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| Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick |
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List Price: $129.99
Our Price: $123.98
You Save: $ 6.01 (5%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Pinnacle Systems
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Electronics
Brand: Pinnacle
EAN: 0613570221821
Feature: Box Contents - PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, Remote control, High-gain telescopic antenna, A/V adapter cable, USB extender cable, Printed QuickStart guide, CD-ROM with Pinnacle TV Center Pro recovery / Studio Quickstart software
Is Autographed: 0
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Pinnacle Systems
Manufacturer: Pinnacle Systems
Model: 8230-10020-71
Publisher: Pinnacle Systems
Studio: Pinnacle Systems
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Features
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Box Contents - PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, Remote control, High-gain telescopic antenna, A/V adapter cable, USB extender cable, Printed QuickStart guide, CD-ROM with Pinnacle TV Center Pro recovery / Studio Quickstart software
Ultra-portable USB 2.0 HDTV tuner stick with integrated FlashPVR -- no installation required
Watch SD and free HD TV on your PC - no service fees
Supports both analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) TV signals
Hardware ready for ClearQAM (unencrypted digital cable) reception
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Editorial Reviews:
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Watch and record Standard Definition and HDTV on any PC using the Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, featuring a unique PVR application that runs from the stick's on-board flash memory. Plug it into any PC and start watching and recording in seconds - no software installation required. Full PVR application preinstalled on the stick's on-board memory Record up to 2 hours of TV directly to the stick to play it back on any PC Capture SD video from camcorder or set-top box using included adapter cable Turns your PC into a PVR with TimeShifting - pause, rewind TV Electronic Programming Guide Automatically record shows to the integrated flash memory or to your hard drive in the destination file format of choice (i.e. iPod, PSP, DivX, etc.), or even direct-to-DVD Trim you videos with Pinnacle Studio QuickStart On-board memory can also be used to store additional files TV tuner fully compatible with Windows Media Center (Windows Vista and XP MCE; remote kit sold separately)
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| Spotlight customer reviews: |
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Zapping Channels is to slow
Comment: My opinion is that the zapping channel process could be improve, like a comun TV Remote controller.
But at last, I think is a good deal for the price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great product, but a little cumbersome.
Comment: I really like this product. I purchased it to record video directly to disk for editing later. I like to have several cameras shoot an event and digitizing tape. For me synchronizing the scenes and selecting shots is the least favorite step in editing. If I am going to take the time to mix video at the event, then I want to easily prep the post production. This is a great solution as I can copy, import and immediately edit the avi file created. Now my laptop is a 'studio' that I can manage, no pun intended.
I didn't purchase it to watch TV. I need my pillow, not a laptop for that. Some might like to watch TV on their computer, but the real reason and the benefit of this device is to RECORD the broadcast. This is the portable version of the TIVO.
If you plan to edit you should plan to use something other than the quickstart version included. I really like the Pinnacle Studio products but to have a program that will operate without errors you should upgrade to the full suite. I also love Adobe Premiere and use both versions Pro and CS3, and find that Premiere Elements has a lot of power for a consumer product. Use whichever you want, but make sure to apply all of the patches. Here on Amazon you will find the best prices for the video editing software mentioned in this review.
You can see why I like it, now the cons. A little cumbersome to set up. Slow to respond. Lists the channels by string not number so 3 - 39 is found before 4. Control menus are not user friendly.
Over all, this was a good investment. Well built and complete with all of the cables and a handy storage pouch. Friends drool when I hand them this device. Don't recommend for the occasional TV watcher, but if you want to TIVO a broadcast, help yourself to this and you won't be sorry.
Customer Rating:
Summary: TV on PCs
Comment: The installation was painless. The only thing that needed special attention was when the Windows installation wizard found new hardware appeared, I had to cancel. The next screen required the usual name and serial number for registration. The nice touch here was most of the information including the serial number was pre-entered for me. When finished you were issued a customer ID number and offered a chance to print the screen for you records, another nice touch. Next I was presented with a setup screen that showed me how to connect the supplied antenna, a standard antenna or the cable. The next button took me to the page that automatically scans the airways for what is available in your area. My system found several radio shows, fifteen digital shows and ten analog shows. Once the scan is finished you can organize the channels, by dragging and dropping them into "My Favorite TV Channels" list once complete the TV program starts.
I would recommend this product for any who travels or just really likes to have the convenience of TV on their computer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Works, Sometimes. Bad Quality, Bad Software.
Comment: I've used this product for a few months now. I had read the reviews prior to purchasing it and thought that I would be able to figure out any problems I encountered. I was wrong.
Initially I tried to use the included software (the only way the remote will work). I got so frustrated with the slow, confusing and slow included software interface I found instructions for using this product with Windows Media Center.
With Windows Media Center I can watch and record TV using this product. However the words are not always synced to the video. Pinnacle says they know it is a problem and do not have plans to address it. Thus my recordings are awfully unsynced and almost unwatchable (up to 30 second delay for sound).
The video quality is poor for cable channels. Watching this on my expensive computer monitor next to my TV, I would much rather watch on the TV. The digital channels do come in clear, but they do not work well with Windows Media Center (not Pinnacle's problem).
I am not having issues because I have an old computer- I have a new computer with a recent Nvidia Graphics Card, 2GB RAM and a Duo Core Centrino Processor. My processor never exceeds 70% while watching video with this product and doing a few other things at the same time.
Summary:
Poor Quality, Horrible Software, Plagued with Problems, But Usually Works
Customer Rating:
Summary: Horrible, horrible software.
Comment: Horrendous software comes with this product. Beware.
It says "Vista Certified", but barely works at all in Vista 32. It doesn't work at all in Vista 64. Oh, there are drivers for it - but Pinnacles "TV Center Pro" won't even start in 64, and other programs (including Media Center) can only partially use the card (will only tune some digital stations; can't use clear QAM, analog OTA or cable).
If you DO get TVCenterPro working, it's about as quick as walking uphill through cold molasses. Seriously, the stupid app takes about a minute to load, and changing any setting takes 10-15 seconds. Channel changing takes 3-4 seconds. This is on a dual core machine with 2gb ram. Godspeed anyone who has less; I can't imagine it'd even be usable.
To the reviewer that said his machine took 30 seconds to change a channel, but he considered that acceptable - are you insane???
It crashes with astonishing regularity on Vista 32 (tried on two machines - an Acer laptop and a self-built machine) and quite often on XP SP2. No, clean installs and brand new hardware cannot even save this app - it just plain sucks.
The ONLY way to salvage this hardware is to use it with something like BeyondTV or PowerCinema - expect to shell out an additional $100.
Now, for the "
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