RSS Feeds
Entertainment
Pinnacle's ShowCenter 250HD Media Streamer Plays DivX and XviD
Posted by Jason Chen at 10:55 AM on November 13, 2007
We've seen and tested a few streamers before, including ones that play DivX and XviD, but this Pinnacle solution looks like it's going to hit the sweet spot for price/performance. The thing can handle 1080i playback of Windows Media Video 9, WMV-DRM, MPEG1, MPEG2, MEPG4 AVI, DivX, XviD, as well as high definition files like WMV 9, DivX HD and MPEG-4 HD. The 250HD works with Vista and XP PCs that have Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Connect (not Windows Media Center), and can grab files through Ethernet or 802.11g. All this for a price of $200 means DivX and XviD fanatics have something to look forward to this Christmas. [Pinnacle via Electronic House via Uber Review]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Taomyn
Posted 5:28 AM 13/11/07
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!
Taomyn
krux
Posted 4:03 AM 13/11/07
oh and here's the old showcenter after i managed to repair the exploded power unit.
[blank.antville.org]
yeah we got rid of it after that, since playback was still appalling.
krux
krux
Posted 3:55 AM 13/11/07
a few years ago i bought the earlier version of this device, only to find that it did NOT support all types of xvid and divx. pinnacle said that they would fix this in future firmware upgrades .. but that didn't happen, until maybe now? although this is a new device.
the wireless capability didn't really work either, even though i had a really strong signal where the device was parked it was constantly chopping up the videos.
later on.. when i finally dug the showcenter out of the basement again to give to a friend who wanted to give it a shot, the on board power converter exploded.
since all my comments on the pinnacle forum got DELETED, yes they censored me, i took an oath never to buy any of their products again.
the PC side software they use was really bloated too, and if you have it, be VERY careful not to lose that serial number.
if anything pinnacle should have paid me to have tested their early release of this device, but at the time it was $400.
get a proper HTPC instead.
krux
banmojo
Posted 11:43 PM 12/11/07
I'm 'so' getting this when it supports 1080p :^)
banmojo
crikerat
Posted 9:08 PM 12/11/07
Obligitory 'XBMC already does that and more' post
... without the need to stream, but also without the 1080i.
crikerat
up2l8
Posted 9:03 PM 12/11/07
So I guess I'm dumb but this doesn't actually *do* the playing? It just streams from a winders box to the tv?
I'd really like a $300 version that could host as well as receive HD streams.. Then this $200 version could be used throughout the house.
And component out? Is hdmi too much to ask for - I mean my $100 dvd player has it...
up2l8
ImTheKing
Posted 8:29 PM 12/11/07
@Mike from Boston: I agree. I would considering adding Vista to my Mac as well for this player.
ImTheKing
Mike from Boston
Posted 6:45 PM 12/11/07
Makes a compelling argument for adding Vista to my Mac...
Mike from Boston
x23
Posted 7:12 AM 13/11/07
i'd buy one of these if it had like a 3.5" drive bay inside of it. streaming only? meh. external drive over mystery-speed USB? meh.
nice selection of format compatibility though.
x23
EMoShunz
Posted 7:48 AM 13/11/07
someone brought up a post on another thread about divx/xvid support. the question was who owns legal divx movies?
my question to that is, can you buy legal divx movies cheaply? not that i know of, but i have not read the entire internet.
on that...there are "legal subscription torrent sites" but they all seem like a scam to me.
EMoShunz
blairh
Posted 3:00 AM 14/11/07
So you have to be running server software on the PC? I think that'd get pretty annoying pretty quickly.. Personally I'd go for the Ziova ones - hdmi and they work over SMB sharing, so no software required.
blairh
TheRealCMJ
Posted 8:13 PM 14/11/07
I know I'm late replying, but what the heck...
Assuming it is just an updated version of the SC 200 (which is likely) there are a number of other media server software packages that can do the trick. For example there's wizd which is open source and works reasonably well. You can even get a NAS with the necessary software already installed (eg Buffalo's Terastation ships with the relevant server).
As for the "who has legal DivX" question EMoShunz posed above. You can rip your DVDs to DivX/Xvid quite easily. The resulting files are 1-2 GB for a typical movie which, given the cost of storage today, means you could have every DVD you've bought available with one click of the remote. Yes, technically you're breaking the law (violating the DMCA) by transcoding your DVDs, but unless you're doing it commercially or distributing the rips who's going to come arrest you?
If you combined this with an over the air (OTA) HDTV tuner you could record shows to MPEG-2, transcode to save space if necessary and then watch them at your leisure. Like TiVo but cheaper (no monthly fee). Like Apple TV but cheaper and more open. Like MythTV but easier to setup (which drivers do I need again?!).
TheRealCMJ