Customer Reviews

Pinnacle PCTV TV Tuner and Video Capture Card

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've just bought the PCTV and have noticed some bugs in the software. You can watch TV just fine with the card, but the included Studio software will not run on my system without crashing. I haven't been able to capture a single clip since buying this card. I'm a systems tech., so I have some idea how to troubleshoot PC problems, but after checking out Pinnacle's msg. boards, I'm no closer to figuring out what's wrong. There may be a problem with DirectX 7.0. A co-worker who has almost an identical system (except he has DirectX 6.1) has no problem at all. This rings true for most of the people on the msg. boards, also. I bought this card mainly to watch TV on my PC, so the capture problems don't affect me too greatly, but if you're buying this card to primarily capture video, be aware you might run into some problems.

This product is without a doubt a great buy. The hardware is of great quality, and can capture at respectale resolutions and frame rates with very little signal loss. The installation is a snap. And then the price... less than 40 bucks to turn your pc into a television and video studio? beautiful. but before you go out and buy this, here are some suggestions:

DO NOT UNDER ANY CONDITIONS USE THE SOFTWARE BUNDLED WITH THE CARD: their PCTV Studio is a joke. It refuses you the right to keep your files uncompressed (temporarily) and greatly limits your options. For your video capture and editing needs, check out VirtualDub for capturing (any web search should find it for you) which is freeware and by far the best capturing program out there. For editng, i suggest QuickEditor (prmeiere is better, but costs [more]) it allows very simple trim, cut, and copy editing with great transitions, effects, and soundtracking...For your TV viewing needs, the software bundled with the card is respectable, but still buggy (i have yet been successful in getting it to fullscreen mode without pink screen-itis) i suggest sticking with it, as it provides some good features usch as "channel surf" and is free of charge. So, in conclusion, go out and buy this card....you will have all you need for professional internet and cd-rom video.

At first I was very excited about getting my new Studio PCTV. When I opened to box I was suprised to notice that the hardware wasn't very protected. It could of been EASILY damaged in shipment. Second I noticed how thin the manual was. Installation was rather easy, but I should be getting to the point. THIS HARDWARE DOESN'T SUPPORT VOODOO3 3DFX! DON'T LET THE DOCUMENTATION FOOL YOU, IT SIMPLY DOESN'T BELIEVE THE DRIVERS ARE INSTALLED. Upon the pulg and play window, I popped in the CD. I was forced to manually find the files on this foreign CD with no documentation on where to find these files. Accidently pressing a wrong button, the system went crazy and corrpupted all of the files agian. I had to reinstall all of the Studio PCTV software once agian. Then agian... Once I got to the third installation it figuered I had done it, but I had not. The realization is simple. #1. This hardware is cheaply made for the cheap price which is understandable. #2. The software is BADLY written. I've seen better on my IIgs. It crashes very often for no reason, forcing a restart and loss of all work. #3. THERE IS NO SUPPORT FOR THIS PRODUCT. As far as I know of there is no webpage in the manual. #4. I beg you, if you are looking for video capture PLEASE get something else. Please don't make the mistake I did. Now I have to go through the whole process of returning this piece of junk.

I hope you'll understand this.

On the plus side, the hardware is an amazing value. When it works, it's kind of cool. In theory, it will work with most modern VGA interfaces without any special video cables or connectors.

It would have been nice if it had built in audio support instead of depending on your sound card. Perhaps that would eliminate the high pitched noise I get during a capture.

Beware that this card will be replaced by the PCTV Pro which supports stereo and FM radio. The Pro seems to have been available in Europe for several YEARS so the US seems to be a second class market for this company.

Also the Web site is a real disaster for driver updates. Just visit the user forum and see the mass anger and dissatisfaction. Why do I know this?

Because my PCTV frequently crashes when scanning for new channels. Granted I have played around with a lot of video drivers, but why can't reinstalling their drivers fix driver problems?

If you have a very clean, brand new Windows 98 installation, it will probably work better for you, but do you want to dedicate a PC just for this card?

Then there's software, without which of course hardware is useless. The card comes with a CD that has 1.01 software. The TV viewing sw is very poor. 1.03 software is better but Pinnacle makes it remarkably difficut to get.

One of the things I most want to do with this card, now that I have a big hard disk, is use my PC as a VCR. Their VCR functionality is quite lacking.

I am so dissatisfied that I just ordered an ATI TV Wonder along with an ATI Fury Rage Pro. ATI seems to understand the value of VCR function and their VGA card has special hardware support to provide high quality video capture and play back, as well as DVD playback.

I didn't get an All In Wonder because I want to upgrade to a DTV card when they become available.

ATI's Fury line is the only one I know of with iDCT and motion compensation and these features make a big difference in handling video.

Because Pinnacle does not make VGA cards, their software does not use any hardware acceleration even if it is available.

I also suspect they do not want a low end product like PCTV to be very good at video capture or it would hurt the market for their $1,000 and up products.

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.

This card is great for watching TV, but unless you have a fairly nice computer, the video capture program stinks. I had a 233MHz computer with 96MB of RAM when I bought it, and it was constantly crashing my computer, and the video quality wasn't very good. I just bought a 566MHz computer which has 64MB of RAM, and it's working pretty well. It's running well (it doesn't crash the computer anymore), and it's capturing great video. The only problem now is that it's still a little bit slow (it makes you think the computer has frozen, and then just when you get ready to hit the power switch... it starts working again), and it doesn't have an output, so you can't put your edited video back onto a VHS tape.

I tested the card an evening with two objectifs :

- Capture a video from a JVC DV camera & burn it on a CD (*.AVI & *.MPG both where ok).

- Connect it to the television network, all the chanels where quickly scanned & coded.

The main difficulty was the sound from the TV network, it seems that the solution was to connect the PCTV card to the sound card with the provided card. The test has been archived by my 14th old son.

The hardware functions well. The TV viewing software works well. The Video editing software, Studio PCTV is more than a little difficult to install. Once it is installed, it is unreliable. One needs only to visit the manufacturer's web site,......, and look at the tech assist section to get a taste of what to expect. Mainly the user will need to be able to download an uninstaller program( to use after each install attempt to clear the registry because the uninstall feature doesn't work completely), and an upgrade to the supplied program. These downloads will help, but will still not make the program trouble free. Expect system lock ups, fatal errors etc. These problems seem to exist for any processor/windows combination. All drivers associated with video card, and sound if they are more than a year or so old wil likely need upgrading. These comments apply to the video editing program. There are other video editors available for use some free, some expensive and some in the middle. These will work. Some are recommended by frustrated customers on the above mentioned Mfr's web site. The TV viewing, capture program works much better. You will be satisfied with it. Advice- If you are a beginner and want make movies, or rather mpegs out of movies, plan on some other software. If you want ot watch TV on your computer, this will work great.

If you're looking for something that can digitize video onto your computer, this is definetly the product for you. Not to mention the added bonus of being able to watch TV on your PC. The TV Tuner works great; just like an ordinary TV. Just plug in a cable cord and you're ready to go. The picture quality is great, and you can view in a window of any size, or make it full screen. It comes with a program that lets you add all sorts of nifty features to your own videos, like titles, background music, and you can edit the scenes in any order. Installation is reasonably easy, even for a 15 year old like me, who gets no help from his computer illiterate parents. This product is worth double the price advertised.

I just want to repeat this from the other review: DO NOT UNDER ANY CONDITIONS USE THE SOFTWARE BUNDLED WITH THE CARD (for video capturing ), it's just a piece of junk. Try VirtualDub, it's free and have very good output.