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Q: Are Media Servers going to revolutionize the entertainment medium, or are they just a passing trend?

A: Someday, your children will find your DVD's buried in the garage next to the LaserDiscs, Betamax tapes, cassettes, and 8-tracks.

Media Servers are hardware devices outfitted to access, stream, and store various forms of multimedia content. The only requirement for a device to operate is a connection to the Internet, preferably above 2 Mbps for optimal speeds. The scope of equipment can be as sophisticated as the servers YouTube uses to distribute video or as simple as a box next to the television that instantaneously dispenses 1000's of your favorite movies. There are various classes of devices for this purpose, with network appliances being the easiest for use and the least expensive.

The options are seemingly endless for this type of service, with the choice being a matter of personal preference. This latest class of Internet appliances has been joined by many companies, including VUDU, which offers video streaming in Standard Definition, HD, HDX (near Blu-Ray quality), a Netflix box by Roku, XBox 360, iTV, DirecTV, and TiVo, as well as On-Demand from your local cable company. All options are HD capable, except the Netflix box.

The choices are basically an alternative to rental store pick-up/drop-off, like Netflix and Blockbuster TotalAccess which still force the customer to rely upon a fragile, physical disc medium - not to mention the time discs take to travel back and forth. With a network appliance such as VUDU , cover art, previews, and content rating are all readily available as you move through the menus allowing a choice between immediate live streaming or timed, queued downloads. Even a crisp, lossless HD movie can be acquired quickly! Use of this service is similar to the video store rental, with the convenience of renting and/or purchasing content directly from your server.

Network appliances and media servers use centralized data, be it from a DVD, computer file, digital camera, or nearly any other electronic device, to distribute content throughout a commercial or residential network at an individual user's request. There are as many different applications for this technology as there are places to integrate them into your life.

An alternative to this type of network applicance service is used in a media server available from companies such as Kaleidescape and ReQuest . These media servers actually archive and store your movie and music collections on a hard drive simultaneously, with the option to view a movie in your theater at the same time that your kids listen to music out by the pool. Storage sizes vary with each piece of equipment, but options for added storage space are readily available. While this is the more expensive option in the beginning, your content is actually owned, not rented, and is readily available in high quality at any time. Best of all - it's yours to keep forever.  

Whether you're interested in renting the newest high-definition releases or purchasing golden-oldies television shows, Media Servers open up a world of convenient entertainment possibilities that are made more exciting with each addition of functionality, efficiency, and comfortability. EDG's objective is to provide its clients with cutting-edge, reliable products 100% of the time, and these top-quality products are all highly recommended.

To find out how you can have this award-winning technology installed in your home, contact EDG at (732) 650-9800, online at www.EDGonline.com, or via email at solutions@edgonline.com.