S1Digital has taken the wraps off its ProLine series of media centers aimed at the custom installation market, offering up to 3 TB of media storage, 2 GB of RAM, HD DVD playback, Nvidia PureVideo HD graphics technology, HDMI, a 2.46 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4 MB of Level 2 cache, and, of course, Windows Vista Ultimate—all in a custom 3U rackmount chassis designed to be tucked away behind attractive custom cabinetry.
The ProLine series offers six how swap drive backs managed by a 3ware RAID controller, enabling the system to record multiple HD streams while streaming content throughout a home via Media Center Extenders. The ProLine’s 3U rack chassis fits into standard 20-inch A/V racks, and offers HD-DVD playback capability (Blu-ray available as an option), 1080i HDMI output (S-video RGB, component, and DVI are also available) off an Nvidia 7600GT with 256 MB of video RAM, dual HDTV and SDTV tuners (enabling recording of up to four channels at a time), 7.1 audio output, gigabit Ethernet, a memory card reader supporting 42 types of flash memory cards.
And the ProLines offer another feature key to custom installation: silence. An extruded aluminum heat sink draws heat away from core components using silent heat pipe technology. The systems can also be customized with two-way control and home automation capabilities from vendors like Crestron, AMX, Russound, and Nuvo.
Expect the ProLine series to be available in March 2007 (pre-orders are available now). S1Digital is only revealing pricing to approved resellers…but as with all custom-installed high-end media centers, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.
