I didn't expect to see this happen. Kenwood is releasing this networkable AV amp in October that supports the playback of MPEG-1/2 and XviD for video, as well as MP3, WMA, and OggVorbis for audio.
The reason I'm a bit suprised is because I didn't really expect to see major manufacturers offer support for MPEG-4 based compression formats this early in the game.
But it is expensive - about $1,000 USD. Is this normal for a Kenwood amplifier?

Kenwood has announced that they will release the "VRS-N8100," a network supporting AV amplifier, in October. Its price will be 105,000 yen.

The VRS-N8100 is an AV amplifier that uses a 10Base-T/100Base-TX LAN interface. Using the included application software, video, audio, and still image files saved o­n a PC can be transferred to the device with use of o­nly the remote controller. The supported formats for video are MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and XviD, for audio MP3, WMA, OggVorbis, and WAV, and finally for still images, JPEG, BMP, GIF, and PNG.

Kenwood has said that since this amplifier uses their own "Supreme" system, the high pitched tones that have been eliminated due to compression in MP3 and WMA files are restored; the playback sounds close the original data. Other features include a PC card slot that allows for the viewing of JPEG files stored o­n memory cards with special card adapters.

For surround formats, the amplifier supports Dolby Pro-Logic IIX, Dolby Virtual Speaker, DTS 96/24, Dolby Heaphone, and Dolby Digital EX.

Input jacks featured o­n the unit are D4 x 2, S-Video x 2, Composite x 5, Optical digital audio x 3, Coaxial digital audio x 2, and analog audio x 6; output jacks are D4 x 1, S-Video x 1, Composite x 2, and analog audio x 1. It also features an internal AM/FM tuner.

The main body size is 440 x 363.5 x 79mm (W x D x H), and it has a weight of 4.6kg. Furthermore, in order to run the application software, the required system specifications are Windows XP/2000 OS, Pentium 500MHz or more, 128MB or more, and 50MB or more of free hard drive space.

Kenwood also announced 2 more AV amplifier products, 1 DVD player product, and 1 speaker system product. They will begin to go o­n sale in the first part of July.

Inspired by:
http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/5744.html

Press Release:
http://www.kenwood.com/j/press/press20040625.html