Long shrouded in secrecy but buzzing with excitement, Pioneer Electronics' concept piece, code-named "Project ET," is a networked entertainment player that brings together home theater-quality audio and video and Internet access in a single set-top box. Unlike past Pioneer products, Project ET (a.k.a. "E-Tap" or "Entertainment Tap") offers the freedom to combine one's own music, movies and photo collections with access to a choice of online content services, social networking applications, as well as online purchases. The unified remote control can also add and remove services based on entertainment needs and preferences.
Project ET builds upon Pioneer's proprietary Home Media Gallery function that networks DLNA-compliant products within the home theater. Now that broadband speeds have increased sufficiently to support high-definition quality content over the internet, a living room product like this is finally feasible. We will be able to download and stream music, video and photos directly from a networked PC, with direct access to new content from free and paid online content providers including YouTube and Netflix.
Consumers could further customize the device with preferred applications for music and movie streaming, photo storage and playback, with proprietary video processing technologies for the best playback of high-def and standard-def. The box that Pioneer has been showing houses a one-terabyte hard disk drive for storing compressed or uncompressed audio files, in addition to an internal Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD player. Like any good enetertainment server, the E-TAP supports ripping your CD collection onto the hard drive, but what sets it apart from just about everything else on the market is that it can also rip Blu-ray Discs in full high definition quality - legally.
Entertainment server company Kaleidescape has built their business around ripping their customers' movie collections (DVD and Blu-ray) onto massive hard drive arrays for simple distributed playback throughout a home. But without studio buy-in, they've been assaulted with lawsuit after lawsuit, for "unauthorized" copying of copyright material. Pioneer's system works with the studios, taking advantage of an upcoming managed copy function built into the Blu-ray format itself. Future Blu-ray titles will be encoded with a managed copy flag which allows limited or unlimited copying of the content on the disc. If the title is managed copy-enabled, the Pioneer E-TAP system will be able to rip the Blu-ray movie and primary soundtrack onto the server. Cover art and other title details are available on screen to assist in navigation through your content.
At CEDIA EXPO in Atlanta last week, company reps were demonstrating the system. Included in the demo was an actual (abbreviated) rip of a Managed Copy-enabled version of Disney's Bolt. Ripping at about 4X speed, the first 8 minutes of the animated film were ripped and then played back in perfect 1080p quality. For this system to be successful, the studios will need to start utilizing the Managed Copy flags which are an optional part of the Blu-ray standard. As for DVD ripping, this is not currently in the plan for Project ET.
The prototype Project ET black box was Ethernet-equipped with built-in Wi-Fi and custom installation tools with integrated Control4 IQ technology. A Zigbee 2-Way remote control and high-definition graphic user interface make for intuitive navigation in addition to managing room lighting, temperature and other connected home automation applications, if desired. Over Wi-Fi, Project ET can also control (and play) digital media as well as home theater operations via an iPod, iPhone or Android-based phones. And real-time Twitter updates can tell your followers what you're currently watching/listening to, with a link to the album or movie title, allowing them to directly purchase physical or digital copies.
Pioneer has not announced a specific release date or any pricing information, as they continue to develop the various hardware options for this new platform but Project ET projects may be available as early as next year.
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