Pinnacle ShowCentre 200 review

Pinnacle's ShowCentre 200 is a media-streaming device that's designed to liberate your files from the confinement of your PC and bring them into the living room.

It supersedes the older 1000g model and has integrated wireless, digital rights management (DRM) compatibility and support for high-definition (HD) files.

The device supports all common audio, photo and video formats with no obvious exceptions. First you have to install Pinnacle's media manager software on your PC, which uses Microsoft's media connect standard. The Pinnacle software then scans your PC and adds any appropriate files to its list.

The ShowCentre is easy to install and comes with a clear and concise manual. We connected it to an 801.11g wireless network simply by selecting it and supplying the security key. It works both with router-based networks and through direct ad hoc connection to a PC. However, it needs a wired connection for HD video files as current wireless standards don't have the necessary bandwidth.

Once networked the ShowCentre found our server PC automatically, and we were able to browse the media files by name using the remote. The menus can be sluggish compared to those of a Freeview box, for example, but they're not slow enough to be aggravating. The ShowCentre is fully equipped with outputs, including a component output, which supports HD, and RGB SCART for connection to a standard TV set.

It does a great job of playing media files and displayed movies over the wireless connection without any artefacts. It scales photos capably so that you can view them on a standard TV, and you can even plug in a digital camera directly through the front USB port.

We piped audio through the digital output to a surround-sound amp, and the device reproduced both music and movie soundtracks well. It supports Dolby Digital surround sound with compatible movie files, and a pair of standard phono outputs enables you to link to TV and hi-fi simultaneously.

This is a well-designed product and by far the best example of its type we've seen to date. It is perfect for use with a standard living room TV thanks to its impressive picture scaling, and it integrates well with your home network to display your media files where you can enjoy them in comfort. Best of all, it's much quieter and cheaper than purchasing a media centre PC for your living room.