Thanks to their simplicity, the home theater in a box (HTIB) has become a popular addition to the TV cabinet in many households. Looking to simplify things even further, California-based company in2technologies has unveiled its aptly named Unity Home Theater System at CES 2012 that unifies a HTIB with a TV stand. So instead of a tangle of cables snaking their way from the back of a TV stand to the TV, the Unity cleans things up with a single HDMI 1.4a cable.
To be marketed under in2technologies' Engage brand, the Unity features a pedestal design which the company has dubbed the "tShape" - although, if you want to be picky it's actually more of a H on it's side shape, but that's probably not quite as catchy. Along with an integrated Blu-ray/DVD player, the unit provides 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound thanks to an integrated amplifier, dual 10-inch subwoofers, integrated center, left and right channel speakers, and a 5.25-inch down-firing midrange speaker.
in2technologies says it has designed the Unity using acoustic modeling and a proprietary speaker configuration that creates a dynamic sound field. The stand is built to support flat screen TVs up to 60-inches in size and in addition to the single-wire HDMI 1.4a connection, also includes iPhone/iPod and Ethernet connections. The company also has plans to add interoperability with IP devices, wireless connectivity and access to Over The Top (OTT) services such as Netflix and Hulu in future models.
in2technologies plans to release the engage Unity Home Theater System mid-2012 for US$999.
