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Mirics launches FlexiStream Home Media Center Platform for Windows 7

6th January 2010

ES Admin

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Mirics today announces FlexiStream, enabling PC users to take their home TV with them anywhere on smart phones, PMPs or netbooks. Running on Windows 7, the FlexiStream home-server is used for reception, viewing, recording, real-time re-formatting and IP- streaming of live TV to any kind of portable or handheld device. Instead of expensive hardware and proprietary set-top box technology, FlexiStream makes use of the widely available Windows 7 PC and Mirics FlexiTVTM, the only production global terrestrial TV tuner solution with a sub-$5 bill-of materials. FlexiTV’s optimization for the NVIDIA CUDATM architecture enables the NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) for TV signal processing, video decoding and transcoding, while use of industry-standard streaming formats greatly simplifies the client applications.

All that is needed for TV reception is a Windows 7 PC equipped with Mirics’ universal terrestrial broadcast receiver, either as a USB accessory or integrated into the PC. TV can then be viewed or recorded in all geographies with Windows Media Center in High Definition or any other broadcast resolution. Furthermore, that same content can be re-formatted for whatever portable devices are in the household and streamed utilizing FlexiStream to those devices wherever they are, anywhere in the world.

Jay Nunez, Vice President of WW Sales and Marketing at Mirics, commented: “Mirics has simplified the process of streaming content from home with a complete end-to-end solution. From RF feed to remote LCD, Mirics delivers a global TV receiver by means of a multi-band RF front-end, revolutionary NVIDIA-assisted signal processing in software, and streaming with industry-standard protocols to a lean, fast-to-download client application. Whether it is a notebook, netbook or a touch-screen handheld, anything from that big live football game to the local news can either be watched in real-time, or a recording set up from the portable device whilst on the move. No longer is there any reason to miss anything.”

Chris Williams, Director of Program Management, Microsoft’s TV, Video and Music business group, added: “The new Windows 7 version of Windows Media Center can display or record TV in High Definition which complements the Mirics solution. FlexiTV with FlexiStream running on Windows 7 shows how Windows Media Center turns your PC into a complete entertainment system.”

“Whether at home or on the road, most of us want easy access to our audio, video and photos,” said Michael Steele, General Manager of visual consumer solutions at NVIDIA. “For TV, Mirics is making that easier and NVIDIA is making it better. Our collaboration with Mirics on FlexiTV is providing consumers a great solution that uses the GPU to optimize the PC for delivering broadcast TV. And FlexiStream is a great example of extending that experience even further.”