Beyond Media Center.

One of the more exciting CEDIA demos I saw involved a product that doesn’t exist…yet. Pioneer gave us a glimpse at its new network entertainment platform, dubbed ETAP or Project ET.

ETAP unites your major entertainment and automation systems into one box, with one high-def user interface and a ZigBee-based remote (plus iPhone control). First and foremost, it’s an A/V server (the demo sample had a 1TB hard drive), upon which you can store your digital music, photo, and movie files.

It’s also a Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player that supports BD-Live Web features. More importantly for a video server, this system supports the soon-to-arrive “Managed Copy” spec that will allow you to import one high-definition copy of a Blu-ray movie from disc to hard drive.

The server is DLNA-compliant, so you’ll be able to stream all of that movie and music content to (and receive other content from) any DLNA-compliant product on your network. Add in support for a number of Internet content providers, including YouTube, Netflix, and last.fm, with many more that Pioneer was not yet able to announce.

Last but not least, ETAP incorporates Control4’s IQ automation platform, allowing for easy, wireless control of compatible wholehouse automation products.

This level of functionality could be more of a curse than a blessing if the interface falls short. But, from the demo I saw, Pioneer has done an outstanding job of creating a sleek, intuitive and elegant GUI.

I look forward to getting my hands on a real-world ETAP product, which we may see in mid-2010.

CONTACT:
www.pioneerelectronics.com