Austin, TX — April 13, 2005 — After impressive showings at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show, the International Builders’ Show and the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, NetStreams, the leader in IP-based Networked Audio distribution, is setting the site of its groundbreaking DigiLinX multi-room audio system for iShow’s NextGen Demonstration Home during the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, from May 10-12, 2005.
Employing cutting-edge technologies from advanced electronics to super-strong structures, the NextGen Home aims to demonstrate how to enhance quality, durability, efficiency, safety, and affordability of a home. The emphasis for this upcoming NextGen Home is on the latest trends in whole house design, with special focus on kitchen and bath areas. The unit features a contemporary floor plan with the kitchen at the center activity, and an eclectic elevation that will fit into any neighborhood. NetStreams’ DigiLinX system will allow visitors to experience high quality multi-room audio throughout the house and on the deck.
“NetStreams’ participation in the NextGen Home project has been most rewarding,” said Herman Cardenas, CEO of NetStreams. “So far this year we have impressed many industry professionals at every show where NextGen was featured. This has resulted in many productive leads. The NextGen Home allows us to showcase how DigiLinX is the only IP-based multi-room audio system in the market today, and thanks to our patent-pending StreamNet technology, it solves the problem of synchronization of audio streams over TCP/IP from room to room. We designed DigiLinX to be highly future-expandable in its source compatibility, installation, and programming, and the NextGen homes are an ideal venue to demonstrate the system’s capabilities.”
The first NextGen Home of 2005 that featured DigiLinX was exhibited in Las Vegas, Nevada during the International Consumer Electronics Show from January 6-9, 2005. With a theme of “The Future Is Here,” visitors to the home could see first hand the converging trends in home electronics in its real home environment. The second NextGen home in 2005 was in Orlando, Florida from January 13-16, 2005. Operating during the International Builders’ Show, its theme was “Safe & Sound.” In addition to innovative entertainment products, the house also featured storm-resistant building construction, and the latest in interior air quality technology, energy-efficient design, and home automation.
The third NextGen Home featured the theme “First to the Future”, and it made its debut during the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 18–21, 2005. The emphasis was on the many and varied choices that America has in the home when it comes to broadcast content, cable satellite signals, interactive TV, the Internet and music subscription services.
The DigiLinX system, using NetStreams’ IP-based patent pending technology, distributes audio over CAT5e using TCP/IP on an Ethernet network, in a meshed networked architecture. DigiLinX converts audio from a legacy source (Tuner, CD Player, other) in real-time, to uncompressed audio streams, allowing up to 24-bit, studio quality audio to be distributed throughout a home or commercial facility. DigiLinX is the most easily expandable distributed audio system on the marketplace today and is compatible with not only digital media servers but also legacy sources like a consumer’s DVD player, CD player, cassette player, etcetera — even an 8-track player! All devices are network upgradeable.
Among DigiLinX`s most impressive features is its ability to access and distribute metadata from advanced digital audio sources like ReQuest Multimedia’s Audio Request digital media servers. The data is then displayed on the color display of the DigiLinX keypads. Now, a consumer can access any source, from any room, at any time, and if the source provides meta-data, DigiLinX allows the music to be selected by Artist, Album, Song, and Genre, and can also display the `cover art`.
The DigiLinX System can also distribute and play both uncompressed (.wav) and compressed audio formats like MP3. Additionally, because all of the processing code is stored in flash memory, updates to allow DigiLinX to support other new digital audio formats will be easily available in the future. DigiLinX does not limit the user interface to its keypads. Each component contains its own IP address and web server that can serve-up rich control pages to third party products such as PDA’s, Web Tablets, Web TVs, or computers, for a new experience in music management.
About iShow
iShow is a Bellevue, Washington-based company and is the producer of the highly regarded NextGen Series of Demonstration Homes (http://www.nextgenhome.com/) and the NextGen Broadcast Network. iShow is a leader in providing marketing communication and Internet broadcast solutions for corporate America, government agencies, associations and event owners. Clients include: Microsoft, SEARS, Merillat, Siemens, InfoComm, U.S. Department of Energy, Bobvila.com, National Association of Homebuilders and many others.
About NetStreams
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NetStreams provides sophisticated networked audio leading the marketplace in technological innovation. NetStreams is committed to utilizing state-of-the-art human engineering to create home entertainment products that are truly user-friendly and future-compatible. NetStreams is creating the future of home entertainment today.
For additional information on NetStreams and its innovative products, please visit www.netstreams.com.
NetStreams and DigiLinX are registered trademarks of NetStreams. Request MultiMedia and Audio Request are registered trademarks of ReQuest, inc.
