Audio Video News

Niveus Media has announced the ZONE multi-room media player, a compact media system that can play music and movies served from any networked media PC. At just 6" by 6" by 2", it's slightly smaller than a Mac Mini, with more home theater-friendly features.

The ZONE is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and features HDMI 1.3, a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, e-SATA connectivity for adding non-networked storage, and support for third-party digital cable tuners. Once hooked up to your home network, it can access music, photos, and movies from any networked storage device or PC, including Niveus' own existing media servers, like the Niveus' Rainier Edition 500HD media center PC we reviewed last year.

Like its name implies, the ZONE can support a single room (or zone). However, multiple ZONEs can be set up across a home network, giving numerous rooms the same access to networked media, along with its in-box Blu-ray playback and cable tuner support.

The Niveus ZONE is available now for $1,499, from Niveus.com and select custom installers and dealers.

— Will Greenwald