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How to Broadcast All Your HD Content from the PC to the HDTVVia Pinnacle's new ShowCenter 250HD digital media receiver |
By Alex Vochin, Technology Editor
13th of November 2007, 12:31 GMT
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The Internet has become one of the world's most important means of delivering various types of multimedia content and this is the reason why a very large number of users tend to keep said content stored on their computers' HDDs. And in order to facilitate the playback of said files onto other devices from the user's home entertainment system (especially HDTVs), the people over at Pinnacle Systems have developed the Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD, a plug-and-play digital media adapter that enables users to link any home entertainment center with all of their networked PCs and NAS (network-attached storage)
devices.
Hence, the ShowCenter 250HD is targeted at PC users with large digital media collections who want to enjoy this content on their home entertainment system (especially those with HDTVs). Furthermore, the Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD is easy to set up, as it is compatible with UPnP (Universal Plug-and-Play) AV media server applications and can be used with Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS systems.
Moreover, since it has been equipped with built-in wired Ethernet and wireless (802.11b/g) networking, Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD provides an easy way to stream HD videos to HDTVs, view digital photos in HD resolution and listen to digital-quality music files on home theater systems.
In addition to being able to play Windows Media Video 9, WMV-DRM, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, 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.
As expected from a device of this type, the ShowCenter 250HD offers a wide 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 which is conveniently located on the front panel.
"The growth in the home theater and HDTV markets has created the need for a simple, cost-effective solution for linking PC-based digital media to a home entertainment system," said Tanguy Leborgne, Pinnacle Systems' Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. "PC users and home entertainment enthusiasts want to be able to have their friends and family join them in viewing their digital media collections on their large-screen home entertainment system, rather than in front of their PC. With Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD, they can do that and more."
The Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD will be available later on this month for around 199.99 US dollars, which is a pretty OK price to pay for this thing, taking into account its level of versatility and utility for home users.
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