08.30.2008 — Just in time for CEDIA Expo 2008, Escient is finally shipping its highly anticipated Vision Series of media management products, which distribute movies, music and photos throughout the house.

Curiously, Escient's press release refers to the shipping product as "Escient's 5th-generation Vision Series," even though it is the first generation to ship. The company also boasts an "all-new interface!" for the Vision, even though it is the same one that was demonstrated at CEDIA exactly one year ago.

When asked for clarification, Escient's PR firm confirms, "The products do everything they were said to do when they were first announced."

Vision Series Revisited

For all the specs, review our year-old Vision story and slideshow. As a refresher:

The Vision Series is anchored by the VS-100 ($4,000) and VS-200 ($6,000) integrated servers/players. They offer 500 GB and 1 TB of storage, respectively—both with RAID 1 redundancy.


The units have four HDMI inputs for connecting compatible DVD changers, and there is a switcher built in. An HD connection to the big screen allows clients to view cover art in its full glory.

The VC-1 ($2,000), a networked A/V zone player that acts as a client to stream content from VS servers to remote rooms. Rounding out the line is a large capacity media server called the VX-600 ($8,000), featuring four 1 TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration and unlimited expandability. The VX-600 provides advanced early detection monitoring systems for reliable installations and subsequent diagnostics.

Works with FireBall

If your existing Escient FireBall music servers are capable of running firmware version 4.2 or higher, you will receive a free update, allowing the units to interact with Vision servers and players.

The FireBall servers will be able to share music content stored internally with the Vision VS-100 and VS-200, as well as the VC-1 player. In addition, all Vision servers will be able to share stored music with any FireBall.

Escient has created a new on-screen interface for FireBall units so they can mimic Vision's color scheme.

It's About Time

Escient is a pioneer in content management and distribution, delivering the first music management system about a decade ago.

While the company has long sold products for managing DVDs slotted in multi-disc changers, Escient is years behind in hard-drive systems. Kaleidescape, Axonix, Fusion, AMX, Xperinet (now defunct), Codex Novus, and countless companies using Windows Media Center have whizzed by Escient in that category.

Even so, the market is still very young, penetration is low, and Escient is a beloved brand among home systems integrators.

No doubt the company, owned by D&M Holdings, will make a killing in this market.

Escient is at booth #100 at CEDIA. View the entire Exhibitor List here.

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