Seagate, the world’s leading provider of storage solutions, has unveiled its new ‘Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player’, a complete home theater solution designed to improve the experience of enjoying digital media by offering a simple way to play one’s favorite videos, films and pics on television.

The Seagate FreeAgent Theater media player is a new accessory, which is specifically designed to work with the company’s high-quality FreeAgent Go portable hard drive that lets people to get pleasure from stored digital media on their TV screens rather than their PCs.

The new device will hit the market by March 2009. It (Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player) can be purchased as a stand-alone unit for use with any USB storage device, or a full-fledged solution with a FreeAgent Go portable drive included at a starting price of $129.99.

The Seagate FreeAgent Theater media player introduces a new method of thinking about how an external hard drive is utilized. Backing, storage and safety have always been the main function of an external storage device. With FreeAgent Theater, Seagate now brings enjoyment:

- Experience high-definition film viewing with DVD-like playback control and surround sound.
- Pair slideshows of high-resolution photo libraries with music collections and customize with specialized transition effects.
- Easily synch and organize digital media from multiple computers using the FreeAgent Go drive.
- Instantly access entire libraries of digital media by simply popping a FreeAgent Go drive into the media player or connecting another external storage device using the external USB port.
- On-screen navigation is a snap with the handy remote with an intuitive interface and familiar button layout.

Seagate FreeAgent Theater couples cool functional design with operating ease. The dock lessens the requirement for fumbling with unnecessary amounts of cables or complex network setups, while its well-known DVD-style remote control interface makes it a breeze for any member of the family to use. Its smooth, piano-black encasing makes this new component look right at home beside the DVR, DVD-player and television.

The included FreeAgent Theater software is a rich media-specific synchronization application for the automatic transfer and organization of all the photos, music, videos and movies stored on your computer. And since the FreeAgent Go drives are now available in a rainbow of colors, it will be easy to catalog and organize digital libraries according to the color of the drive – storing favorite movies on one drive, family photos on a second and music on yet another.
 
Pat King, senior vice president of Seagate's Consumer Solutions Division, said, “Consumers today are the number one creators and aggregators of digital content—most of which holds a sentimental or emotional value and is unfortunately trapped on their home computers. For years, Seagate has provided solutions for storing, organizing and protecting this personal content – now, with Seagate FreeAgent Theater, we provide the ability for families and friends to share and enjoy these memories together in the comfort of their living rooms.”

The Seagate FreeAgent Theater is easy to use. It backs up MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, and DIVX files with video resolutions for NTSC, PAL and HD up to 1080i and even provides support for subtitles. The audio formats supported include 5.1 channel surround sound, where available, and also plays the popular digital audio formats including:  MP3, WMA, WAV and OGG. To download and transfer content to the Seagate FreeAgent Go, a Windows XP or Vista operated PC is required, with 256MB RAM and an available USB port. FreeAgent Theater connects to any TV with either composite, S-video or component video and audio inputs and an AC outlet.