Wavexpress, a provider of broadband media technology and services,
majority-owned by Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: WAVX), today announced the
release of a new version of its TVTonic™ application
that is designed to make optimal use of the power of Windows Media Center in
Windows Vista and to allow users to watch thousands of their favorite
short-form online videos in a broadcast-like viewing experience. This new
version, available through Online Media in Windows Media Center on Windows
Vista Home Premium and Ultimate Editions, introduces users to the next
generation of Internet television and is designed for remote control TV
surfing.
“TVTonic brings the wealth of Internet video into an
entertaining and reliable living-room television experience,”
said Michael Sprague, president of Wavexpress. “Microsoft’s new Windows Media Center Presentation Layer platform
technology and Xbox 360 integration gave us many of the tools to achieve our
objectives for this product. With TVTonic, our content partners, large and
small, can reach many viewers in the living room with an HD experience simply
by making their video available on the Web.”
The new TVTonic includes a number of cutting edge features, aimed at
providing an unrivaled Internet television viewing experience to users, such
as:
- Playback of videos in
continuous full-screen format,
- Easily navigable menu
overlays,
- Support for high-definition
feeds,
- Seamless integration with the
Xbox 360 console with the click of a button,
- Both cached and streamed viewing
for reliability as well as instant access.
“Windows Vista is designed to fit people’s lives. Our work with Wavexpress helps us deliver on the
promise of personal computing,” said Dave Wascha,
director of partner marketing communications for Windows Client at Microsoft
Corp. “We appreciate the support Wavexpress has
provided at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show to
make people’s lives easier and better connected.”
TVTonic is a free offering available through the Online Media feature in the
Windows Media Center of Windows Vista and to any PC user at www.tvtonic.com.
By taking the hassles out of searching for quality video on the Internet, it
can create a classic television experience where users can simply pick a
channel using their remote, sit back and enjoy. This can reduce the need to
engage in a time-consuming hunt for the best online videos or suffer from
clunky streaming video downloads that freeze up or refuse to play at all.
TVTonic is designed to cache content chosen by users on the user’s hard drive, where it can be viewed in up to full HD
quality.
TVTonic is also designed to be navigated with a remote, just like classic
TV, for easy surfing across channels, from technology shows and video podcasts,
to cartoons and music videos.
TVTonic will be unveiled and demonstrated at CES 2007, which is taking place
in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8-11. The offering can be found in the new
Online Media section in Windows Media Center. Check out TVTonic at the Windows
Vista booth at the Central Plaza 9 location. For more information about the
show, please visit: http://www.cesweb.org/default.asp.
Cross Posted from Chris Lanier's Blog at
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/