I-O DATA DEVICE USA announced the retail availability of the number one selling High Definition DVD player in Japan. The AVeL LinkPLayer2 is a networked digital media player and DVD player with support for High Definition (HD) file formats such as Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 (WMV9) HD, MPEG2-TS, and DivX HD. Starting August 1, the player will be sold at CompUSA stores nationwide with a suggested retail price of US$249.00.

Designed for home theaters and digital media networks, the AVeL LinkPlayer2 features 1080i/780p HD video playback capability (1920x1080 resolution), with support for nearly every digital media file format, including MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG2-TS, MPEG4, DivX, XviD, and WMV9 for video; MP3, AAC, WMA, PCM, and Ogg Vorbis for audio; and JPEG, BMP, GIF, and PNG for photos. The AVeL LinkPlayer2 reads media from a wide variety of data sources, including CD/DVD dics, USB memory sticks and hard disk drives, digital cameras, memory card readers, iPods and MP3 players, and Windows, Macintosh, and Linux PCs.

Seperately, I-O DATA DEVICE USA announced that the AVeL LinkPlayer2 now supports Sling Media's Slingbox. With the AVeL LinkPlayer2 connected to a Slingbox customers can view and control their own home entertainment content anywhere, anytime using a Windows laptop or desktop computer or a Windows Mobile handheld or mobile phone. The agreement is part of a broader alliance that also names I-O DATA DEVICE, Inc (Japan) as the distributor of Sling Media products in Japan.