Using Axonix Mediamax software/firmware on the Pinnacle Showcenter 200

A little bit of background:

Pinnacle Systems Ltd market the Showcenter 200, a box of tricks that
allows you to stream (wired/wireless) sound and video from a server
running on a PC to your living room. Specs can be found he
http://tinyurl.com/z6pxn and the box itself is now on special offer at
£129.99 on that site. A good product review is available at
tomsharware at http://tinyurl.com/lcwmz

Unfortunately, Pinnacle seems to have stopped developing the
software/firmware for this box. The last update was Dec 2005. There
are still some minor bugs that need to be ironed out and the current
software doesn't fully exploit all the box has to offer.

Interestingly, another company, Axonix Corp. offers a similar (if not
identical box). Have a look at
http://www.axonix.com/mediamax/models.php and scroll down to the
Mediadeck. It seems to be a rebadged Pinnacle Showcenter 200. Unlike
Pinnacle, Axonix seems to be actively supporting the Mediadeck and the
most recent software update came out in May 2006. It looks a lot more
impressive than the Pinnacle software. Unfortunately there doesn't
seem to be a download link.

It's pure speculation on my part but it seems that Pinnacle (or Avid)
have sold the rights to the Showcenter 200 to Axonix, who in turn have
rebadged it as a 'Mediadeck' and have more than quadrupled the price
(I was quoted £800 by a UK dealer!!!).

Additionally, it seems that they want to keep this a secret; for
understandable reasons. Yesterday a thread on the Pinnacle support
forum was deleted by Pinnacle. It was discussing the possibility of
running Axonix software on the Showcenter 200. The fact it was deleted
pretty much adds weight to the suspicion that the two boxes are
identical inside.

I'm starting this thread to appeal to anyone who has access to the
Mediamax software from Axonix and who would be prepared to post a copy
to either Usenet or Bittorrent so that I can test if it works on the
Showcenter 200. I'd be prepared to pay for the software but Axonix
don't want to sell it separately. And even if they did, they're not in
a position to guarantee that it would work. If we have to resort to
the warez route then so be it. It's their call.



John

Good to see that there is hope to get some more use of this beta
product!
Pinnacle/Avid seems to be the company from hell, are they related to
SCO :-) ?


anonny wrote:
A little bit of background:

Pinnacle Systems Ltd market the Showcenter 200, a box of tricks that
allows you to stream (wired/wireless) sound and video from a server
running on a PC to your living room. Specs can be found he
http://tinyurl.com/z6pxn and the box itself is now on special offer at
£129.99 on that site. A good product review is available at
tomsharware at http://tinyurl.com/lcwmz

Unfortunately, Pinnacle seems to have stopped developing the
software/firmware for this box. The last update was Dec 2005. There
are still some minor bugs that need to be ironed out and the current
software doesn't fully exploit all the box has to offer.

Interestingly, another company, Axonix Corp. offers a similar (if not
identical box). Have a look at
http://www.axonix.com/mediamax/models.php and scroll down to the
Mediadeck. It seems to be a rebadged Pinnacle Showcenter 200. Unlike
Pinnacle, Axonix seems to be actively supporting the Mediadeck and the
most recent software update came out in May 2006. It looks a lot more
impressive than the Pinnacle software. Unfortunately there doesn't
seem to be a download link.

It's pure speculation on my part but it seems that Pinnacle (or Avid)
have sold the rights to the Showcenter 200 to Axonix, who in turn have
rebadged it as a 'Mediadeck' and have more than quadrupled the price
(I was quoted £800 by a UK dealer!!!).

Additionally, it seems that they want to keep this a secret; for
understandable reasons. Yesterday a thread on the Pinnacle support
forum was deleted by Pinnacle. It was discussing the possibility of
running Axonix software on the Showcenter 200. The fact it was deleted
pretty much adds weight to the suspicion that the two boxes are
identical inside.

I'm starting this thread to appeal to anyone who has access to the
Mediamax software from Axonix and who would be prepared to post a copy
to either Usenet or Bittorrent so that I can test if it works on the
Showcenter 200. I'd be prepared to pay for the software but Axonix
don't want to sell it separately. And even if they did, they're not in
a position to guarantee that it would work. If we have to resort to
the warez route then so be it. It's their call.



John

On 4 Jul 2006 11:36:32 -0700, wrote:

Good to see that there is hope to get some more use of this beta
product!
Pinnacle/Avid seems to be the company from hell, are they related to
SCO :-) ?


Hmmm....only 'hope' so far. What really puzzles me is why Axonix don't
allow their customers to download the Mediamax software from their
website, just like thousands of other companies? For some stupid
reason you have to be a 'dealer'.

I'm not normally into conspiracy theories but who could blame me for
thinking that the reason is that they don't want people who buy their
MediaServer boxes to use them with Pinnacle Showcenter 200's that cost
£130 as opposed to their own rebadged Showcenters (so called
'Mediadecks') that cost an extortionate £800 !!! The whole thing
stinks. Axonix are obviously investing time and money in development
of software for their Mediadeck (and they need to be compensated for
that) but why not offer Showcenter owners an upgrade path? Why try to
hide the fact from both sets of customers? And if they want a monopoly
on Mediadecks then they should have done a deal with Pinnacle to take
the Showcenter completely off the market so that Pinnacle don't
undersell them.

Can someone point out where I might be going wrong? If someone from
Axonix or Pinnacle don't come clean about this in the next few days
then I'm going to post on this subject to every AV forum on the net.
At least that way any prospective customer of a Showcenter or a
Mediadeck box who does a Google search will be fully informed about
the **** attitude that both these organisations have towards their
customers. All we need is one Mediamax owner to 'break' and post the
software to Usenet or a P2P network. Then the **** will hit the fan!


John

John,

I see they've shut down the latest thread on the Pinnacle forums!

I think perhaps a better place to discuss this would be on
www.avforums.com. They've got a section "Entertainment computers and
components" where the SC200 has been discussed before. Many dealers
post on there too.

Stu