First Look:

Headplay brings Personal Cinema System to mobiles

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(10/02/06, 3:54 AM GMT)

San Diego, Ca. – At the DemoFall 2006 conference here HEADPLAY, Inc. unveiled its Personal Cinema System -- a portable, visual headset and media center that delivers an immersive, high resolution, cinematic, big screen experience for gaming, movie watching and Internet use.

The Personal Cinema System is comprised of three major components: the Viewer, the Liberator and the Navigator.

The Viewer, or headset, is worn by the user and displays a virtual 52" screen, providing an immersive, movie theatre-like experience. The Viewer is being designed by industrial design firm, IDEO, to provide the ultimate style and comfort for extended wear and viewing.

It allows for the simultaneous use of a game controller or keyboard and weighs a mere five ounces. The Viewer incorporates truly amazing optical technologies, such as a LCOS micro display and it will support various resolution levels including 640 X 480, 800 X 600 and 1024 X 768. HEADPLAY's patented technology delivers separate but identical images to each eye from a single micro display, thereby reducing eye-strain.

The Liberator is both the brains and the heart of the Personal Cinema System. The Liberator is battery-powered to deliver up to 6 hours of playtime between charges.

It accepts a composite video, component video and S-video signal in the formats of NTSC, PAL and SECAM. It also enjoys universal connectivity, making it compatible with virtually any device that has video out, including video game consoles, DVD players, video iPods, PCs, cell phones and USB storage devices such as an old iPod, thumbdrives or any MP3 player. Just plug and play, with no special drivers required.

The Liberator also runs the software for managing the system and allows for reading and displaying content read through its Compact Flash slot or two USB host ports. It can also accommodate universal adapters to allow reading from SD, X, X, so users can get their content to go and are free to enjoy it without requiring any additional hardware beyond the HEADPLAY Personal Cinema System itself.

The Navigator is a tethered remote control that allows the user to select and control content and screen settings. It also serves as the connection point for the Personal Cinema System's high-performance, noise-suppression ear-buds that will be available with the product.

Connecting directly to game consoles, DVD players, iPods, PCs and cell phones, the Personal Cinema System is capable of reading stored media using compact flash or USB and via a universal adapter to use SD, XD, Memory Stick or Smart Media.

The Personal Cinema System provides universal compatibility with hardware platforms worldwide. In addition, the Personal Cinema System displays, with content availability, true stereoscopic 3D.

"Portable media devices are making a tremendous impact on consumers' consumption of entertainment content, but up until now the viewing experience has been limited by screen size," said Glen Ward, Co-CEO of HEADPLAY, Inc. The HEADPLAY Personal Cinema System will be available to consumers in Q1 2007. To learn more, go to www.headplay.com. 

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