PCTV HD Pro Stick USB2 HDTV Tuner for Free HD
by Pinnacle Systems
|
List Price: Our Price: $45.00 You Save: $54.99 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of PCTV HD Pro Stick USB2 HDTV Tuner for Free HD
Customer Review: Works fine as long as...
Summary: 4 Stars
This product works on my computer (Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Core Duo @ 1.73 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Windows Vista Home Premium, no dedicated video card), with a few constraints. I feel that using the tuner pushes some aspects of my system's performance to its limits, so I probably would not recommend buying this tuner if you have a less powerful setup than I am using. I should also note that I am really only reviewing the hardware - after reading numerous bad reviews of the bundled software, I decided not to install it. I just plugged the tuner into my computer's USB port, let Windows set up the driver, and I use it with Windows Media Center - no need to install the bundled software.
Overall performance:
- Effortless setup and integration with Windows Media Center capabilities (programming guide, live TV viewing, recording, time shifting). I had the tuner set up and was watching a program on my computer within 20 minutes of taking it out of the box.
- I use this with an over-the-air digital antenna, and get crystal clear picture quality for both SD and HD broadcasts. I use an amplified indoor antenna rather than the included antenna because it's difficult to get a good signal without an amplified antenna at my location, which is in a valley 30-40 miles from my local broadcast towers. If you live in better proximity to your local broadcast towers, you ought to be able to use the included antenna. The base of the included antenna does have a magnet in it, so be sure to keep it away from hard drives and other magnetic media.
- Running with Windows Media Center and not using the bundled software, I have no problems with system lockups or needing to reboot. On very rare occasions I end up stuck while changing channels (it hangs in the transition between one channel and the next), but switching back to the previous channel and then changing it again always gets it unstuck.
- When watching or recording HD programming, I get pauses/choppy picture and audio if I have the viewing window maximized or sized larger than about 1/3 of my screen size. I have better success watching HD programming maximized (full screen) if I record it instead of watching it live, then view it after the recording is completed. I am not a computer expert, but I assume that this is because my computer lacks a dedicated video card, so running the full-screen video while simultaneously handling the HD signal from the tuner may be more than my CPU can comfortably handle. I do not have the same problem watching SD (standard definition) programs.
- I also end up with choppy video if the computer is doing anything else CPU-intensive during viewing or recording.
In summary, this tuner performs acceptably for my needs, and I would expect others to find its performance satisfactory as long as they use it with computer systems that meet or exceed the manufacturer's minimum system requirements. Of course, for optimal performance, I would recommend using it with a system that greatly exceeds the minimum requirements.
Customer Review: TV On Your Laptop
Summary: 4 Stars
Interesting concept to say the least. I installed the TV tuner stick on my Gateway Latop 32bit OS 1022MB RAM Mobile AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+ 2.40GHz with Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate operating system. The TV tuner stick plugged into a USB 2.0 port with immediate recognition. The software installed without any problems and I elected to do the complete setup rather than the custom. During the installation procedure there were several graphic messages which I thought were extremely bright and clear showing current progress and other Pinnacle products. Initial installation took just over 5 minutes. A restart was necessary afte the wizard completed the initial installation. Then the real program got going. I was impressed with everything I saw. Everything seemed to fall into place and my eyes were glued to the desktop.
Two new icons appeared on the desktop: "Pinnacle TV Center Pro" and "Settings". A "Launch List" also appeared which asked for you to register and then the Welcome to Pinnacle TVCenter Pro screen appeared. I elected to configure all necessary settings for an optimum TV experience.
TVCenter 4 Install Wizard takes over and several screens appear throughout the settings configuration. Updates; Channel Scan; Program Guide; etc. With the setup complete I could now start the main application. 25 TV channels were found with the small portable antenna. Some channels were clearer than others, of course. You don't need any special software. The PCTV Pro stick comes with software necessary to tune in channels and view them using a Windows XP or Vista computer.
As I continued my review I found many other settings, such as; General; TV Channels; Radio Channels; Program Guide; Capture; Timeshifting; Display; Remote Control; Hardware and Information graphics. The Remote Control was not included and I felt it was not necessary with a laptop PC. Each one of these graphics display several options for you to tweak your viewing experience. A very good idea indeed. I fooled around with those areas I felt were important to me and found myself completely satisfied with the results. I don't do a lot of TV watching while using my laptop and I don't really have a need to record anything. However, it can be a diversion and relaxing viewing experience when wanted. I was amazed at the reception for the High Definition Channels considering the use of the portable antenna attached to the USB Stick. This is remarkable to say the least. It also picked up many radio channels.
I think if you want to bring digital HDTV with full funcionality to your laptop then invest in Pinnacle's PCTV HD Pro Stick. You can also record TV as well as watching it. Overall, this is an excellent product as long as you have the hardware and operating system to support it. I would give it four stars as it does a good job right out of the retail box.
Customer Review: Disturbing
Summary: 1 Stars
It's quite amazing that even today...almost 6 months after this product launched, it's still in what should be regarded as beta. That's also being generous...as it feels to me like "Alpha".
Some of the issues encountered:
1. The remote is terrible. Buttons don't respond well. Sometimes pressing common buttons, such as to increase volume will cause other issues...such as changing channels, windowing the program, or just plain hanging hte application with one of three different error messages. Some buttone seem useless. Try clicking the middle flower button for example. Nothing happens. Searching the forums dicusses the use of an INI file to customer map remote buttons. Searching the installation directories using the latest software shows this INI file not even present.
2. Support is iffy. They actually try to charge you for phone support...which is truely disgusting for installation problems. When you do finally get a chat, their recommendations seem to revolve around uninstalling and reinstalling the software. After that didn't work, they actually suggested reinstalling Windows. No joke.
3. The software is attrocious. It's slow, sluggish, and doesn't work sometimes. Re-running the setup wizard wont' work at times...but mysteriously works another time. Sometimes it won't see anything other than a few channels...sometimes hundreds. Channels take 3-5 seconds to switch and are choppy with stuttering 75% of the time. The software never lasted more than 30 minutes without some sort of crash...most of which required and entire reboot.
4. Did I mention the software? It doesn't have closed captioning. The channel information I simply could never get to work. The EPG free software never did download and I had to use the "premium version" which didn't work right either (and displayed a date of "0001" for the year it expires).
5. XP and Vista support. I tried running the software on Vista 32-bit ultimate w/sp1. Media Center absolutely refused to see anything other than the digital receiver (even running the 4.9 service as well as trying the MCE 3.1 drivers) and would not scan any channels. I also tried this on XPsp3 (on another partition of the same laptop)...which would possibly have been better, but I simply can't live with the Pinnacle software. It's absolutely a horrible experience on XP with the built-in software.
All in all, I hope to help someone else out by avoiding this product altogether and choosing something else like the Hauppague products. Every once in a while a product comes out that is suprisingly bad...with problems that are simply too much to overcome. After 5 hours I have come to the conclusion that this, unfortunately, is one of those products.
Customer Review: Do not buy this item
Summary: 1 Stars
This was as sorry a purchase as I have bought recently.
Parts of it work well. Some don't. I have found one channel that comes in clear enough to make the product useful. Gratefully, it is a favorite channel.
I have a gig of ram which should be enough to run this program, especially if no other programs are running. But it appears this is not enough.
The first small problem is the software is not all that intuitive. But I'm smart enough, I can figure it out.
The first BIG problem, is the whole computer freezes up when I try to change the channel. I cannot even ctnl-alt-del. I can only cut the power and reboot. Then run the settings program to delete the channel I am trying to change from. Then reboot to get the changes to take. Only then am I able to go to the next channel. If I don't want that channel either, I must go thru this whole process all over again.
According to their knowledge base, this problem is caused by an incorrect version of "Media Center". After determining Media Center was not a software that came with my pctv, I searched for it on the internet and discovered it is a video editing tool. What that has to do with watching tv, I certainly don't know.
The second big problem (and a worse one) is Pinnacle technical support - or lack of.
Enclosed in the box - and on the Pinnacle website - are nice, warm and fuzzy invitations to take any problems to their technical support. Numbers and urls were encouragingly easy to find.
On the phone, I discovered help costs 14.95 a visit. So I tried the on-line help. And sat at my computer for more than two hours watching as a web page told me it was looking for the next available agent. (Ok, was ws also doing other stuff during this time.)
I tried the on-line knowledge base, After typing in details of what equipment and software I am using, I got the a page (stated above) telling me I had the wrong version of an editing software not bundled in my package. I tried wording my channel-changing problem in every variation I could think of, and still continued to get this message about editing software.
Before I purchased this, I checked the box that told what my system needed to use it effectively. I was WELL within the bounds. In looking over the positive reviews, I see that it really takes 2 gig ram to be happy with this product. I have two-year old laptop - (is that out of date?) There are no slots for upgrading it beyond the 1 gig I already have.
So, if you have that much, and are also lucky enough to not need support, you might do well with it.
Customer Review: AWESOME HD Quality; BUT you need a Powerful machine!!
Summary: 5 Stars
First installed this in my laptop and was very disappointed since I could not get it to run, kept crashing, locking CPU at 100% etc. After reinstall, a co-worker asked me if I read the minimum requirements (what, you are supposed to do that? <g>). I was way under minimum req. After installing on my home P2.4, 1GB, 64MB video, which is still well under minimum req for HD, the performance was better, but still not great. Then I installed it in my other PC; 3.4Ghz, 1GB, 128 video, and the performance was incredible. I get 13 channels at my home; 9 in HD. I could not believe the quality of the picture and sound; almost perfect. about 99% perfect picture; just the very rare flash or signal loss. I suspect alot has to do with you location and how close you are to the signals being broadcast from your cities. Check [...]
The HD stick is really cool if you want to take it with you to install in other machines (ie Home PC, Laptop, friend's PC, etc.). Very easy to port the small stick and antenna. Be sure to install the 4.52 Patch which can be downloaded from the Pinnacle website; corrects lots of issues. I called the Pinnacle support when I first got the item, but they were pretty much useless (no surprise; not many of these companies hire anyone other than $5 hr guys from India; if they dont know where the USA is located in the first 10 seconds, then I just hang up). they never even mentioned the minimum sys requirements.
As for that minimum req's; check the Pinnacle website, but I would suggest at least Pentium 3.4 or higher; 1GB RAM, and 128MB video if you want to view HD. You will need more RAM and lots of disk if you want to record. The quality of the recordings is very good. For the laptop, you will want at least the 1.8Ghz Mobile, 1GB RAM, 128 video.
Again, if you have the horsepower, this is an awesome item. I just hope the local channels continue to broadcast in HD (for free), and it sure would be nice if they would broadcast ESPN too. Sure beats the good ol' days of "bunny ears"