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Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick USB TV Tuner HDTV for PC

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Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick USB TV Tuner HDTV for PC

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PCTV HD Stick is the first ultra-compact USB 2.0 powered TV tuner in an attractive stick form factor that brings the brilliant sharpness of HDTV via ATSC to your PC. The new digital TV standard ATSC comes over the air and for free in high or standard definition, and there is no subscription required. In addition to ATSC, standard analog TV NTSC can be received, via cable, satellite or antenna. The included Pinnacle MediaCenter software lets you not only watch TV but also record it. You can even pause live TV and resume exactly where you left off and you can rewind or fast forward. Good looks, great features and minimum size, will make the PCTV HD Pro Stick a must have wherever you are. Never miss a critical part of your favorite show again with pause, rewind and replay TimeShifting and automated digital recording of TV shows in SD and HD with Pinnacle MediaCenter and integrated Electronic Program Guide** Full support for Microsoft Media Center Edition environment (MCE upgrade kit including a Microsoft compatible MCE remote, IR receiver and IR blaster is available separately) Eliminate the guess work by automatically recording shows direct-to-DVD and/or in the destination file format of choice (i.e. iPod, PSP, DivX, etc.) Capture from most consumer devices with analog outputs (e.g. VCRs, camcorders, DVD players, etc.) and then edit and enhance with the included Pinnacle Studio QuickStart software Works with Windows XP with SP2 or Windows Vista (32 bit)

List Price:	$79.99
Our Price:	$69.99
You Save:	$10.00 (13%)

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Product Details

Product Length:	8.07 inches
Product Width:	9.06 inches
Product Height:	1.97 inches
Product Weight:	0.44 pounds
Package Length:	7.7 inches
Package Width:	1.1 inches
Package Height:	1.0 inches
Package Weight:	0.7 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 4 reviews

Features

Watch live high quality digital HD and SD TV without service fees from anywhere on your laptop
Break free and PlaceShift with the sleek USB 2.0 powered portable PCTV device
Sit back and relax from afar with full remote control access
The options are unlimited with full support for both NTSC analog and ATSC digital TV reception
Instantly transform your PC into a personal digital video recorder (DVR)

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 2.0

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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Works great with Vista Ultimate Media Center Feb 21, 2008
I have had mine for over half a year and it works great. I have Win Vista Ultimate and tried using Pinacle's PVR software and it would crash quite frequently. Instead, I tried using Windows Media Player and works GREAT. I can record shows, use the free program guide from the Media Center, burn to dvd... all in a simple package. The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is the secondary channels (like 4-2).

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

core functionality works fine for me Jan 13, 2008
I see a few people giving this computer tv tuner bad reviews. I understand why. But for me, it does it's main job just fine, which is take the cable signal and plays it back on my computer screen. If you are a bit of a poweruser, you shouldn't have too much trouble making this thing play back tv on your computer. As for the more sophisticated functions, your mileage may vary. If the average person whose computer probably has quite a few startup programs, and/or vista, I can see problems. The initial scan for channels isn't real informative. It's better to cancel the initial scan, and dig through the settings to set the software to "cable" or to "antennae", that makes a big difference. For now I give it 3 stars. It took me about 30 minutes to get completely comfortable with the basic software functionlity. I did try the over the air HD programming and was able to pick up 4 channels. It was pretty impressive. Standard cable was acceptable quality. When I try some of the other more advanced features, if they work well, I might upgrade to 4 stars. I bought mine at office depot for $99. I didn't want a separate TV, as I live in a small garage apartment. This fits the bill. I prefer it over the PCI TV Tuner that I had.
*****edit*****
I've now had the tuner for several months. It still works good. I like the straight forward recording feature...just hit the red record button and you're recording. I also like the pause feature. Pretty cool to pause live TV (it does this by transparently recording and simultaneously playing back). I'm using it with analog cable (not HD or digital), so all my comments reflect that type of usage. I'm using two 19" monitors under XP, and I use the second monitor to play tv, which can be in a window or fullscreen. I can of course simultaneously surf the web, play a game (windowed mode not fullscreen), etc...on my main screen. I like everything about it, the only thing that bugs me the most is an audio sync issue. When you first launch the TV application, and start watching TV, the audio and video are in sync. As you start changing channels, the audio/video sync starts to drift. I can fix this by changing to channel of choice and then restarting the application OR by using the pause button to pause and then un-pause a second later....seems to clear it up.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Awful, just painfully awful Dec 30, 2007
Awful, just painfully awful
1) Pause live TV, resume, try to change channel. Result: A machine so hung that not even the task manager comes up (the keyboard is dead). It can take multiple reboots and removal of the device (from the usb port to remove power) before the device "comes back" and is again "seen" by the computer (it thinks there's nothing attached until that happens).
2) Their setup guide lists 24 hour support but their website chat hours are only until about 7PM on the west coast on weekdays. Same with their phone support. Both were closed between xmas and new years which of course is when people would be having trouble with their pinnacle xmas present (that's NOT a hypothetical!).
They have yet to respond to email.
3) When you install, the setup wizard has no selection for say analog cable and so, if that's what your connection is, it only scans the first 13 channels. I got the rest of the channels by, after the install, getting to the setup dialog from the TV app itself and that has an option for cable. This is not mentioned anywhere. In fact, the first time I tried this it failed because it can't scan for channels when the TV app is up using the tuner (I guessed that). The scanning just says "error". You have to close the TV app and the scan.
Fabulous.

8 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Be afraid, be VERY AFRAID Nov 28, 2007
If they had allowed me to give this product a MINUS 10 stars, that's what I would have given it.

We researched various tuners and bought this one. It was a disaster. The TV antenna has a very powerful magnet in the bottom. However, there is no mention on the package that a magnet is included or a warning not to get the antenna too close to your computer.

Unfortunately, I had my laptop in my lap as I was unpacking the unit. As I was unwrapping the antenna, the magnet attached itself to the palm rest on my laptop. I had to pull it off. My computer instantly went off and could not be rebooted. The magnet had totally erased all of the data from the hard drive. The hard drive had to be totally replaced. I called Pinnacle to tell them what happened. They said they would get back to me, and never did. I can't believe that they would create a product specifically for use with a computer and put a powerful magnet in it. Then they won't even take responsibility for the havoc it created.