FireBall fans (and wannabe owners) will be happy to know that Escient has announced a ship date for its new Vision line of whole-house movie and networking products.

Scheduled to ship in February 2008, the company’s Vision Series Media Management products will play and import movies, videos, music and photos via the front-panel drive and any home network.

Two versions will be available: The VS-100 ($3,999) and the VS-200 ($5,999). The VS-100 will have 500GB of storage; the VS-200 doubles that amount. Add-ons include the VC-1 ($1,999) networked audio/video zone player and the VX-600 ($7,999) media server.

Each one has RAID backup and access to Real’s Rhapsody music service, which will cost an extra $13 a month (after the free trial). Other features include HDMI 1.3 support and upscaling to 1080p. Before you ask, neither has high-def DVD support.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.