Iomega ScreenPlay Features DVD Buttons

New external hard drive unit is designed to hold and playback multimedia files through a TV or A/V receiver without a computer.

Iomega Corporation today announced a new external hard drive unit which they feel is well suited towards multimedia uses. The 60GB ScreenPlay Multimedia Drive is available now for $219.95.

The ScreenPlay, said Iomega, can hold up to 240,000 photos, 90 hours of DVD-quality video or 1,100 hours of digital music. Chief among the features of this USB 2.0 external hard drive is built-in multimedia playback capability through a TV or A/V system via its audio and video outputs. A set of DVD-style playback buttons and on-screen TV navigation helps users select a video, song list, or slide show to play. A wireless remote is included to help control the ScreenPlay’s functions.

Supported media formats of this 5.2” x 3.07” x 0.7” hard drive include MPEG-1 (AVI, MPG, DAT), MPEG-2 (AVI, VOB), and MPEG-4 (AVI, XviD). It also can handle JPEG photos of up to 8 megapixel resolution, motion JPEG files at 15 or 30 frames per second (digital camera movies), and MP3 digital audio files.

“The Iomega ScreenPlay Multimedia Drive is a great 60GB portable hard drive with built-in multimedia features that make it the ideal digital media player for virtually any television or A/V receiver,” said Brian Still, Manager of Product and Channel Marketing, Iomega Corporation. “People can liberate their audio, video and photo files from the PC and take them anywhere, whether it’s the living room, a hotel, grandmother’s house, the client’s office or the conference room. The Iomega ScreenPlay Multimedia Drive brings a new level of convenience and personalization so you can watch and listen to what you want, when you want, without the need of being connected to a computer.”