Thursday, March 4, 2010

Asus intros first networked media player with USB 3.0

Asus has quietly introduced a third member to the O!Play family at CeBIT. Although its specifications are mostly unknown, the O!Play HD2 is billed as the first networked media player to carry SuperSpeed USB 3.0. The company promises a "wealth of cloud infotainment," including access to more than 20,000 digital radio and 100 Internet TV channels.


Visible front-mounted connections include USB, eSATA, and memory card slots, while composite video is likely to be on the rear. As with O!Play systems before it, the HD2 should be able to feed 1080p HD video over a user's home network via Ethernet or over 802.11 Wi-Fi. It also boasts complete HD audio bit stream support for uncompressed 7.1-channel sound output, and is reportedly outfitted with a 3.5-inch hard drive.

Unfortunately, that's all Asus is willing to share for now, and there is no word on a release date or price.