Pinnacle to launch ShowCenter 250HD media extender

Format-happy streamer for £130

19 November 2007 11:39 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Pinnacle has announced the Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD that they describe as "an innovative content distribution solution" more commonly known as a media extender, or adaptor, or streamer, even.

Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD is a plug-and-play digital device that lets users link any home entertainment centre with all of their networked PCs and NAS devices.

It can be used with Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac systems, comes equipped with built-in wired Ethernet and wireless (802.11b/g) networking and claims to offer an easy way to enjoy streaming HD videos to their HDTV, viewing digital photos in HD resolution and listening to digital-quality music files on their home theatre system.

Using the remote control that comes complete, users can access all of their PC-based digital media for playback on their home entertainment system.

In addition to playback for Windows Media Video 9, WMV-DRM, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG-4 AVI, DivX, and XviD files, ShowCenter supports HD playback of Windows Media Video 9, DivX HD and MPEG-4 file formats with resolutions of up to 1080i.

Supported music formats range from MP3, WMA, WMA Pro and WMA lossless to WMA-DRM and PCM WAV uncompressed.

The device offers a range of input/output options including a SCART 21-pin connector for composite, Y/C, RGB, and stereo audio, a component video output (YPrPb, 3 x RCA), a composite video output (RCA), an S-Video output (Y/C, MiniDIN), two stereo audio outputs (4 x RCA) and two S/PDIF digital audio outputs (1 x RCA coaxial, 1 x Toslink optical).

Other inputs/outputs include Ethernet RJ-45 (100BASE-T) and an integrated Wi-Fi 802.11g module with detachable antenna as well as a 100-230V power cable connector, an infrared receiver and a USB 2.0 connector.

The Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD will be available from January 2008 with a price tag of £129.99.