The overall operatio of this system is quite good. Plug it in, install the software, detect the channels and off you go. Fine, good, but does it make a usefull TV on your PC? IS a TV on your PC usefull?
The answer to the latter depends on yourself, you might want security pics from a camera, ... Read review
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Pinnacle PCTV DVB-T Pro USB
Technical DataInput Device / Input Adapter TypeDVB-T receiverTechnical DataInput Device /
... more
Form FactorExternalTechnical DataVideo Input / Analogue Video FormatSECAMTechnical DataVideo Input / Digital Video FormatMPEG-4Technical DataVideo Input / Audio I...
on their PCs. The PCTV Hybrid Pro Card (a card for PCMCIA slots on laptops) comes complete with a passive rod antenna and a mini remote control for convenient, eas...
A review by AndreBoyle on Pinnacle PCTV Pro August 14th, 2000
Author's product rating:
Speed
Stability
Ease of Installation
Picture Quality
Value For Money
Advantages:
Simple to install, TV on your PC
Disadvantages:
Poor image quality, expensive in comparison to card based products .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The overall operatio of this system is quite good. Plug it in, install the software, detect the channels and off you go. Fine, good, but does it make a usefull TV on your PC? IS a TV on your PC usefull?
The answer to the latter depends on yourself, you might want security pics from a camera, you might want to watch the a program or listen to the news while working on something else. You might want video capture. If you have a use for this type of hardware you'll buy the kit.
I often found, though, that what failed this system was it's picture quality. I'm sure the software is doing some groovy things back there, but the results can be equally groovy. The system has some serious definition issues, especially present when watching text on plain backgrounds.
With a moving background it's much harder to see, but on, say, credit screens you'll notice significant ghosting of text. Outlines are blurred at times. The artefacts visible in Video-CDs are all too present here.
This product simply isn't cheap enough for what you get. A much better prospect is the PCI card by MIRO which retails for around £45 with a remote control.
Advantages: Simple and easy to setup. Disadvantages: No DVD Input option
...vhs video through the pc.
Pinnacle PCTV Rave is a fully featured TV Tuner card to watch TV on your PC with ultimate image quality for an incredible price. It also allows you to record video clips and capture high-quality single screens from your TV, camcorder or VCR onto your hard disk, and to access Teletext pages from Internet. This product lets you watch tv on the pc and with a bit of tweaking with the good old bunny ears aerial you can pick ... ...easy to install and software was straight forward. Stick the card in the pci slot and bung the disk in and follow the prompts. Tried installing the product under Windows Server 2003 but had a few errors. Resorted to Windows XP and all was well. Product delivered exactly what it said on the box. I can now play vhs video through the pc at a fraction of the cost of a graphics card. I can watch and record TV on the pc and make permanent backups onto ...
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Advantages: Loads of feature Disadvantages: Expensive
...transitions and effects with the Pinnacle Pro-ONE are in real time. No need to waste time waiting for them to render to see your work. TO use this card comfortably, you'll nedd some good hardware to complement this Pro-Card. Be ready with P4 or Athlon XP based system. Also.. Get a lot of DDR RAM and also a huge Hard Disk to keep all your video. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Cheap, Easily installed, Can be configured in minutes and it comes with great software Disadvantages: the only disadvantage i can think of is that it uses up a pci slot rather than usb + it doesnt come with a remote control
this card is very Cheap, Easily installed ( no qualified technician will need to be called round to help !!) , it Can be configured in minutes and it comes with great software which can easily scan and detect the channels, one great option is the ability to adjust the picture quality through "fine tuning" afterwards. it is well packaged and and the manual is quite helpful in guiding you through installation of the card and software + using the software. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
