Aeon Digital Corp. has announced the availability of a Next Generation DVD Hardware Set, the first to offer support for Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 Series encoding and playback.

The OEM hardware set that Aeon Digital has created based on the Equator BSP-15 chip will give the consumer the capability to do more than just play movies. The hardware set targets 3 market segments: DVD Player, Digital Recording and Broadband Entertainment. The hardware set has a TV tuner that enables users the ability to record their favorite television shows and gives them the capability of affordably recording digitally today. Aeon Digital's hardware set was designed around the robust feature set of Microsoft's Windows Media Video 9 Series that will enable the unit to record and play back to CDR-W 2 hours of high quality digital audio and video content.

The hardware set is Ethernet ready and will allow OEMs the power to enable consumers to stream Windows Media 9 Video content directly from the Internet and into a home entertainment center using a cable modem or DSL.

Polaroid, which has announced a new line of consumer electronics at CES, has licensed Aeon Digital's Next Generation DVD Hardware set for use within their new DVD-DVR 700. The Polaroid unit will begin to enter the consumer marketplace toward the later half of 2nd Quarter 2003. The suggested manufacturer's retail price will be $299.00.