PCTV HD Pro Stick Score: 88% Developer: Pinnacle Systems, Inc. Device Type: Video

Function: Do you wish you could Tivo your favorite show, but you're on the road and your laptop isn't a Media Center machine? Or, maybe you just want to capture some video from broadcast TV / HDTV, a satellite set-top box or cable? Perhaps you just want to kick back and listen to some FM radio, but all you've got is your laptop and no Internet connection. The PCTV HD Pro Stick (801e) is the answer to your prayers. You can catch FM and broadcast TV, including HDTV broadcasts with the included television antenna, hook your cable (digital or analog) straight into the PCTV HD Pro Stick or use the included adapter cable to connect a satellite set-top box, via S-Video or composite video (RCA) with stereo audio. Then, you can watch or listen to these signals and record them for your future enjoyment.

Performance: If you don't have MS Media Center and you wish you could schedule and record television shows or even just time-shift your television watching so you can fast-forward through commercials, PCTV HD Pro Stick might be just what you need. You can schedule recordings and time-shift all you want... you can even time-shift radio stations! I found that radio stations came in nicely using the included antenna. There were also 20 Internet-based radio stations available, which offered a variety of music styles. I live on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, and the television signals aren't exceptionally strong here, so my reception was limited, but, even so, I had three HD stations that were, quite frankly, beautiful on my wide-screen laptop. The clarity difference between HD broadcast television and normal definition television is remarkable. The difference between the amount of required memory and processing power is also quite amazing. Decoding HD broadcasts will require some hefty computing power and memory, so you won't want to be watching HD television programming while doing other things in the background. The telescoping antenna features a magnetic base-plate, allowing for a firm connection on metal surfaces. The antenna is not exceptionally long; when fully extended, it's right at two feet long. A longer antenna might have made reception in remote locations a bit better, but this antenna's strong point is its portability. When fully collapsed, it's just over 6 inches long. So, collapse the antenna and roll up the two foot cable, fold the 1 foot USB 2.0 extension cable in half and grab the 3 inch PCTV Pro Stick and tuck it away in your laptop bag and you're good to go. Have PCTV Pro Stick, will travel. However, you will want to be careful with the magnet - especially around magnetic media, such as (shudder) floppy disks. Video-Spin video editing software is included with the PCTV HD Pro Stick and it allows for easy editing and burning of DVDs. Out of the box, you can record your video in MPEG-1/2 and DivX formats. For a trial period, you can also save MPEG-4 formatted video, compatible with the PSP and iPod. This video codec can be purchased online via the software's menu system, if MPEG-4 formatted video is something you want to do with your PCTV HD Pro Stick. In addition to being able to record to your hard drive and then watch or burn to a DVD later, you can even choose to burn the recording directly to DVD.

Features: USB 2.0 Powered Includes: PCTV Prostick USB Unit Short USB Extension Cable A/V Adapter (S-Video/Composite Video/ Stereo Audio Telescoping Antenna with Magnetic Base Small Remote Control TVCenter Pro Entertainment Software VideoSpin Video Editing Software Enjoy: Broadcast TV Signals (including HD) Cable TV (Analog & Digital) FM Radio Stations Internet Radio Stations Aux Video/Audio Devices via S-Video or Composite Video and Stereo Audio-In

Drawbacks & Problems:: One thing I had really hoped the PCTV HD Pro Stick would enable me to do is to have a video capture device that Media Center wasn't "aware" of. For those of you who aren't familiar with Media Center, it has a habit of assimilating any video capture devices that are added to your system. When you try to access them from another program, you get an error saying that the device is already being used by another program - even if you're not recording anything. Unfortunately, the PCTV HD Pro Stick wasn't able to subvert the mighty Media Center. Well, not completely. I found that when I installed the Pro Stick and chose the non-Media Center option so that Media Center wouldn't be configured to use the Pro Stick, Media Center became unable to record things when the HD Pro Stick was attached. All I had to do was unplug the Pro Stick to correct the issue, however. When I tried installing the Media Center Drivers for the PCTV HD Pro Stick on my VAIO, I found that it worked alright, but with the PCTV Pro Stick attached, Media Center would not recognize that my existing tuner was installed and available. Changing tuners in configuration requires a lengthy process of scanning for available channels and I ended up doing this twice; once for the PCTV HD Pro Stick and then once for my old tuner after I uninstalled the PCTV. I wouldn't suggest getting the PCTV HD Pro Stick to use with an existing Media Center, unless you are replacing your old tuner, but if you're not using Media Center, this shouldn't be a problem.

-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins

Minimum System Requirements: Windows XP: Latest service pack, Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, Pentium M 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 processor (for HDTV reception, a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz or Pentium M 1.7 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon 64 processor is recommended), 256 MB RAM (512 Recommended), Free USB 2.0 port, sound/graphics controller with support for DirectX 9 or higher, 1 GB free Hard Drive space (20 GB recommended for TV recording), CD or DVD Drive Windows Vista (32 bit): Latest service pack, Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, Pentium M 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 processor (for HDTV reception, a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz or Pentium M 1.7 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon 64 processor is recommended), 512MB RAM (1GB Recommended), Free USB 2.0 port, sound/graphics controller with support for DirectX 9 or higher, 1 GB free Hard Drive space (20 GB recommended for TV recording), CD or DVD Drive   Test System: Sony VAIO VGC-R820G: Intel Pentium 4E, 3.2 GHz (Intel Grantsdale i915), 1 GB RAM, AMI BIOS, Realtek HD Audio, Radeon X300 Series (128 MB), 200 GB 7200 RPM, Serial-ATA/150 Maxtor HD, DVD-ROM, Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-108, Sony SDM-HS73 Monitor, Floppy disk drive, Cable Modem. HP Special Edition L2999 Notebook PC: Windows XP Home Edition SP2, AMD Turion 64 ML-37 2.0 GHz/1MB L2 Cache, 2.0 GB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive, DVD +/-RW/R * CD-RW Combo w/ Double Layer Support, 14.0 WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x768), ATI Radeon Xpress 200M w/productivity ports, 54g 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster, DirectX 9.0c, built-in keyboard, touchpad.