Hello,

I'm new to the board, it's my first question so be gentle......

I'm looking for a consolidated remote control solution to my current home setup. I have Arcam DVD and surround sound along with a Pioneer 436 XDE and lutron graphic eye lighting.

I'm also looking for a way of accessing my Itunes collection of songs without having to have my PC switched on. My previous thoughts had been to use a squeeze box with some sort of NAS device or use the new Apple TV product.

However I then notice that the Pronto Pro can integrate with Escient products. This looks like the perfect solution for me as I'll then have a fantastic GUI on the remote control for accessing all my music - something the Squeezebox or Apple TV product cannot provide.

My question is this:

Is there a Escient device that I can simply plug into my home network that will effectively replicate my itunes setup, e.g. play lists, art work etc etc? If so which device do I need. It's not clear to me from the Escient web site. I know they do a device that you can plug your ipod into but that's not what I'm after. I'd ideealy like the functionality that the Apple TV product offers, i.e. plug it in and everything just replicates across the network with minimal effort, Or perhaps I'm asking too much. :-( Having a CD drive is not really any value to me on the Escient device as I'll want to continue to use Itunes as my master data volume. I don't need the video functionality that's included on some Escient products as I rarely watch a DVD more than once and have Sky + HD for recording.

Alternatively do you think it's possible that Phillips will look to integrate their product with Apple TV? Very unlikely is my guess.

Thanks for any advice or comments. Matt.

I believe its called an FP-1 from Escient. Im still learning Escient products, but I was introduced to this piece recently. Hope this helps...

You're right on the FP-1; it's a pretty neat little product. Keep in mind, however, that the Pronto will only integrate with MX/AVX products, meaning you'll need to buy one of these and use this as the client if you're going to pull metadata onto the Pronto.

Another (possibly significantly cheaper) solution would be to use UPnP, which comes on both the Philips RC9800i (which isn't really configurable) and the NevoSL from UEI.

HTH.

The FP1 will integrate in two way with the 9600. No additional Escient products needed. If you do add an AVX or MX unit, you will be able to access a second stream from the main hard drive on the FP1 as well as the ipod docked in it. If you wish to access files on your pc, you can run Fireball PC on the pc and the 9600 can also see the shared folders on the pc through the FP1 (or the AVX or MX unit). Protected content (purchased form Itunes) cannot be played except from a docked I pod however. Hope this helps.