As the
flood of media receivers
continue to
pour out, we've noticed a new one from Pinnacle Systems that comes with 802.11b/g WiFi built-in, hearts Macs and PCs alike (according to the PR, at least) and handles HD streaming like it's its job. The ShowCenter 250HD is a self-proclaimed "plug-and-play digital media adapter" that includes an Ethernet jack, UPnP support and the ability to play nice with HD WMV,
DivX HD or MPEG2 video formats. Additionally, this unit understands AVI, XviD, MP3, WMA and PCM WAV files (among others), and includes a myriad ports including USB 2.0, composite / S-Video / component video outputs, a pair of stereo audio outs and coaxial / optical digital audio jacks. If you just noticed a hint of drool rolling down the left side of your mouth, casually wipe it up and bust out your credit card, as this one will only run you $199.99 at a number of fine e-tailers.
[Via
Uber-Review]
posted Nov 12th 2007 3:51PM
If I get it my wife will really get confused...
LOL I second that!
Thats pretty darned sexist! Chest protrusions don't make one non-techno saavy. My wife easily handles up all of our DVRs, Vudu box, downloaded media, etc!
GIRL POWAAAH!
Stop assuming things BigReg. Would you call me a racist because I don't want to vote for Obama? I happen to not beleive in socialized medicine. About the topic, my wife works our HD DVR just fine, not all products are designed well. I am sure the 250HD is a great device, it just happens to be a lot more complicated than inserting a DVD. See my point? I challenge you to do a survey of 25 random women and 25 random men (between the age of 20 and 30) and ask them if they can tell you what "AVI" stands for. I love my wife, it just so happens she cannot use DVD shrink, thats all.
@kuado Agreed, bad assumption on my part. This type of device is likely targeted at technically savvy users at least set it up, beyond that point, I would hope that the user interface would be as easy to use as a DVR. So be the designated tech dude in your house (I'm sure that you are!) and rip the DVDs for other family members.
Thanks BigReg, this is a great website with great users. Have a nice day.
Where's the 802.11n? Not very HD friendly without it? And no HDMI??? Hello we'll be 2008 soon!
The website says the minimum requirements are a PC running Vista or XP, no Mac? Also, any idea on the quality using composite output?
quality is Standard definition.
1080i only? no HDMI? PASS
Add "No Matroska Support" to the reasons why this will be appearing in the clearence section within months of its release...
For 2 bills, I think it is not bad...must see the UI first before even considering ditching XBMC. And even then, probably not w/o improved vid quality and hdmi.
I'd buy this before I bought the Sansa thingy. Buy this, get a 2nd Slingbox Pro, attach to network somewhere, connect Drobo - you're all set for the road.
Why does this need a PC to run?
Can it play files off a network share...?
@Discosis this isn't Pinnacle support....
Yes, because "support" would be for someone who'd bought it.
There's nothing wrong with asking a question.
going digital here in north america - next year - so you cant buy a SD tv set but you can but SD tech - someone wasn't paying attention - and after taking a look at their job postings "Vice President and Corporate Controller" seems to be up for grabs amongst the other 3 pages of job postings around the world - They were not aiming at north america i persume - but who cares - it's one more THING that will find it's niche :]
For $199.99 it has enough to introduce people to the concept - much like Toshiba and their $99 player - everyone will grab one if they can afford it so they too can use their HDTV the way it was meant to be - last time I checked 1080p HDTV sets were not so cheap - and neither was a HDMI cable if your preacher is MONSTER CABLE :]
Can someone post a response if you have the original Pinnacle ShowCenter about it's capabilities and picture quality using component?
So it's an SC200 in a new box with newer firmware - no wonder they won't update the older box, they want to flog their new one. Even the remote is the same - f'ing cheek!
Sorry, no thanks. No HDMI and no wireless "N" - pointless addition to their range and if the support they gave the SC200 is anything to go by, good luck getting any bugs ironed out!
I may need to get one of these since the 9.1 Tivo update royally screwed up its ability to act as a media receiver.
Droll? Sneer maybe. There's no HDMI. 1080p is ok to leave off but HDMI for Pete's sake?!!?
oops- should've been 'drool'