Review: Pinnacle PCTV USB Stick

A solid TV tuner from a major player in the video-editing software market

Pinnacle’s PCTV USB Stick has a gloss white plastic case with an infra-red sensor for the included remote control, plus an indicator LED on one side.

The aerial connection is via a standard 10mm coaxial connector at one end of the case. It is supplied with a simple 145mm, magnetic-base wire aerial with a 1.25m cable and a mini remote control.

Pinnacle’s own software, PCTV TVCenter, uses a standard Pinnacle install module with required registration fields and a serial number, but in this case the serial field is pre-filled.

Microsoft’s .Net Framework 1.1 is a required component and is installed if not present. A complete install of the Pinnacle software takes a considerable length of time and requires a reboot.

Once it is complete, it displays a splash screen to welcome you to the Pinnacle Mediacenter, offering you complete remote-control playback of TV, photos, audio and video files and DVDs.

The software allows you to check for updates and then scan for DVB-T radio and TV stations.

By default, three shortcut icons are installed onto the desktop; Pinnacle TVCenter, Mediacenter settings and TVTV. Pinnacle TVCenter is the TV viewing program that runs as a single window with the TV display in the centre and simple icon-driven menu bars top and bottom.

Mediacenter settings allow you to set a substantial range of options for the main application, and TVTV is Sony's handy free programme listings site.

Pinnacle is a major player in the video and video-editing software market, and this is reflected in the substantial nature of the software with this product.

The inclusion of a remote and the use of a full-size co-axial connector on the tuner stick are both positive points in favour of the Pinnacle PCTV USB Stick. However, it does come in at a little above the average price for the products in this group test.

This article is part of a group test of miniature USB TV tuners. Others are:
Intro and Editor's choice
Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 900
KWorld DVBT-350U
MSI Mega Sky 580
Pinnacle PCTV USB Stick
Terratec CinergyT USB XS