VIA Announces EPIA Mini-ITX Platform for x86 Consumer Electronics
First to feature the VIA CX700M2 advanced system media processor, the VIA EPIA EX-Series mainboard is the ultimate digital media device platform
[quote]Taipei, Taiwan, 28 December 2006 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced the VIA EPIA EX-Series Mini-ITX mainboards, the first of VIA’s compact platforms to feature the new VIA CX700M2 system media processor. Powered by the highly efficient 1.5GHz or fanless 1.0GHz VIA C7® processor, the VIA EPIA EX has an average operating power consumption of just 13.6 watts.
Specifically designed for the fast-growing x86-based consumer electronics market, the VIA EPIA EX mainboard features full consumer I/O, including ports for composite, component and S-Video, S/PDIF audio, and onboard connectors for LVDS and DVI displays, with USB2.0 and IEEE1394 peripheral connectivity, full featured SATA II RAID, and 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet for seamless broadband connectivity, with a Gigabit Ethernet option.
The VIA EPIA EX also boasts the VIA CX700M2 advanced system media processor, an all-in-one digital media IGP chipset integrating the VIA UniChromeâ„¢ Pro II 2D/3D graphics core and an extended array of high end video and audio technologies, including hardware decoding acceleration of MPEG-2/-4 and WMV9 video, a built-in HDTV encoder up to 1080i, 720p output, and VIA Vinyl Multi-channel HD audio for a richer listening experience.
“We see the consumer electronics market increasingly adopting the x86 platform for the extra performance and comprehensive compatibility with all popular media formats, and the fully integrated, off the shelf VIA EPIA EX fills this need perfectly,â€