn your entire house into a virtual media hub...Catalogue, store, and organize your entire library of movies, TV, music, and pictures on the FuzeBox's massive hard drive. Then access them quickly and easily using the revolutionary and intuitive FuzeBox interface for an immersive entertainment experience."

Velocity Micro has released something new here, and I'm trying to wrap my brain around exactly what it is. In the demo video, I see Windows Media Center, but elsewhere the UI looks quite different - it looks like it's Windows Vista Home Premium-based system where the Media Center UI is front and centre, with some custom software bits thrown in. It's got built-in cable-card support (two in the FUZEbox, four in the FUZEbox Pro), so you can get HD goodness captured to the hard drive. The FAQ has lots of good info - like the fact that this system will not rip DVDs for you, but if it detects an unencrypted movie format on the hard drive, it will pull down cover art and DVD info on it. So there's no breaking the DMCA here - move along MPAA agents. The pricing seems fairly reasonable - it starts at $1995 USD, and that's with 4 GB of RAM, an unspecified Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, and 750 GB of storage space. For $249 more you can jump up to two 1 TB hard drives - nice!

If my local cable company (Shaw) offered cable card support, I might be all over this...but as it stands now, I can only hope that someday I'll be able to indulge in the HD TV goodness (my sucktastic Motorola HD PVR doesn't really count because it's a closed system). The full press release is after the break.

Velocity Micro Announces the Release of the CineMagix FuzeBox
Revolutionary home media server is industry's first total whole home theater convergence device

Richmond, VA - October 8, 2008 - Velocity Micro, the premier independent builder of custom, high performance computers, notebooks, and home theater systems announces the immediate release of an innovative new closed-box home media server solution, the CineMagix FuzeBox Home Media Server. Utilizing an innovative interface and Velocity Micro's trademarked expert engineering, the FuzeBox manages, stores, and distributes pictures, music, and video throughout an entire home, making it the first and only whole home media experience on the market.

"For years, consumers have been struggling to find a home theater solution that will simply and efficiently help them manage their digital lives," said Randy Copeland, President and CEO of Velocity Micro. "The FuzeBox, with its simple interface and dynamic features, provides exactly what that consumer is looking for-a whole home media experience in one system."

Velocity Micro paired with Fuze Media Systems to create and develop the innovative interface and perfect the meticulous build of the FuzeBox. As a result, the FuzeBox is a home media server device so simple and stable, literally anyone can use and enjoy it. Key features include:

• Digital Cablecard support for watching and recording digital content without a cable box or DVR;
• Multiple audio zones for playing different music selections in various zones throughout a home using either a wireless or wired network;
• The capability to back up and distribute DVDs and Blu-Rays to various video zones
• Whole home storage server capability for music, photos, video, and data;
• Tremendous redundant storage capacity of up to two terabytes means space for over 300 movies and 8000 songs;
• Multiple control options for remote management of all media server aspects including playing and controlling music and video from anywhere on the network;
• Simple installation by end users or media professionals;
• Locked graphical user interface that can't be broken by casual users.

The CineMagix FuzeBox will be configurable from $1,995, directly from Velocity Micro. VisitVelocityMicro.com/FuzeBox for more details.

About Velocity Micro, Inc.
Velocity Micro, Inc. is the premier high-performance personal computer provider in North America. Founded in 1992, Richmond, Va.-based Velocity Micro custom builds award winning gaming, mobile, multimedia, home office, and small business solutions. Velocity Micro systems are available at both Best Buy, Circuit City, and Micro Center retail stores nationwide and at www.circuitcity.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.microcenter.com. For more information on Velocity Micro, please visit www.velocitymicro.com or call (800) 303-7866.

Velocity Micro has earned over 45 industry awards, including 11 PC Magazine Editor's Choice awards. CNET, Maximum PC, Mobile PC, PC World, Computer Gaming World, Computer Shopper, and PC Gamer editors have all chosen Velocity Micro systems as some of the industry's best-performing, highest-quality, and most reliable PCs.