Fiire Station
Status
Will be supported by Fiire (LMCE support).
There are now 3 options to choose from when selecting a Fiire station:
1. Fiire Invisible (2" VESA wall mount)
2. Fiire Prestige (More expensive / Front Panel LED)
3. Fiire Prestige Lite (Less Expensive / No Front Panel LED)
Features
Fiire Invisible:
The Invisible is designed to mount behind a standard VESA mount equipped flat panel Plasma or LCD TV set. This means for the first time ever, you can have a full HD PVR and media player solution without any visible set top box or exposed cables.
• Software: LinuxMCE 0710 with licensed video decoders and drivers to enable video-phile quality HD decoding and de-interlacing with alpha blending and all the OpenGL effects. Will self-upgrade as new releases come out.
• User Interface: UI2 with alpha blending
• Processor: AMD BE 2400 (quiet and low-heat/power model)
• RAM: 1GB
• Internal Hard drive for operating system: 120 GB (only if "MD as Core" option is checked)
• Network: Gigabit Ethernet
• Audio: 7.1 HD audio, with analog and SPDIF coax/RCA fro digital audio, line in, mic connectors
• Video: nVidia 7050 graphics with HDMI, VGA, Component and S-video connectors
• Connectors: 7xUSB 2.0 ports, 1xIEEE-1394, 3xeSata
• Optical Drive: external DVD RW (optional)
• TV: Analog PVR-500 Dual Tuner card
• Works on 110 and 240 voltage
• VESA and WALL mounting kit included
Fiire Prestige:
The Prestige and Prestige Lite, versions have more room for expansion cards.
• Software: LinuxMCE 0710 with licensed video decoders and drivers to enable video-phile quality HD decoding and de-interlacing with alpha blending and all the OpenGL effects. Will self-upgrade as new releases come out.
• User Interface: UI2 with alpha blending
• Processor:ntel® Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 65W, 65 nm. (quiet and low-heat/power model)
• RAM: 1GB
• Internal Hard drive for operating system: 120 GB (only if "MD as Core" option is checked)
• Network: Gigabit Ethernet
• Audio: 7.1 HD audio, with analog and SPDIF coax/RCA fro digital audio, line in, mic connectors
• Video: nVidia 7150 graphics with HDMI and VGA connectors
• I/O: 6xUSB 2.0 ports, 1xIEEE-1394, IR receiver
• Optical Drive: DVD RW
• TV: Analog PVR-150 Tuner card (optional)
• Works on 110 and 240 voltage
Sales Pitch
The Fiire Station runs LinuxMCE and can be used as a standard medium-performance PC. However, it also has specialized video decoding hardware to provide the best video quality, and offload all video processing, including sophisticated 1080i de-interlacing, OpenGL 3D effects, and alpha blending, all in the video hardware. The end result is you get better video quality than the massive, high end Windows Vista MCE systems, which require very expensive, power-hungry, hot processors to do the 3D alpha blended effects in Aero and video playback in MCE. The FiireStation offers even better video and a smoother UI experience while drawing as little as 9 watts of power, about 1/20th what a Windows Vista Media Center PC draws. That translates to a couple hundred dollars a year in energy savings if you leave your Media PC on all the time.
The Fiire Station is available in 3 versions: A 2” thin vertical mount designed to hide behind a plasma TV, and a standard set top box (2 versions).
The vertical mount version means for the first time ever, you can have a full HD PVR and media player solution without any visible set top box or exposed cables. It comes with VESA mount holes. Most flat panel TV’s have VESA holes in the back for attaching them to a wall mount. So if your flat panel TV sits on a base, and not a wall mount, the Fiire Station attaches directly to the back of the TV using the VESA holes. If your flat panel TV is mounted to a wall, the Fiire Station is thin and narrow enough to fit inside a typical wall mount and can be attached to the wall, the mounting bracket, or the back of the TV. The vertical mount version costs more because it uses specialized precision components with ultra-lower power consumption so that it is only 2” thick, has no fans or vents, and can be tucked away in the small space between a TV and the wall.
The standard set top box version has more room in it and extra connections, including component video and SPDIF for digital audio. The vertical mount version does not provide SPDIF connectors because flat panel TV’s do not have SPDIF inputs. If you are using this in an equipment rack and have a receiver with SPDIF, the standard set top box version is better. Plus, you can have a local DVD/CD player in the standard set top box version. For the vertical mount version, you can leave your CD’s or DVD’s in a jukebox attached to the Fiire Engine.
Where to buy
- NOTE: This hardware cannot be bought anymore as the company Fiire do not exist anymore.
Invisible:
http://www.fiire.com/fiire-invisible.php
Prestige:
http://www.fiire.com/fiire-prestige.php
COM Ports
As of May 1, 2008 only the 1" version had a serial port built-in. According to fiire customer service the set-top box version has an available serial port header and a DB-9 punch out. However, Polywell (the manufacturer of the fiire boxes) does not populate the DB-9.
According to customer service, the case of the 2" Fiire Station does not have a spot for a DB-9.
Versions
A new generation of the Fiire Station and Engine have been released to coincide with the release of LinuxMCE 07.10.
