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(More customer reviews)I already have a USB analog tuner that works great with basic cable. But when I learned that my cable provider had added digital channels (both SD and HD) for *free* to basic cable, I figured it was time to step up. I purchased this unit specifically because it is advertised as having ClearQAM support and that it works on Windows XP.
Little did I know (or suspect) that running Windows XP did not include working on Windows XP/Media Center Edition. Oh sure, there are MCE drivers for this device, but apparently Microsoft says the driver doesn't do ClearQAM and Pinnacle says that Media Center doesn't support ClearQAM. The bottom line is that you cannot use this to get digital cable in Media Center. Unfortunately, Media Center was also unable to find any cable signal through the device, and when I forced the matter, I got a horrible analog picture and a mind numbingly slow computer. As in, it took two minutes to respond to a mouse click! I switched from cable to the antenna that was included and it found a few stations (as expected, I live in a fairly neglected broadcast TV area), but the digital HD channels that it found looked great and ran smooth. Don't know why it had such trouble with the analog cable signal (my other tuner has none, and can record two shows at once through its single USB connection).
Now I at least know that the device works with Media Center, but only with degraded capabilities from those advertised. Time to see if the provided software works any better...
So I tried installing the included TVCenter Pro software (which takes a rather long time) and found that all it would do is crash when I tried to start it. I found out there's an updated version from the one on the delivered CD, so I got that and installed it. Several reboots later, it was installed and everything looked good. Until I tried to run it, at which point it crashed again. And again. Reboot and crash again. So I uninstalled it.
Perhaps TVCenter Pro will actually work in my office, where I have a plain XP system and no cable, so I'd need to use the antenna anyway. If so, I might salvage at least a little use from it (probably as a radio).
--later-- It does indeed work at the office. However, it often complains that my 3.4GHz Pentium 4 processor isn't fast enough to decode a digital channel. I thought that worth mentioning, since the product spec states a requirement for a 2.8GHz P4. Apparently, the Windows Idle process was using too much CPU or something (I checked when it complained). When this message occurs, there's no point in trying to watch the channel because the image and sound will be totally garbled.
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Bring digital and analog TV with full DVR functionality to your PC. The Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick is a USB TV tuner that brings you free high quality digital programming on your computer. The USB 2.0 powered USB TV tuner and mini-remote are so small that they can fit in your coat pocket. Cant stand missing your favorite TV shows? Schedule recordings ahead of time in HD and SD with no service fees. Phone ringing? Pause live TV with TimeShifting and pick up where you left off when the interruption is over. You can even record from external analog sources, such as a camcorder, DVD player or game console. Supports the following TV Standards: ATSC (HDTV up to 1080i, SDTV) NTSC (cable, over the air) ClearQAM (HDTV up to 1080i, SDTV). Inputs: TV/FM antenna (F-connector/Coaxial) S-Video, Composite Video (RCA), Stereo Audio (1/8"). Recording Formats: MPEG-1/2 DivX4 MPEG-4: compatible with PSP or iPod (Trial Version). System Requirements: Windows Vista (32-bit) or Windows XP with 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 2.8GHz or Pentium M 1.7 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon 64 processor is recommended) RAM: Windows XP 256MB (512MB recommended); for Windows Vista 512 MB (1GB recommended) Free USB 2.0 port Sound / graphics controller with support for DirectX 9 Hard drive with minimum 1 GB free space (20 GB recommended for TV recording) DVD player/burner Internet connection for registration/activation. Package Contents: USB 2.0 TV tuner for ATSC/ClearQAM/NTSC and FM radio reception, Mini remote control including batteries, Portable telescopic high-gain antenna, A/V Adapter cable, USB extender cable, Printed quick start guide, CD with Pinnacle TVCenter Pro and VideoSpin editing software.
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