PCTV PRO - PCI TV TUNER STEREO VIDCAP MPEG2

by Pinnacle

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• ASIN: B00007AKC5
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible hardware, buggy software.. but wait! It gets worse, October 17, 2003

By 

Charles Worton (edmonton, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PCTV PRO - PCI TV TUNER STEREO VIDCAP MPEG2 (Electronics)

I don't think I've ever been as disappointed with any electronics component as I have been with the Pinnacle TV tuner card.

Here's what you're SUPPOSED to get: the Pinnacle TV tuner card accepts incoming video signals through an included S-video in, composite in, or conventional cable/Antenna input. Software supplied allows you to switch between those three inputs; in the case of the cable/antenna input, a built in tuner allows tuning in VHF/UHF channels 2 to 83, or cable channels from 2 to 160 (or therabouts). The video signal is displayed on a resizable screen, which operates much like a conventional window; or as a full screen display. Audio handling is sparse at best; the card has an audio out jack (no audio in) and you are supplied with a small external jumper cable, which you are expected to run from the audio out jack to the external input jack on your sound card. (Lets hope you're not already using it for something else.) The card also has an internal audio out jack, but no cord is supplied; and the unconventional plug is difficult to find.

The card offers you the opportunity to watch TV in a variable sized screen; to record TV; and to pause live broadcasts, giving you the rough equivalent of a Tivo or Personal Video Recorder. When you hit pause, the screen freezes, and the video signal is diverted to your hard drive as a digital datastream. Hit pause again, and the data comes off your hard drive and is displayed on your screen, while new data continues to be recorded to your hard drive. In this fashion you can jump forward and back through the program, playing the same section over again, skipping past commercials, and generally having a merry old time.

At least, that's the sales pitch.

The difference between the Pinnacle PCTV and the Pinnacle PCTV Pro, is that the pro includes a stereo TV decoder (the non-pro version is mono only). If you read the enclosed advertisng material, you will be told that the Pro also includes a stereo FM tuner; and indeed, the Pinnacle PCTV Pro website states, "Watch TV or listen to the radio on your PC." However, when you purchase the Pinnacle Pro card, you will find that there is NO radio tuner, there is NO FM antenna input (even though one is clearly illustrated in the enclosed advertising), and indeed there is virtually no hardware difference between the two cards.

But the lies and deceit don't stop there. Let's go back to the claims made for the card on the Pinnacle website. "Create your own movies from video captured from TV, VCR or Camcorder with the easy to use Studio software." Well, true enough... but they fail to mention that the Studio software supplied is a 30 DAY TRIAL. After that point, the software locks up, and you are expected to purchase it, at great additional cost. Without this software, you can still record TV shows; but you cannot edit out commercials, string multiple shows into one presentation, or any other commonly done VCR-type tasks. You can start recording, stop recording, and that's it. No pause, no nothing.

Let's talk about the hardware for a moment... or lack thereof. You see, there's not much hardware here, and that's a problem. That conventional NTSC or PAL TV signal is analog, and it needs to be converted to a digital format FAST. The digital conversion takes a lot of processing power, and the conversion from raw digital video to MPEG format takes an awful lot more. Most TV cards that permit recording and PVR functionality - such as the Hauppage 350, available through Amazon - accomplish this with built in hardware MPEG encoders/decorders. Not so the Pinnacle card; it makes use of your computer horsepower, substituting a software program for a hardware chip. This is fine, at least in theory; but to make it work, you need to have well written software, and enough computing horsepower to dim the lights in the neighborhood whenever you boot up the machine. I was using an Athlon XP 1800+ with 768 megs of 333 Mhz RAM, two 40 GB Maxtor Diamondmax 7200 RPM Hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration, and Windows XP home... and it wasn't enough. Even with all nonessential programs and services shut down, the performance was still unsatisfactory. A minimum 2.5 GHz processor and 1 GB of FAST RAM - and a state of the art video card, like a high end Geforce FX or equivalent Radeon - would be a minimum requirement. But even then, the software is so glitchy, buggy, unreliable and undependable as to make the whole procedure an exercise in frustration.

Oh, I could go on. I could talk about the audio drifting out of sync with the video every time you change channels, making it impossible to channel surf. I could talk about the included remote that turns the software off, but won't start it again. I could tell you about the amazingly unhelpful technical support, the fiendishly confusing driver downloads section, the dozens of bugs... but you must get the picture by now.

This is a lousy product. It was implemented by a rank amateur with no concept of quality, and a keen desire to save money on manufacturing. The software was written by an individual or group without the faintest concept of the procedures necessary to write quality software - and it shows, all over the place. There's a lot of amateur freeware that is better written than is the software packaged with this product. This software has more bugs than a cheap, inner city flophouse. The lack of ethics in marketing, production, and execution all speak volumes in describing Pinnacle Corporation as a company desperate to sell a fundamentally defective product in any way possible, including lies, treachery and deceit. However, all the glitzy packaging, the loud promises and enthralling hype can do nothing to change this product from what it really is: a sad little electronics disaster.

If, after all I've said, you're still contemplating buying this card, let me offer you one last word of advice: buy the card from a retailer with a very generous returns policy.

Because you're going to be taking advantage of it.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Another Windows XP horror story, May 15, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PCTV PRO - PCI TV TUNER STEREO VIDCAP MPEG2 (Electronics)

I tried the Pinnacle PCTV PRO card in a Dell Dimension, Pentium 4, 1.7 GHz, 256Mb ram, NVIDIA GEForce 2 64Mb , running Windows XP Home Edition. The first card I received was defective, the second one the remote didn't work, the third one had an audio problem. I had read reviews about the Pinnacle card and its use with Windows XP. I thought the updated drivers would solve the problem ( that and the price of the card was not bad). I was WRONG. The best I achieved was a minute of video with the sound working properly. After that, the video was ok but the sound stopped. I called tech support and was asked three questions. Did I update the Pinnacle Drivers? Did I update my video card drivers? Did I try to swap PCI slots. I answered "YES" to all the questions. His solution was to send the card back for another one. After 3 tries, I figured it was time to move on to something different.They do list an incompatability with certain NVIDIA cards, but my card was not listed and the problem (sound) was not the problem that Pinnacle had warned about. Sooooooo....If your running Windows Windows XP or have a NVIDIA video card do yourself a favor and get a WinTV PRO-250. It cost more money, but WELL worth it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boy, was this a mistake!!!, November 4, 2003

By 

"jake4368" (st paul, mn United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PCTV PRO - PCI TV TUNER STEREO VIDCAP MPEG2 (Electronics)

I am in complete agreement with the other reviews I have read about this product. Unfortunately, I didn't read them before I bought the Pinnacle Systems PCTV Pro. Besides most of the other *bugs* listed,(eg. audio-sync problems, lack of basic editing functions in the main program, and no radio tuner) I have found that the PCTV mysteriously turns itself on at random times throughout the day even when nothing has been scheduled to record.
The documentation is terrible. The support website is full of dead links or loops that send you back to where you started without an answer to your question or a hint of how to find one.
I would not recommend the Pinnacle Systems PCTV Pro.