Re: Pinnacle Show Centre...Advice

["darren_karp2001" <darren@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Tony for the reply. What is left out there for me then?

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, lists@a... wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > As you may know I want to put a whole house audio / video system
in
> > by streaming all the media from a central server. The Pinnacle
Show
> > Centre seems to have a lot of features but will it actually work?
>
> depends :)  kinda :)
> What exactly do you want to do?
> It will play dvd VOB files, but not give you the menus etc
> If you play a 5.1 track, it will NOT currently dowmix to stereo
> simultaneously - though you can switch between audio tracks.
> If  you are playing music, you cannot browse your collection at the
same
> time.
> It does not support folder browsing unless you use 3rd party
software.
> You cannot create playlists on it, only on the controlling PC.
>
> It is, however, fairly easy to use - that and TiVo are about the
only two
> gadgets SWMBO will use without complaint (well,except when I am
doing
> something to hammer the PC the SC is talking to so the UI times
out!)
>
> They are making improvements to the UI all the time, though some of
the
> issues cannot/will not be overcome because the processor is too
puny.
>
> It's fine, IMO, for playing back ripped movies and whole albums of
audio
> and the occasional browse of photos, but it is not suited to random
access
> really - and if you've been spoiled by things like "play all
favourites
> I've not listened to lately)" auto playlist in WMP then you will
not be
> happy with using the SC for music playback.
>
> From what I've read on the forums, a lot of people have problems
with
> 802.11b connections, and 802.11g may now never be supported except
by
> using a wireless bridge, which bumps up the cost somewhat.
>
> The Sc *could* be a very good solution, its just that you pay find
too
> many limitiations to it in it's current guise....
>
> > What about thinks like Sky TV and my TiVo?
>
> Dunno about sky, but tivo too has a bit of a puny processor.  There
was
> talk about using it for mp3 playback on the forums some time ago
but I
> dunno if anything ever came of it.....
>
> Note: the SC will now integrate with PCTV cards to give you tivo-
like
> abilities from your showcenter, but this code has only *just* been
> released, and again, there are issues with it - and I doubt it is as
> friendly as the TiVo UI either.
>
> hth,
>
> Tony