Pinnacle Systems Studio PCtv USB

Rating:
Summary: Great Product, System willing...
Review: Shipping policies, which weren't a problem have changed since I bought my pinnacle pctv deluxe usb with remote. But as far as the product goes, I couldn't be happier. It does exactly what it says, and doesn't crash. It records cable tv, nad has RCA & S-Video (inputs), which can be recorded from. The remote does work, which I have read posting else where saying it doesn't. The slight draw back is that the tv application has to be selected(highlighted) on your task bar for the remote to work. As far as the remote, it's cool looking, has many options, and allows you to control the station menu on the monitor. The unit itself is compact, and very handy b/c it's external(usb). The software is decent; for real time tv viewing, great. The timelapse(like TiVo), works great too, and a conversion program(included) converts them into vcd, svcd, mpegll ps(DVD). The program also can burn them straight to cd/dvd(haven't tried yet) if u have dvd writer. The recorder scheduler is ok, messes up occasionally, but works. Overall, a great product, but like I said: SYSTEM WILLING

I have a dell dim 8100 Pentium 4 1.7ghz w/256mb ram, and 45GB storage. It runs good on it, but I probably wouldn't want to have any less.. newer computers would prolly run awesome with it. I think one big factor is having usb 2.0. I have 1.1 and it runs good, but maybe with usb 2.0 a slower system could run well with it. I'm planning on buying a usb2.0 card soon, but haven't so I don't know. You definately need a good amount of storage. I'd say a good 20Gb... more or less depending on how much you record, and how often you delete old pctv video files(easy to do, use gallery). The video files can get pretty large, especially if you are recording in hi qual.

Rating:
Summary: Cheap, and excellent but......
Review: The system is great. It have video output, fm-tv turner and audio-video input but the only set back was no remote control. The studio software is excellent to edit your own movies or TV recorded programs and the price is very cheap....