Headplay launches Personal Cinema System

Headplay has released its namesake Personal Cinema System, a video output visor notable mainly for the range of inputs its base station supports. Aside from composite, S-Video and VGA inputs, it also accepts 802.11g Wi-Fi, allowing connections to Macs and PCs; users can further expand through stereo, Mini USB and two USB 2.0 ports, giving access to media players such as iPods. Should direct connections not be an option, users can insert Compact Flash cards. File formats directly supported include AVI, MP3, QuickTime, MPEG-2/4 and JPEG/JPEG2000.

The visor itself reproduces the effect of a 52-inch screen viewed from six feet away, and has a native resolution of 800x600 with a 120Hz refresh rate. Resolution can be scaled up to 1024x768. A basic PCS unit costs $500; to use it portably, shoppers must buy a system with a lithium polymer battery for $550. Both versions are available now.