Re: Pinnacle Showcenter Review

["Simon McCaughey" <simonmcc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Tony Butler" wrote:
> Thank christ - I was starting to feel guilty about not doing one
myself -
> though in fairness, I was too disappointed with the initial release to
> bother to set it up "properly"......
>
> > little annoying. Apart from that all was well. Version 1.??
> 1.2 IIRC
>
> > comes packaged with the Showcenter, but version 1.5 RC is
> > available for download, so I immediately did an upgrade. This
> > provides a firmware upgrade for he player too.
>
> A pucker 1.5 will be released in a few days, though I don't know if it
adds
> anything not in the RC....

I dont think so, probably just a few bug fixes, but I havent noticd any
real
bugs...

>
> > going to be a disappointment. The remote control is plasticy,
> > badly laid out, clumsy and unresponsive. The box itself is
>
> Yes yes yes - it is pants.  The unit itself is nice and
"feels" pro
> (ignoring the leds), but the remote is such a pile of cheapo pants -
and
it
> is nigh on impossible to read what's on the buttons because they are
so
> shiny...
>
> > On balance I still think it is an excellent product, although
> > all its functionality is limited, and there is lots of
"would
> > be nice" things, lets remember that this is only release
1.5,
> > and it has come a long way since release 1 (about 6 months ago).
>
> You say that, but I can't help feeling this is one more example of a
product
> released to the public that is not actually finished.
> With all these things having flash upgrades, rather than give you
great
new
> features over time, half the time IMO, they are fixing bugs that
should
> never have passed the testing phase and/or giving you functionality
that
> should have been included from day one....
>

This is how things are, and are going to be. IMHO all the software we
release as a company (Im not telling you which one :) is less than half
tested, we dont care about quality, or features, its time to market that
counts (don't try to tell the management you can have both, they dont
listen)

> The lack of dolby digital downmixing, which will not make it into 1.5
> either, is unforgivable IMO.
>
> > It is now possible, and simple to browse our digital photo
> > collection, listen to MP3's and watch a selection films
>
> Yes, albeit a tad slowly - puny processor and a web based interface do
not
> make for a responsive UI.
> Still, even SWMBO is using it now, so it's not too shabby.
> One failing on the mp3 front is you cannot start playing a track and
then
go
> find another to add to the playlist - the mp3 decoding and web
browsing
are
> done on the same processor (separate from the video decoder) and it's
just
> too puny to handle mp3 AND UI duties :(
>

I found it ok, most of the speed issue is on the server (as you can test
for
yourself if you type http://server_address:8000 into
internet explorer) - I
jsut assume that my PC is a pile of pants.

> I think it works best for the convenience of films and mp3's if you
want
to
> play a whole album or existing playlist.
> Photo playback is okay, but photos on a TV never look that great IME
> anyway....
>
> > disk in a player:) The unit also interfaces with a surround
> > sound decoder to give the full experience of the original
> > DVD, and can playback the AC3 audio from either the ripped
> > VOB, or from the reduced DivX or XVid file.
>
> Indeed - though if you want to play back the AC3 track through the TV
> (Because you are a SWMBO and don't like amps) then you are stuffed.
> I rip all my movies with an AC-3 and an MP3 track to cover this
scenario
> since the SC lets you switch between audio tracks.
>
> > One more thing
> > to one of the sub-menus. There is a sourceforge project
> > called OpenShowCenter which provides an alternative to the
> > bundled software.
>
> There is also oxylbox, another gpl type replacement UI, and indeed the
> software for the neuston media player can be used, so it's nice having
that
> variety.
> At least one of the open source jobbies will work on *nix too.
>
yip, I was going to mention those, but the mail was getting too liong...
OpenSC works on linux (i tried it). neuston version 2 doesnt work on the
showcenter, they have put something into the software to stop that, but
watch this space... its java, so can be de-compiled.. not that I would ever
do anything like that... but someone else may....

> > My Showcenter is here to stay. It may be a little rough
> > around the edges, but I'll give it some time, and hopefully
> > things will straighten out. My experience is limited by a
>
> I would agree - a little rough, a few omissions, but hopefully they
will
> sort it out in the coming months.
>
> > cant surf the web from my box. I have not (yet) got a tuner
> > card for my PC
>
> Having a Tivo, I'm not even going to bother trying that - I can't
imagine
it
> beating that for sheer ease of use.....
>
> > There are many other features etc which I have not commented
> > on, please feel free to ask via email....
>
> You forgot to say that the support forums use the worst interface
known to
> man ;)

worse, how can they get a bulletin board so wrong?


> And to answer Mals question, the navigation is not super speedy, no -
but
I
> don't have the MVP to compare against and say if it is faster or
slower....
>
> Cheers for doing that review Simon,
>

No probs