ShowCenter

Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD and Windows 7

chriswelshman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:54:17 GMT

Hi All

Can someone please help. I bought the Pinncale ShowCenter 250HD today and I am having problems streaming it using windows media player. I follow the instructions in the manual where it tells me to connect to windows media player but I have windows 7 and the instructions if for windows vista. Can anyone tell me how to stream using window 7?

Thanks

Chris

SC200 / 250 Power supply / Remote Issues

runningdeere — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:00:21 GMT

Hi,

If ,like me, you've had any problems with a showcenter which will not respond to the remote control, even though it appears to be otherwise OK, it could be that there has been a failure of its' power supply. First you need to confirm if possible that the remote itself is OK - change the batteries etc, try a different one if you have one, try it with a different showcenter - whatever you can.

If the remote is OK, but the green light on the showcenter does not flash when you press a button, then it is likely that one or more of the capacitors on the power supply has failed. The short guide below shows how you can replace the capacitiors and get it up and running again.

http://www.sewwhat.gb.com/paul/Showcenter_not_responding_to_remote.pdf

If your showcenter is completely dead, it may also be worth taking off the lid and checking the power supply - especially if it is no longer in warranty - to see if there are any blown capacitors.

If you are not competant with a soldering iron, I recommend that you ask someone who is to do this, as if you get things wrong you could potentially destroy the showcenter altogether.

It's just a shame that Pinnacle insist on effectively crippling such a good little device by using poor quality components in the first place.

SC200 internal power supply card knackered

Forthpalm — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:03:11 GMT

Hello Folks..

Just wondering if anyone had a "dead" SC200 lying in a cupboard which they would be willing to sell me the internal power supply card?

I was using my trusty SC200 when all of a sudden the power light was coming on but doing nothing. A quick check of the internals of the SC200 showed a few of the capacitors on the main "power board" have fried :o(

Booooo!

The card itself unscrews really easily and so you would think that pinnacle could supply a new one - NO CHANCE AS USUAL!

Pinnacle's reply is that I should send the SC200 over to Germany or the likes for them to unscrew a couple of screws and replace the board - and then at the same time charge me an arm and a leg for the previdege of them having used the cheapest components to build the SC200 in the first place!

I have also asked Pinnacle for a circuit diagram so I can purchase the correct capacitors and then solder them myself but no chance once again :o(

Pinnacle do a really good job of NOT keeping their customers happy don't they.

Anyone any suggestions or a circuit diagram????

Andy

SC 250HD No Fast forward, Bad Video Quality

alex_fost — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:18:21 GMT

Im using Windows Media Player 11 on Windows 7 and its not possible to use fast forward in videos in my SC.

The Next Problem is: I use the s-video output, the menus looks "great" (of course HD would be better) but the videos look very bad. You see many pixels etc. Most of them are xvid vids.

Any ideas to solve the problem? Is it the SC who makes problems or is it the media server ?

These Videos looks great when i watch them at the pc and if i connect the pc direktly via s-video to the tv.

Thank you!

SC250HD - Sound isn't loud enough

Sounstorm — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:55:47 GMT

Hi,

I am using the Showcenter 250HD with a brandnew Samsung-TV an the Siameseserver-Software. Everything works fine so far, but the Sound given out to the TV by the Showcenter is very much too quiet. I have to pull up the TV-Volume to the max to get an almost acceptable Sound. After noticing that, I connected the Sowcenter with my "HiFi" (a very creepy old thing) and things got a little bit better, but not that much. Both devices I connected by Cinch-Connectors. Unfortunaly my TV has only Cinch for Input, so I can't test any other kind of connection, like the optical, or the coax. Then I tried the Windows Media Player as my Mediaserver but things didn't change.

Any ideas?

Marc

VGA display (European models)

jsoap1 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:38:04 GMT

On the SC200 setup menu there is a display otpion for VGA output.
To use this oupion you will need a special VGA to Scart cable, which Pinnacle did suppy at one time.
However if you are handy with a soldering iron, you can make your own, here are the pinouts.

VGA pin - signal - scart pin
1 - Red - 15
2 - Green - 11
3 - Blue - 7
6 - Red Ground - 13
7 - Green Ground - 9
8 - Blue Ground - 5
10 - Sync Ground - 17
13 - HSYNC - 10
14 -VSYNC - 12

Note that you will need the latest firmware (21-81) for the cable to work.
Good luck

t

21-81 BETA upgrade -> 2x SC200 responding slow

Bzzzz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:16:24 GMT

I've upgraded my 2x SC200 to 21-81 BETA but this results in both of them being VERY slow

It takes 4-5x longer just to get is started and navigation is much slower and the most important probelm is that skipping does not work properly as for example @ 80% it skips to 85% instead to 81%

I now downgraded one of them and it is much faster again... only now I am missing the dolby downmix option.... how do I enable this again?!

SC200 goes into standby on "down" key

Tanky — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:52:24 GMT

Gang.. anybody got any thoughts?

When I'm trying to navigate down a long list of items in the interface, if I hold the down key and let the cursor auto repeat downwards, sometimes, the SC200 goes into standby. It then won't come out of standby for a minute or two.

This seems to be worse when using my Harmony One remote control, so I think one of the IR emissions might be a bit out of spec?

Has anyone come across this before or can offer any advice?

Thanks,

Paul

Pinnacle 1000 and 1000G - 802.11G wireless card (s) not working

lchiu — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:42:02 GMT

First of all are they two different units? I have one which just says 1000 on the under side. When I got it Pinnacle supplied a Pinnacle branded 802.11G card which I never used since I preferred to use a wireless bridge. But I now want to use the wireless card but when I slot it in, while a card is recognised (Showcenter wants to reboot) if I scan for a network it says WiFi card inserted or faulty. And this occurs on two different cards (same type).

Is there a 100G that only supports this card or is there a firmware release perhaps I need to apply?

Thanks

How Do I Delete The Database for Showcenter 1000?

lliguy — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:08:26 GMT

I want to rebuild it with new files.

Import Files are rejected

DistortedVision — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:35:13 GMT

Hi,

I have a Pinnacle Showcenter 1000g and I've used it fine for several years but recently started having this issue. My Windows installation is only a few months old and it had been working fine up till now. When I try to import files with Pinnacle MediaManager they are all rejected with error "Unknown filetype". The problem is fixed by restarting the service MSSQL$PINNACLESYS. Does anyone know how I can fix this so that I don't have to do this each time I want to import new media?

I have the latest software and I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling.

Many thanks!

Showcentre 1000g - trying to purchase dolby digital keys gives invalid serial number message?

mikeboug — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:44:17 GMT

Hello,

The subject says it all. I've recently installed a showcentre 1000g, upgraded to the latest software and firmware and it works fine.

I tried to purchase the dolby digital keys and get an invalid serial number message. The serial number is definitely correct (I've double-checked).

As the 1000g appears not to be supported any more, I was wondering if they still sold the dolby digital keys for it. Does anyone have any idea how to activate the dolby digital keys?

Thanks.

Showcenter SC1000G Software & Manual Download

brucem — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:05:46 GMT

Received a Showcenter SC1000g from a friend, but he has lost the Install CD & Manual. Anyone know where I can download these?

Can I use alternate software if the software supplied is no longer available?

ShowCenter 1000g picture slideshow - No Pictures

ozrica — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:07:36 GMT

I have a Showcenter 1000G and am using the current (SC_2_50_build236.exe) software.

MediaManager version is 1.10.158. Build 158.

Everything works (movies/music in playlists) apart from picture playlists.

I can select the playlist of my choice but no pictures appear on the TV. Music play's in the back ground if I have it selected in a playlist.

I have about 7500 pictures in 20 odd individual playlists but none of them work.

I thought it mught be the number of pictures but if I delete them all and add one picture in one playlist the problem is still - no pictures.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

SC 200 & NAS Synology 209+ (directory locks up)

Matt Swiss — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:58:22 GMT

I am running the Showcenter 200 with a NAS Synology 209+ as a UPNP Server. The streaming of videos, musics and pics are working perfect (no interruption, crashes or lock ups). The problem is, that when i am scrolling thru the directory of the NAS (for selecting the movie or music track), the Showcenter 200 locks up (freeze) after 2 or 3 pages of content, even though there would be about 30 - 40 pages left... than I have to switch the Showcenter off and turn it on again to get it back to work...

The strange thing is, that depending on the subdirectory (e.g. subdirectory movies, series, documentary), the Showcenter does not freeze on a comprehensible pattern (e.g. not after the same amount of listings or something else which i could regonize).... but it does always freeze on the same point in a specific subdirectory. therefore i dont think there is a problem with the connection thru the router (full signal power, avalability etc.). besides that, I've tested it with several routers. I've tested it with a wired as wells as wireless connection, on both options the same error.

Any idea what's the matter of this really annoying problem of this lock ups? Is there a possibility that the Showcenter cant handle a specific lenght of subdirectory names or specific filenames (special characters like _, *, } or mutated vowal lie ä, ü, ö) ??

thanks a lot in advanced for your support!!

Greets Matt

Showcenter 200 won't install

waves — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:06:08 GMT

After reinstalling Windows XP Professional SP3 my computer I cannot install Showcenter 200 anymore.

The installer stops when trying to install MSDE (local database) around 3-5 seconds before finishing. No warning message, no error, nothing. It just stops doing nothing. I tried to install it now for abour 20 times and never succeeded. I also tried to install MSDE by downloading from the microsoft website and followed all the instructions. same problem. the installer stops 3-5 seconds before finishing.

any suggestions how to fix that problem?

thanks in advance.

Subtitle not showing on SC200 after update to 21-81BETA

PeterN — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:54:26 GMT

Hello,

After updating my SC200 to 21-81b no subtitles where shown.

So i tested several Upnp Servers. Tversity: no subs. CH3WNAS: no subs. (NAS with Upnp server). Pinnacle server: Subs ok.

After a downgrade to firmware 11-14 all media servers showed the subtitles ok.

I hope someone can tell me what i do wrong or is this a known bug in the new Firmware.

For your info, I use Win-XP and tested with SRT subs.

Kind Regards,

Peter

Showcenter 200 & WebTV

johndoe74003 — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:09:06 GMT

I have showcenter 200, it works great, but i was wondering if there is a way to watch WebTVs with it.

if somebody has a solution, i would be very grateful

SC 1000 Optical Out and Downmixing licence

mcentee2 — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:27:12 GMT

Hopefully this is little different to the usual "I can't get ac3" question...

I have a Showcenter 1000, from 2004 :), have paid for the ac3 downmix when I bought it, and changed the SC settings to allow ac3 over the analogue connection to my TV.

However, I now have a Sony DAV DX520 that has an optical in, and have connected this to the SC optical out and want to listen to the full 5.1 ac sound in my ripped vob files - they are definitely ac3 source, and not the 2 channel audio option from the original DVDs.

I am finding that if I set my Sony to just accept and "pass through" the source sound from the SC it is only coming out of the left and right front speakers - as though the SC isn't passing the whole 5.1 through. I haven't changed any settings on the SC, so the downmix on the analogue out is still there.

I understand how ac3 is not applied to the analgue outs, and only to the optical out, when you don't have a downmix licecce, but I am not too sure of how it works when you do have a licence applied.

My questions really then are:

1) Does the licence downmix ac3 to 2 channel on both analogue *and* optical outs if both outputs are chosen as outputs (an option I think if I remember correctly)? Is it supposed to keep the optical out always on "pass through" ac3 5.1, even if it downmixes on the analogue ?

2) Do I have somehow remove my ac3 downmix licence or settings in order to get ac3 5.1 back on the optical outputs? If I do this it seems I will lose the downmix on the analgues ?

3) Can I have both 5.1 pass through on optical *and* downmix on analgue at the same time ?

Oh, I would love to test all this out, but I haven't used the Showcenter PC sodtware for so long, using Oxylbox as a server, and I can't install it onto Vista! So I am fairly stuck re config of the SC itself..

Finally, the Sony can be set to provide Pro Logic II on this source and then I get a "simulated" 5.1, but not the original - so I sort of have half a solution but would really like to crack this one properly.

Thanks for eeading through this one!

BBC iPlayer WMV9 files

jsoap — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:04:06 GMT

Hi,

is anyone able to play WMV9 files downloaded with the BBC iPlayer?

I can play downloaded files in Windows Media Player 11 ok. But when I share them via Windows Media Player to the Showcenter, the DRM license files seem to transfer ok, but when the file starts to play, I get the message "not supported", and sound only i.e. no video.

I don't think that this is a DRM issue since the same thing happens if I play one of the non-DRM "channel intro" files e.g. http://rapidshare.com/files/91464582/BBC4_LAKE.wmv (800kb).

Random MP3

st11 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:41:23 GMT

Hi,

Just got delivered my Showcenter 250hd. First impression is its not too bad. It different to my Roku Photobridge, and lets hope this box is a lot more stable.

I am using a Buffalo NAS with UPNP support and I am able to access all of my music (15,000 mp3).

I want my Mp3 to play randomly. I have a the following directory structure. \\Media\Music\a-b\ashcroft richard\song for the lovers.mp3

Media is the share point on my Buffalo NAS where media server is running.

So when I browse to Music on the Showcenter I can see all of my music, but just not sure how to play them in random order. When I select All Tracks, they appear in numerical alphabetical order. They only seem to play in order.

Thanks in advance

Steve

SC200 remote control on eBay

Tanky — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:09:02 GMT

After my Showcenter 200 stopped working, I'm selling the remote control on eBay..

Item number 250405750577 if anyone is interested.

Regards,

Paul

Manual for Lastest Firmare?

wagnerism — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:50:32 GMT

Hello All,

I have an SC200 running the 21-81 firmware. Connection to my UPnP-AV Synology NAS works great. I wish I had some kind of manual telling me what the buttons on the remote control do!

I list the music where I have many CDs ripped... but I don't see a search/filter function. When I press the number buttons, it jumps to a selection (can't tell which).

What do you do to browse long lists of CDs? What if you're looking for an album or artist that starts with "S"? Do you page-down through hundreds of entries to get to the "S" items?

I can't find anything telling me the basic navigation of the 250HD.

Thanks!

Richard

Skins For Showcenter 1000g

wirralbret — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:07:38 GMT

Hi,

I have two showcenter players and was wondering if there are any additional skins available or a program for designing your own?

Also, my two showcenters are running the same software on the same make of TVs but the menu and display texts are different sizes. can I change the font size on my player? if so, how is this done please?

Tanky joins the dark side

Tanky — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:01:05 GMT

Guys,

I'm sorry to say I've gone and bought a Popcorn Hour A-110.

My Pinnacle stopped working on Friday. There was no gradual failure, it simply failed to power up. The power cable and fuse are good, fishing around inside the case reveals nothing broken or fried, but the main chip seems warped and damaged on two edges. Don't know what caused that or if it's the cause of the failure.

I have to say, Pinnacle's aftersale support for this unit is stratospherically bad. They have ignored every request from me and have never, to my knowledge, posted here.

What else? It didn't work with the Harmony remote, having to re encode iPlayer WMVs was a pain, random lock ups and power downs, the list goes on.

The A-110 ain't perfect, by any means, but it's played everything I've thrown at it so far except iPlayer and 4oD files with DRM on them. Yes, it runs Linux so comes with a wafer thin manual and I feel the urge to wear an anorak every time I go into the settings menu, but so far, it's showing me how media streaming should be done. The community is extensive and the manufacturer (that of the firmware to be exact) plays an active part. There was a firmware update last month and there have been many previously.

You chaps have been excellent, helpful and knowledgeable despite the total lack of interest from the manufacturer and I'm grateful for all of your support.

Pinnacle, watch and learn.