ZeeVee launches ZvBox, a new consumer electronics product for watching any Internet TV, online video, or computer content on HDTVs at home. Available for preorder online exclusively at
Amazon.com.
The explosion of Internet TV and movie downloads has been confined to the computer's small screen. Alternative solutions have failed to solve this problem, with drawbacks including limited content, added subscription fees, the need for a box at each TV, and the inability to show everything a computer can do with high-quality video and audio. ZeeVee's new ZvBox is the first device that allows consumers to watch anything they can get online or on their computers on all the HDTVs in their homes. ZvBox achieves this by simply connecting to the monitor output of the computer and turning it into a new HD TV channel called Zv, which is then broadcast across the existing cable wiring to all HDTVs in the home. As a result, ZvBox frees TV watchers from restrictive set-top boxes, rigid network schedules, and the strain of hunching over laptops to view online video.
ZvBox represents a new product category for consumer electronics called "localcasting," a breakthrough method for broadcasting anything a computer can do using the home's existing cable wiring and the TV tuners already embedded in HDTVs. As demonstrated by ZeeVee's own ZvCast technology upon which ZvBox is built, localcasting has several benefits which surpass alternative methods for watching Internet video on TV:
- Lets you watch anything available online or on your computer, with no new subscription fees
- Broadcasts the same great HD resolution that is displayed by your computer
- Uses your existing cable wiring to reach all the HDTVs in your house with just one box
- Eliminates the need for a receiving device near your HDTV
- Experiences no wireless interference or performance problems
- Allows you to start watching Zv in one room and finish in another
The best benefit of all is that ZvBox requires no change in consumer behavior. Because ZvBox localcasts its signal to an open TV channel, you only need to turn to that channel to watch Zv -- just like any other TV channel. And since ZvCast delivers such a crisp screen resolution, any computer application is accessible from the HDTV, including email, web browsing, photos, music, home movies, and of course the computer's own DVD player.
To enhance the Zv viewing experience, ZeeVee has also pioneered a new remote control, called ZvRemote. ZvRemote controls your media playback and has an integrated touchpad which controls the computer's mouse and desktop interface from across the house - up to 150 feet away. The ZvKeyboard makes it even easier to compose email, surf the web, and type text for desktop applications. ZeeVee also provides a "widescreen guide" called Zviewer that is optimized for a 10-foot viewing experience on an HDTV.