Harmon Kardon is branching out and adding its consumer electronics savvy to the fast-growing media center market. The company’s first two media centers, the DMC 1000 and DMC 250, are being introduced this week, with some innovative features and flexible options for transferring media files for playback in portable devices.

The DMC 1000 media server has a 160GB internal hard drive that can play back up to four audio streams to separate zones, independently and simultaneously, with a keypad controller used for playback. It is able to play back music and videos from iPods using the HK docking station (not included), and one innovative feature allows content from the hard drive to be copied to Compact Flash, Memory Stick, SD and MMC media cards, or USB storage devices, for playback in portable music players, automobiles, and cell phones. The DMC 1000 is also a DVD/CD player that includes HDMI 1.1 output for high-definition digital video and multichannel digital audio, with upscaling to 720p.

The DMC 250 has no hard drive, but can copy and play back files to media cards and USB storage devices. It’s also a CD/DVD player with progressive-scan picture and multichannel audio that plays back most DVD and CD formats, as well as discs with audio and video files. Both new servers have software and firmware that can be upgraded with future features and capabilities. The servers will be available in November 2006, with the DMC 1000 listing at $2,999, and the DMC 250 at $399.