Sony Whole House Hi-Def Systems

[McBain]

Press release:

Sony Introduces Whole House High-Definition Video Entertainment Systems for New Home Construction Market

SAN FRANCISCO (PCBC, Booth #6111, North Hall), May 30 -- Providing homebuilders and installers a time and cost-efficient, whole house high-definition video entertainment solution, Sony introduced its updated line of NHS rack systems today at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in San Francisco.

Updating the systems with new components, the new NHS racks support high-definition video distribution throughout the home in a pre-built rack system. Building on the success of the original NHS systems, the next generation NHS- 1040, NHS-2040 and NHS-3040 feature up to 13 zones of HD video distribution and a Blu-ray disc player.

"Integrated home entertainment is becoming a more important factor for new home buyers in the custom and semi-custom market," said Neal Manowitz, director of marketing for Sony Electronics' consumer systems and applications division. "These new systems are ideal for builders and installers because they reduce time spent on procurement and integrating individual components, and offer the consumer a whole house HD solution with all the features of custom installation without the custom price tag."

The NHS-3040 rack supports up to 13 a/v zones and incorporates a 7.1 HDMI home theater with LCD touch-panel remote control, a 400-disc DVD/CD changer with management system, 80GB music server, Blu-ray HD disc player, AM/FM/XM tuner, HD cable/satellite support, and three auxiliary inputs. Content navigation is controlled on the LCD touch panel remote commander in the home theater and via in-wall keypads located in each of the separate zones. All of the systems can be expanded to support additional rooms.

Supporting up to seven zones with HD video, the NHS-2040 system includes a similar range of components. The NHS-1040 excludes the 400-disc DVD/CD changer with management system.

The NHS-1040, NHS-2040, NHS-3040 series features include:

-- 7.1 HDMI home theater;
-- Twelve additional HD video zones (six additional HD video zones for NHS-1040 and NHS-2040);
-- Built-in support to add an HD cable or satellite receiver;
-- An 80 GB music storage and management server;
-- A 400-disc DVD changer with management system (NHS-2040 and NHS-3040);
-- AM/FM tuner;
-- XM Satellite Radio(TM) support;
-- Single-disc Blu-ray disc player;
-- Three additional auxiliary inputs; and
-- Three zone expansion.

The NHS-3040, NHS-2040 and NHS-1040 will be available in the third quarter of 2007.

Product information about NHS systems is available online at http://www.sony.com/newhome.