Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick
Key features
- •Box Contents - PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, Remote control, High-gain telescopic antenna, A/V adapter cable, USB extender cable, Printed QuickStart guide
- •Ultra-portable USB 2.0 HDTV tuner stick with integrated FlashPVR -- no installation required
- •Watch SD and free HD TV on your PC - no service fees
- •Supports both analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) TV signals
- •Hardware ready for ClearQAM (unencrypted digital cable) reception
BrandPinnacle Systems
Pinnacle Systems 8230-10020-71 PCTV HD Ultimate Stick
List Price: $72.46$65.21DEALYou Save: $7.25 (10%)
Free shippingFree Returns – 30 daysFree Order CancellationSecure Payment2–3 Days DeliveryGet It June 23, 2026In Stock (1)No marketing spamNo account requiredFulfilment by FedEx / Amazon / UPS / ShipwirePayPal / Card Buyer Protection
Customer Reviews
Reviews sourced from verified Amazon purchasers3.0
out of 5
Based on 10 reviews
5★
10%
4★
30%
3★
20%
2★
0%
1★
40%
Great Product!
Asif Mohammed•April 12, 2011
PCTV HD Ultimate is a great product! The support site provides software to upgrade it to the Win 7 64bit OS. So, even though this is an old model, the software upgrade makes it current. And I had used this earlier to record shows etc. and can use the software provided by pinnacle for free to burn dvd's out of these recordings.
PCTV HD
Dr Thom•February 5, 2010
The reception is very poor. I've tried to get help to set it up but no one replies. The website is useless. The few stations that do come in allowed me to try the different record functions, which work quite well. I don't understand why so few stations come in since in the same room I get the best reception in the house on a converter box with the same antenna.
When I scan it shows all the stations but they just don't receive? I suppose there is a solution but there's no one available to explain it to me. I've given up trying to use it at all.
It makes me nervous because the device heats up so much it might melt or burn anything you rest it upon. Wello. Overall a big disappointment. :(
When I scan it shows all the stations but they just don't receive? I suppose there is a solution but there's no one available to explain it to me. I've given up trying to use it at all.
It makes me nervous because the device heats up so much it might melt or burn anything you rest it upon. Wello. Overall a big disappointment. :(
Slow is the word - this is a dud
Rich P•December 22, 2008
The software loads on to the desktop off the device each time you start your computer. It is slow. So you'd think that it would be quick starting the device. Wrong. That is slow, too. Change a channel...incredibly slow. Do a channel scan or change most of the setup features and you're supposed to restart the device. Again slow. This is all on a Pentium 4 2.99 ghz with 768 mb of RAM. I'm 30 miles from several of the HD transmitters for the local TV stations and I can receive NOTHING on the supplied telescopic antenna. The only way I get a signal is from an amplified rooftop antenna.
Since I have yet to see a small handheld HDTV's to use during power failures after the DTV switchover I bought this thinking I could connected it to my laptop and watch TV that way. But seeing the horrible results with this thing on my desktop computer I didn't even bother.
12-28-08 Edit - there is a new firmware update dated 12-18-2008. They realized their EPG (which I neglected to mention) is horrible and the update now imports the EPG from TitanTV. They also said there was "technology enhancements." I had hoped that would mean increased speed, but no such luck. It's still as slow as ever.
Since I have yet to see a small handheld HDTV's to use during power failures after the DTV switchover I bought this thinking I could connected it to my laptop and watch TV that way. But seeing the horrible results with this thing on my desktop computer I didn't even bother.
12-28-08 Edit - there is a new firmware update dated 12-18-2008. They realized their EPG (which I neglected to mention) is horrible and the update now imports the EPG from TitanTV. They also said there was "technology enhancements." I had hoped that would mean increased speed, but no such luck. It's still as slow as ever.
Seems to work for me.
mpask•October 11, 2008
I bought today and loaded up. Has problem and reloaded using autoplay to load up program. Did not take long. I have a 2.5 Quad 64 bit Dell with 6G memory, also a 22 inch flat screen Samsung. I think Vista with this unit needs speed and memory, although mine handles it good. After installed and all, I rebooted computer.
So, I watched the ALCS and NCLS Baseball series. I did not hook up to cable yet but great picture with supplied antenna. I taped a half hour TV show and it worked great. Even tried the camera function which worked for me, don't know why someone wants pics when you can record. Cool tho.
I would say it works good and I am happy with it. I am not a computer person and seemed to go good. If you have plenty speed and memory, it should work, but as it plays now while I type this, it is not pausing or using a lot of memory. The remote that comes with it did not work.
I hope this helps what I wrote.
So, I watched the ALCS and NCLS Baseball series. I did not hook up to cable yet but great picture with supplied antenna. I taped a half hour TV show and it worked great. Even tried the camera function which worked for me, don't know why someone wants pics when you can record. Cool tho.
I would say it works good and I am happy with it. I am not a computer person and seemed to go good. If you have plenty speed and memory, it should work, but as it plays now while I type this, it is not pausing or using a lot of memory. The remote that comes with it did not work.
I hope this helps what I wrote.
Pretty cool! Saves a step when recording TV shows for PSP
phwang•September 5, 2008
On initial install, I did have some problem, so I rebooted then plugged the USB stick back and it reinstall worked well. The updated software (recommended during install) does add a couple of other features.
As a TV tuner device, the quality is better than Slingbox Classic (low) but not as good as a PCI TV card. But since I am planning to record to shows for viewing on handheld like PSP, this is not a big deal.
As for the EPG, it is crap. Better to use Yahoo or MSN to get the schedule and just manually set the PCTV stick to on schedule.
One annoyance - it is difficult to record shows back to back. There has to be a min between shows, meaning you may miss the first minute of the next show or the last minute of the first show.
As a TV tuner device, the quality is better than Slingbox Classic (low) but not as good as a PCI TV card. But since I am planning to record to shows for viewing on handheld like PSP, this is not a big deal.
As for the EPG, it is crap. Better to use Yahoo or MSN to get the schedule and just manually set the PCTV stick to on schedule.
One annoyance - it is difficult to record shows back to back. There has to be a min between shows, meaning you may miss the first minute of the next show or the last minute of the first show.
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