Customer Reviews

Pctv HD Pro Stick USB Hd Atsc Ntsc Clearqam Tuner

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is an updated version of this product. I first saw it in July 2008. I was unaware of that initially and I first bought the older version that does not tune Clear QAM or FM. Since these features didn't work, I contacted Pinnacle's support. They were completely useless, they drug me around for weeks trying this and that until I did a whole lot of research and found there were two models of the same product. I returned the old model and got the new one (both the old and new were on the shelf and had the same sku, the packaging is slightly different.)

That fiasco aside, I installed the new model and it worked great. I had to download and install an update to the application, but it wasn't too big and I had it working within 15 minutes of opening it. Much easier than the older version which had some software issues.

It tunes Clear QAM, OTA DTV, analog cable, and FM, I tested all, and they all work well. I'm using primarily using it to tune ATSC (Broadcast Digital TV.) I used the antenna that came with it at first, and it's okay, but I get a lot better reception with a cheap set($8) of "bunny ears." With that antenna, I get very good reception, despite where I live, which is a very bad spot to pick up signals. My HDTV only picked up two digital channels with the same antenna I'm using. This tuner gets every channel available to me and they look very good.

Although I couldn't get the old model to work with Windows Media Center, this one works fine.

The remote control works as long as it's pointed to the tuner, but be careful as I have found that the tuner will pick up rf signals from other remotes.

The recording feature works, but I have found the audio and video don't sync up perfectly some times.

I've tried using the SVIDEO/composite in to view external video, and that works as well.

It does get warm during use. It also uses quite a bit of CPU, even when not recording. I have a new, high-end laptop, and would be concerned about performance when using an older laptop.

Overall, I'm pleased with this product. The older model was pretty much a nightmare, but this one works, and works well. I can attest that it works with Vista, as that's what I'm running. It uses any TV source you can throw at it, and tunes them all well. The sync problem with recordings is really the only shortfall I can find. I would recommend this product.

A few notes though: First, don't blame this tuner for poor OTA reception. Where you live in relation to the signals you want to pick up, what antenna you use and how you have your antenna aimed make the biggest difference. I am not using the included antenna because it's not that great. It's not bad, but I know I need a more tunable antenna for where I live. Please keep that in mind. Secondly, I would not recommend attempting to use this on an older laptop or PC. It does use a good amount of CPU. Make sure your computer meets the recommended specs before buying this. Other than that, enjoy!

I bought this a few weeks ago to record several series that are broadcast in digital. I didn't want to spend tons on DVR service, renting equipment and all that just to be able to record now and then.

Setup was easy but the supplied antenna would not do the trick on most of the channels. After connecting to our attic antenna, all stations come in 100%.

I'm using mine in a relatively new quad-core running Vista 64. Media center recognizes the device and I'm able to record, play, watch live tv and burn DVD's through Media Center. I found the Pinnacle software to have a few sound issues so I only use MC. Recorded Rudolph in HD and burned a DVD last night for my daughter and the quality was amazing.

The only issue I have is the FM Radio is not recognized in Media Center and has issues in the Pinnacle software. I only subtracted a star since I bought this for over-the-air Digital Broadcasts and I'll never use the FM option.

I bought this for my dell inspiron 1720 laptop. OTA HD looks really nice and it is in HD, not sd. If you live near a major city, OTA is awsome. The antena provided works great near big cities. a better antena may be reqiured for OTA away from the city. FM receiver also works great. composite and s-video adapter also works good. I haven't tried out the quam cable reception but everything else works, I don't see why this wouldn't. real time divx and mp4 encoding require a powerful processor, but not required for good HD recordings.

The only reason I even tried this product is because of the claimed Clear QAM capability. Which turns out to be a straight-out lie. Even with the latest software "update" it refuses to find ANY channels off cable. Software is slow and clunky, uninstall process requires you to reboot first because it leaves running processes that won't terminate once app is run. A superb POS overall. It's really worth NO stars but I can't seem to be submit this review that way.

This product does what it says-- It records television onto your harddrive. And I've gotten a lot of use out of it at some points, but the software is so ridiculously buggy that it's nearly useless at times.

Pinnacle, it seems, cannot make even one even remotely decent piece of software. Everything it makes sucks up system resources like nothing else. I've given up actually trying to watch TV using TVCenter Pro, the program that communicates with this particular piece of hardware. The program is ridiculously slow. It takes a good five minutes to load the program on a 1.6 ghz dual-core computer with 2 gigs of ram in Vista. It takes about 30 seconds to change a channel.

Now, for the bugs in the program. Part of the reason I've given up watching TV in TVCenter Pro is because it always crashes within ten minutes, without fail. The screen goes black. I have to end the process and restart the program, every time.

Now, for the bugs in timed recordings. When the timed recordings are working correctly, they're supposed to happen silently in the background. You just go to the folder where you set them to be saved and open up the files. Telling the program when to record is a pain. You can't do it without first opening up the ridiculously bad TVCenterPro, which I mentioned takes a good five minutes to open. Then, if it actually works, consider yourself lucky. About every other time it records, the process closes afterwards, so if you have multiple timed recordings it'll only record the first one.

I tried to install the newest version, hoping it would fix these problems, and unsurprisingly, it won't even install because it says "Access is denied."

If you have Vista Home Premium or Ultimate and therefore have access to Windows Media Center, then this might not be bad for you. The hardware seems to be fine as far as I can tell, but for those of us that have XP, Vista Home Basic, or Vista Business, we have to deal with the poorly designed TVCenter Pro, which is so frustrating that I have considered getting Vista Ultimate just to avoid this.

Avoid Pinnacle at all costs. Their software is useless.

After shopping for several days and reading the reviews I finally decided upon this model. The reviews were running 50/50, Some people hated it and some liked it. It works great for me, software doesent crash and it only gets a little bit warm during operation. Antenna could have a stronger magnet on it though but it holds ok.

I bought this specifically for QAM tuning. I already had an ATSC tuner however I live in an area that has poor reception for getting all channels to come in at one time. I bought this hoping the QAM function would work in Vista Media Center w/ TV Pack. I was wrong, as Pinnacle hasn't made any drivers for QAM tuning in VMC (or even Windows 7 for that matter) so I basically wasted my money on this. The software that comes with the tuner is pure crap, your grandmother could write software better than this one. It is the most buggy, crashing, and piece of junk software I've ever used. It only works some of the time, and uses a ton of resources to do it. I'm just going to bite the bullet and spend a good amount of money on a HD Homerun.

I have worked around the tech business for twenty years, and I've rarely had a product that annoyed me so much. Terrible software, a design that leaves the unit hanging off the back of the PC, awful (actually unsuccessful) integration with Windows Media Center... Did I mention the truly terrible software? Hard to understand, slow to run, impossible to navigate.
Having read the other reviews - I read them before buying but I Thought I Knew Better - I am not even going to bother calling Pinnacle tech support.
This is the second lousy Pinnacle product I've bought. Won't Get Fooled Again.

it can connect computer with TV cable. if you want to see TV on computer it is good chose

I bought this in order to transfer my VHS to my computer's DVD burner. The USB worked nicely, however, the component adapter has 3 separate ports. It has 1 RCA jack, 1 s-video jack and 1 firewire jack. Unless you have a high end S-VHS player, the only means to transfer the signal to the ProStick is through the 1 RCA jack. This gives you the limited option of transferring either Video, or Sound, but not both. The problem is that it took Customer Support 15 days in order to let me know that none of their solutions will work with VHS, even though each time I specifically stated what I was using it for. The PCTV HD Pro Stick was repackaged and returned