High-definition TV on the cheap

I Quit Comcast, Over Da Hills, USA — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:24:26 GMT

Are they available for purchase today?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Bob Ryerson — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:43:15 GMT

Why would it not work with a desk top?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Steve Snyder, Minneapolis,Minnesota — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:03:53 GMT

Nice article Gary,

For windows XP or Vista users, this device will definitely shine when compared with other HDTV offerings in the marketplace.
Mac users will be better served by purchasing the El Gato EyeTV Hybrid device. It retails for around $149.95 USD at their site or Apple's online store, Amazon has it for $134, though you might find it for less if you search elsewhere. This device works to record analog and 720p broadcasts on all Macs with a usb2 connection, even a iBook with a Power PC processor. For 1080i you need a Core2 Duo system or a Dual G5 Mac. Plus you get the full El Gato PVR software, not the crippled Elgato EyeTV® Lite software that comes with the Pinnacle system. The full ElGato PVR software lets you use the Apple remote in their application and you can setup the shows to record for iPod, Apple TV or the full HD experience automatically. So I think the $8 difference is well worth it for Mac owners.
I agree with Gary in that the HDTV tuners in 2 year old HDTV living room devices are lacking in the ability to discern signals from the myriad broadcasts in his area. I have a 1.5 year old Phillips 60" HDTV and it can tune only half the HDTV and analog signals here. I live in the Minneapolis metro and we have 2 dozen + HDTV broadcasts and 1 dozen + analog signals and my inexpensive El Gato Hybrid perfectly tunes all HDTV and analog signals in my area.

High-definition TV on the cheap

John Griffiths, Wilmington Delaware — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:08:00 GMT

can it be used with a desktop?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Steve Snyder, Minneapolis,Minnesota — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:14:24 GMT

Update to my previous post about the Mac recommendation:

The Eye TV Hybrid for Macs is now $119.95 and comes with a remote control. It also comes with a break-out cable for composite video and S-Video, enabling you to connect a set-top box directly to your Mac to record cable tv or from a camcorder.

High-definition TV on the cheap

John Doe — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:27:48 GMT

They are available for purchase today and you certainly could use it with a desktop if you wanted to.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Nathan Montgomery, Ft. Worth, Tx. — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:34:13 GMT

In answer to the post above me. It is probably because most people may not have an HD ready monitor to view the channels with. On the other hand most all laptops have HD resolution. Sounds like a great deal!

High-definition TV on the cheap

Mike, Peabody, MA — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:57:31 GMT

I have this on my laptop at home ... unfortunately, where I live north of Boston, I can't get any HD over-the-air stations with the supplied antenna, so for me it's really only beneficial for grabbing analog cable channels. The software and form factor is very nice though.

High-definition TV on the cheap

James, San Jose, CA — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:01:42 GMT

It works with a desktop that has a USB 2.0 slot available. One recommendation is to use a USB extention so that the USB stick on the side doesn't get whacked off and broken. By using an extension cable, it will help prevent this from occurring. Mvoving the antenna around is key to get the best number of signals available. Also, using a different and better antenna can greatly improve reception and the number of stations available. However, if you are traveling with a laptop, this may not be practical. You also need a fairly new computer with Win XP or newer (sorry Win98 users ... time to upgrade) and a decent CPU.

High-definition TV on the cheap

SiXiam, Pittsburgh, PA — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:07:09 GMT

But the Artec T14A Mini USB 2.0 Digital TV Tuner is only $55 from zipzoomfly.com. The above is a rip-off.

Also don't expect that many channels if your not in NYC. I live outside of Pittsburgh and only get about 6 channels and 2 of which are the religous channels.

I only bought mine to get the hd signals from my local abc station(for LOST), which is only a town away and it is the only one with a good enough signal to record or watch without issue.

Also it should be noted that most usb based tuners have a skip issue, meaning that every say 80secs or so you will see a slight hesitation in the signal.

DONT BUY DONT BUY...

High-definition TV on the cheap

Charles Kersey — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:11:22 GMT

Yes you can purchase them today direct from Pinnacle Systems and also I've seen them at Best Buy and Circuit City. Yes, they do work with desktop computers (it's a USB stick device) for that's how I've been using mine for more than 6 months now.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Rob — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:16:23 GMT

USB digital tuner products have been around for a while, and are made by several manufacturers, not just Pinnacle. They are available for purchase online or at most big box stores. Yes, they do work with desktop systems that accept USB 2.0 devices.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Steve — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:22:49 GMT

When evaluating, did you notice any high levels of heat coming from the usb device? I purchased a similar model and returned it because the unit became extremely hot during use (nearly burning to the touch). I was told that one reason for this is that the unit depends on the computer for hardware decoding.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Don, Huntington Station, NY — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:27:39 GMT

This product is a waste of money. It delivers no better quality TV than that of a regular TV tuner for more than double the cost. The only plus with this device is the fact that its tiny and easily portable. The only reason I purchased this device was because it advertised itself as bringing "HD" or 1080i. You can't get HD simply from a coaxile, which is all that this device inputs. If it was truly HD, it would allow for either component cable input or HDMI: this product allows nothing of the sort. Folks, save your money. If you need a TV tuner, go with Happauge Win TV. I've done the research, and there is no way you can bring HD television to your computer yet. Sorry Krakow; test the products before writing brainless review.

High-definition TV on the cheap

John K -- Albuquerque NM — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:52:08 GMT

Just a little misleading here. The implication is that you can record in HD: " . . . record your favorite shows directly to DVD, or save recorded shows in your favorite video file format for your iPod, PSP or other portable device." Unless your PC is sporting a BlueRay or HD DVD recorder, and your portable player is also an HD player, that scenario is still a ways off.
Should have stopped at the " . . . lets you watch high quality, over the air . . ." paragraph.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Justa Cafe — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:29:33 GMT

I also forgot to mention the fact that I've had absolutely no problem recording directly to my HD DVD recorder. You can upgrade the software to enable MPG2 and MPG4.

High-definition TV on the cheap

j.quioley Pattaya Thailand — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:08:35 GMT

this is NOT a joke. Will they work in Thailand?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Randy G Temperance MI — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:13:53 GMT

I've had one of these for a year now. It's good on my desktop pc and great on my imac. The digital channels it pulls in off my rooftop antenna are excellent quality. The imac lets me record and burn to dvd later.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Bill, Menlo Park, CA — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:38:11 GMT

Contrary to one of the comments above, I believe Gary's review is spot on. I've been using the Pinnacle device for several months. I also have a 42" HD plasma. The live and recorded HD programs using the Pinnacle device look much sharper on my 17" notebook than any standard definition material I have ever seen on any TV. I also tried playing an HD program recorded from the Pinnacle on my 42" plasma using the notebook's VGA output. The picture quality was VERY close to live HD from my cable.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Spalleng Bhee — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:39:42 GMT

It scares me when someone is telling me what to do - but the caption can't be spelled correctly.

"Everything you need to watch over-the-air HDTV proigrams on your laptop."

proIgrams?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Dan Bran, San Diego, CA — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:52:49 GMT

What is the actual output of the device? What I read on the Best Buy website is 720 x 480, that equates to 720p not 1080i. Does it scale? What is the actual HD resolution?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Fred, Onalaska, WI — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:09:25 GMT

Bought one of these HD Pro Stick products for use on a 2005 Dell Dimension 3000 w/1 GB RAM, XP Pro SP2, integrated graphics, F-Secure firewall and AV running, newly reinstalled OS. Great idea, but it did not work on my machine: the device got very hot and the software froze up about every third time I gave the software a command (like changing channels, etc.)...had the return the product to the store. The software installer wizard indicated that the sofware was written in Visual C++; it seems to me as a programming consultant that the software suffers from memory leaks...memory leaks are more likely to show up on weaker PCs and in C++ code (developers must write their garbage collector code very carefully in that language). The product might work better on a newer upscale PC, say, such as a Vista machine with 2GB RAM, an Intel Core Duo Extreme processor and a good video card. This product did deliver great looking video for the moments it did work. The heat issue tells me that this product needs much more testing in Pinnacle's development labs before it's sold to the public. It's a definitely a diamond in the rough, so I can't recommend this Version 1.0 product as yet. I had to manually hit the power switch on my PC to shutdown every time the Pro Stick software froze...even the Win XP Task Manager, which usually shuts errant programs down, wouldn't load. The concept has great potential, though; I hope to check out the next version in the hope that Pinnacle can fix the hardware and software bugs. The heat problem is a potential fire risk though; don't let this thing get near combustible materials.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Capt T, River Falls, WI — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:55:21 GMT

With the S-Video cable plus an audio output, (does it have an audio output or may need to use ear jacK???), could this be used with your large screen TV/monitor? Also, Steve Snyder from the Twin Cities' area, would River Falls, WI be to far out to pick up signals?

Thanks - Capt. T

High-definition TV on the cheap

Michael Rodgers, Elizabethtown, KY — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:09:38 GMT

I have been using this the pinacle usb hdtv reciever now for about 8 months and it is plugged into my pc running windows media center. My pc-media system has an hdmi video card which pumps directly on to a 42 inch HDTV plasma screen. Now , I did do away with the telescopic antennae and bought an amplified antennae at Best Buy which helped with my reception quality since most of the channels I have been recieving are over 40 miles away. I love it; not just because of the great digital picture quality but because I don't have to pay for digitial channels. If pinacle came out with an internal pci (or pci express) version and/or some time type of built in amplifier, I would buy it (although I haven't really checked to see if they have)!

High-definition TV on the cheap

Walt, New London, CT — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:01:20 GMT

Once again John, a glowing advertisement rather than critical review. Maybe you can receive 20 stations in New York, but you fail to state the quality (and personal interest level) of the over-the-air (OTA) content. Move an hour or two outside of NY and then tell us about the lack of OTA content.
This article would have been of more value if you first advised readers to review local OTA offerings at sites such as TitanTV (http://www.titantv.com) prior to purchasing.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Cary, Baton Rouge, LA — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:21:35 GMT

For Don, Huntington Station, NY.

All TV's that have a HDTV tuner in them allow you to get over the air HD-TV. They all use the standard coax cable to go from the antenna to the TV and it is one of the few uncompressed HD signals available, not even digital cable or either of the dish providers provide that.

High-definition TV on the cheap

DBQ — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:53:05 GMT

Unfortunately, I still have a desktop so I'm out of luck.

High-definition TV on the cheap

AlrightyThen, Dallas, TX — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:02:38 GMT

Huh?

"I've done the research, and there is no way you can bring HD television to your computer yet."

I have a 1080p monitor and a myHD card in my desktop. I can watch and record in HD with it. Did you mean HD with this particular device?

This USB device sounds like a fun option for your laptop (if it works as it is described.) I've played HD video files on my wife's laptop and it looks crisp and defined. I would wait until the price drops before I would buy this though.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Kevin, Fairfax, VA — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:32:38 GMT

You can most definitely record HD for free, especially if you have Vista home premium or higher. Vista has the DVR software built in for free and works great. Over the air HD is not encrypted and can be transferred to DVDs or whatever. You can't watch it in HD on a traditional DVD player though. The best bet would be to connect the laptop via a video out or HDMI connection to your HDTV. You could also use the XBox 360 to stream HD shows live to an HDTV set, which works fabulously. I do this at home and it is great.

Remember, most widescreen monitors are also HDTVs.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Ryan Knoxville, TN — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:32:59 GMT

"You can't get HD simply from a coaxile, which is all that this device inputs."

Don, you can in fact get HD from a coaxile cable, it's called OTA HD, broadcast from your local TV station. All yo need is an ATSC tuner/receiver to display the signal, ie the Pinnacle USB device. Brand new HDTV's are equipped with ATSC tuner, and yes, they can display HD channels simply by hooking them up to a coaxial cable and an antenna. Please do more research before making "brainless" posts and attacking the author of this nice article.

High-definition TV on the cheap

linux hack, Carmichael CA — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:49:00 GMT

The comment that says that these things can't do HD because you can't get HD over a coaxial cable and it should have HDMI or component inputs is out in the weeds. This thing is tuning over the air broadcasts and I assure you that they do exist and that they come from a normal coaxial antenna connection.

The HDMI and component inputs would only be used if you were trying to bring output from another HD device , such as xbox 360 platinum or a bluray DVD player, into the computer. That's not what this if for -- this device is a tuner!

High-definition TV on the cheap

Dan Smith, The Land of Oz — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:49:57 GMT

Actually, you are both wrong.

Don from Huntington - How exactly do you think the majority of cable users are getting their HD? Through a coaxial cable that is transmitting a digital signal to the cable decoder. The HDMI and Compnent cables come into play when you want to get the HD from you CABLE BOX to your HD television, not your computer which more than likely is going to have DVI connections and not the others (Some high end graphics cards do indeed have HDMI, but not a lot).

John K from Albuquerqe - Blu-Ray and HDDVD are the only way to watch movies from the hollywood studios, however putting HD content on DVDs predates both of those technologies. Since DVDs are only 8GB in size and HDDVD and Blu-Ray are 25 and 50GBs respectively you will have alot more space for content and picture quality with the HD formats, but that does not mean you can't fit some content on a DVD once it has been encoded by some kind of HD encoding program like Windows Media Player or the like. Check it out for yourselves and be amazed.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Alx, MEX — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:21:58 GMT

Is it possible to connect a VideoGame Console (say Xbox360) through this device and have HD on the LapTop screen????

THANKS

High-definition TV on the cheap

Ed, El Paso Texas — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:29:21 GMT

Don said:

"You can't get HD simply from a coaxile, which is all that this device inputs. If it was truly HD, it would allow for either component cable input or HDMI: this product allows nothing of the sort."

You are incorrect. Over the air HD signals are in fact captured via an antenna and delivered to the tuner over a coaxial cable. I think what you are saying is that after the signal is decoded by the tuner, then any decoded HD signal must be sent to an external monitor via a component video or HDMI cable. In this case, however, the HD signal is sent over the USB port.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Thomas C., Naperville, il — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:01:37 GMT

John K, are you saying Krakow is lying? I don't know anything about the product, only whats Krakow and the readers have posted. Are the postive post lies? Are the negative posts lies?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Dalton Galois, Dallas — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:27:07 GMT

For those of you that asked, the Pro Stick works just fine with a desk top. I've been using it that way for over a year.

I think it's probably advertised with a notebook, since most desktops can install a video capture card and accomplish the same thing.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Steve, Seattle, WA — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:17:40 GMT

I bought this device a few weeks ago and am getting messages that my 1.6GHz CPU on my laptop isn't fast enough to work, even though it meets the device's requirements. I am picking up 8-10 HD stations, but the sound is out-of-sync with picture, and I occasionally lose the picture or have 'skips'. If I feed my satellite receiver in, I have the same issues, so it is not an over the air problem. I have not had any issues with the device heating up.

Just my 2 cents...

High-definition TV on the cheap

Jan Neirynck, Boortmeerbeek, Flanders (nord-belgium) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:43:25 GMT

The Netflix ad with the two zombies next to the article makes me nerveous and made me decide to leave te website. This ad also ran a couple of weeks ago and provoced the same reaction back then. I'm an adult so I'm not a scared kid it's just that I don't like ugly pictures to spoil my reading.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Ross, Dover, DE — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:55:34 GMT

I bought one of these devices at Best Buy when it was on sale. I was thinking it would be able to process digital channels from my cable provider. Alas this device does not support the QAM codec used by Comcast. It will only process analog channels from the cable system. Since my area has little reception for digital TV I was out of luck using the over-the-air antenna included with the Pinnacle device. I noticed that it did run hot as well. It's probably a decent option for people in metropolitan areas with a laptop. For a few $ more you can get a MyHD MP130 desktop card that does process QAM.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Steve Snyder, Minneapolis, MN — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:16:08 GMT

Capt T, River Falls, WI - Yes you could receive Minneapolis HDTV area signals with the properly amplified antenna system. You would need a rooftop or higher HDTV antenna amplified with the highest gain possible.

Alx, MEX - You can stream HDTV video to the Xbox 360 from a Windows 2005 Media Center today. I have been doing this with ATI HDTV Wonder PCI card for over a year now.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Steve, Las Cruces, NM — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:14:03 GMT

I have had one of these for a while, but it has been sitting off to the side. Last night, I tried to use it again. My results were that the tuner got few channels with the same booster and antenna setup than the VCR tuner I have hooked to my projector. The single station that came in HD was very clear, but it is a Spanish channel.

If this is your only choice, then it can be effective. But, I wouldn't recommend it.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Bud, Altoona, Iowa — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:52:55 GMT

I agree with Fred in Wisconsin. Win XP PRO w/S.P.2 installed. Pentium m4 1.8ghz/1gig ram laptop. Overheating issues, system lockup, no control with systems manager to shut down. NOTE: will not function with pcmcia/usb 2.0 card converter and is not backward compatible with usb 1.~ C++ and laptop systems running less than 2.4 ghz/1-1.5gig ram seems to be the limitations with this piece of hardware.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Jon Davis, Scottsdale, AZ — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:13:12 GMT

I have this device. I'm in Scottsdale (Phoenix metro). The signals exist but they're too weak to show up on this thing. And unfortunately HDTV being digital it's an all-or-nothing thing. Hence, no HDTV for me.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Guy S. Newell — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:52:27 GMT

HD broadcast will slide through a standard RG-58 coax quite well. I'm doing at home every day. You may have gotten the wrong impression from you cable supplier who is trying to explain why they don't have the bandwidth available to supply you with HDTV channels without extra $$. Thier situation is different because the cable company uses the available bandwidth differently than what your antenna sees in the open air broadcast. For one thing, they're trying to jam over 100 channels (analog) in the darn thing and now they are trying to mix digitial transport streams to boot. The transport streams that support HD take up a lot more bandwidth that the digitized 480i that NTSC calls for. A LOT more. So, be happy, the HD picture that you get from your UHF antenna will be far superior to the one you get from the cable company anyway.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Sid Bloom, Narberth, PA — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:37:08 GMT

The Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick works very well receiving over the air (OTA) digital signals, and recording them like a TIVO. I can view the program on my analog TV with an S-video output from my laptop.
The one issue I have is that I can not display closed captions. The recorded program is MPG. Has anyone any ideas on displaying closed captions from the OTA program?

High-definition TV on the cheap

Les Illinois — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:37:35 GMT

I bought this with the idea I would have it for travel with my notebook. Bought on Friday evening & returned nxt AM. Returned for several reasons: The portable, telescoping, magnet-mounted antenna was one. I found the warnings to keep the magnet away from electronics to be one. It would be hell to get to your destination & find the mag wipeed the hard drive because u packed it in your computer travel bag. Next the paper inside said 24 hr tech support at the number listed. Not on weekends or evenings. Analog channels were full of snow. HD picture was excellent except the signal would only hold for about 30 seconds at a time with the mag ant. Then I found the Pinnacle Wireless box wich competes with Slingbox. The Pinnacle product does not support wireless N which I understand would force lower security settings to be set in a Wireless N router. Also comments from users said has heat issues as I read. So much for me & Pinnacle in this area.

High-definition TV on the cheap

James R, Las Vegas, NV — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:48:38 GMT

I bought one based on the glowing review. I couldn't get anything to work, despite reinstalling several times as recommended by support. I'm trying to return it now. they make it difficult to return. I felt misled by the review.

High-definition TV on the cheap

John Doe, Seattle, Wash — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:16:41 GMT

For the last time, this is a USB device.
You can use it on a laptop, a desktop.
It doesn't matter what case you have.
It doesn't matter if you have gerbils plastered to the side of your cpu (for cooling of course).
Before I forget, gerbils are oldschool, you might need hamsters for USB 2.0.

High-definition TV on the cheap

Frank, Cleveland, OH — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:11:05 GMT

I have a competing product, the Hauppauge WinTV HVR-950 and it works surprisingly well for the $80 that it cost me. My HP laptop, with a 1.7GHz Centrino processor and 2GB of memory has most of it's resources maxed out when using it. Forget about running another app with the HDTV USB device running. Still, it's a fun little gadget.