VIA Technologies‘ new VIA EPIA M700 Mini-ITX board is the first to feature the VIA VX800 chipset, for sophisticated digital signage and retail display systems.

As today’s information, entertainment and commercial display systems feature ever more immersive content, this board addresses the increasing demands for enhanced media playback and visual clarity across multiple displays in digital multimedia applications with support for dual-DVI or DVI plus HDMI configurations with unique resolutions, pixel depths and refresh rates.

Featuring a 1,5 GHz or a fanless 1,0 GHz VIA C7 processor, the M700 leverages the multimedia performance of the VIA VX800 unified chipset with its integrated VIA Chrome9 HC3 integrated graphics core for DirectX 9.0 3D graphics and up to six-channel VIA Vinyl HD Audio rich surround sound, while the VIA Chromotion video engine provides advanced hardware video acceleration and an improved visual experience for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1 and DivX video, plus a VMR capable HD video processor. It also supports up to 2 GB of the latest DDR2 system memory.

As multimedia file sizes grow, so speedy server connectivity is becoming increasingly important in dynamic digital signage and kiosk solutions, so the M700 boasts two PCI-Express based Gigabit LAN ports to facilitate wideband data transfer for large video and other files over networks.

As well as a front panel DVI port, pin headers for an additional DVI or HDMI port through a daughterboard are also included, as is support for 18-bit TTL displays. Digital video input is available through pin headers supporting CCIR-656/601//transport stream video, and there is also an S/PDIF connector. The VIA Vinyl VT1708B HD Audio codec supports up to six high definition channels with a 192 kHz sampling rate, delivering a richer all-round digital media experience.

Storage includes both an IDE port with a shared Type I Compact Flash port, two SATA II ports and up to six USB 2.0 ports, two through onboard connectors. Connectivity comes in the form of dual Gigabit LAN ports on the high speed PCI-Express bus. Data protection is assured with the integrated VIA PadLock Security Engine and the onboard MFX-01 module.