Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick

by Pinnacle

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 2 x 9.1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000WR8CHY
• Item model number: 8230-10020-71
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #67 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Video Capture Cards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 4, 2007

Product Description

Watch and record SD and free HD TV with no service fees on any PC using the Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, featuring a personal video recorder application that runs from the stick¿s on-board flash memory. Plug it into any PC and start watching and recording TV in seconds ¿ no software installation required. It supports both analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) TV signals. The tuner hardware is also ready for ClearQAM (unencrypted digital cable). Using the unique FlashPVR technology, you can record up to 2 hours of TV directly to the stick for playback on any PC. You can also save recordings to your hard drive in MPEG-1/2 or DivX formats or even direct-to-DVD. Includes high-gain telescopic antenna, remote control with batteries and a bonus travel pouch for your Ultimate stick.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Works, Sometimes. Bad Quality, Bad Software., February 21, 2008

By 

Mark L. Harris (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick (Personal Computers)

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

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HD TV for ~$100.00, October 24, 2007

By 

A New Dad "Old Man" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick (Personal Computers)

AWESOME HD over-the-air reception. But the min. specs are deceiving. You absolutely need greater than Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz for HDTV rendering. Otherwise pixelation of the video occurs and recordings of broadcasts lose synchronization between video/audio.

Also, channel changing is somewhat slow with min. configuration (Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz) but it's a minor annoyance to have to wait up to 30 seconds after selecting another channel before the tuner actually responds.

Otherwise, worked like dream right out of the package!

For around $100.00....it can't be beat!!!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what Iwas looking for?, December 7, 2007

By 

Bill-WPB "Bill-WPB" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick (Personal Computers)

I have an HP 1.9 Dual core with 2.5 GB of ram running Vista Home Premium. I attached the antenna and install the stick. The NBC and CBS affiliates were found and 4 UHF stations. The picture was very fuzzy. I then used Vista Media program and found the same channels, however the picture was great. So now I could watch 2 channels on my laptop. I then went to the web link and download the beta drivers for cable channels. Set it up (over 2 hours) and I now had over 60 channels. The small view picture was ok but the expanded picture was poor. I then tried to set up the cable channels in the Media Edition and no signal was recognized. I then tried to set up the stick with my 2.4GHz desktop running Windows XP Media Edition 2005. After set up I would get 2-3 second of a picture then multiple errors messages and the application would need to close. With no support for the beta drivers, I returned the stick.