MaximumPC 2007 02

Y

ou pay the man for Internet access,

and you pay the man for cellular ser-

vice. But thankfully, it looks like the

days of paying for HDTV are over. With a

USB HDTV tuner on your notebook PC, you

can watch Lost or Dancing with the Stars

without giving the man a single red cent.

—Gordon Mah UnG

Pinnacle PcTV hd

Pro STick

Pinnacle did one thing right with the PCTV HD

Pro Stick: It sized the device for notebook PC

users. The bus-powered tuner is only slightly

larger than a USB flash drive. Even better, the

IR remote is just as small. Combined with the

small telescopic antenna, this truly portable

package lets you watch normal NTSC broad-

cast analog TV as well as ATSC signals, bet-

ter known as terrestrial HDTV.

We installed the Stick on a notebook

and ran into an odd problem: The audio

was automatically configured to output

over Bluetooth audio and we were unable

to change the configuration. Strangely, the

stream could be heard through the normal

speakers, just not very loudly.

On a second

notebook, the appli-

cation installed cor-

rectly. While we’ve

heard reports of high

CPU utilization for

HDTV playback and

recording, our dual-

core notebook didn’t

break a sweat.

The tuner worked as expected. We were

able to watch static-filled analog TV as well

as digital signals, although on some channels

the closed-caption encoding showed up on

the top of the frame. Pinnacle said it’s work-

ing on the issue.

Moving from channel to channel is a tad

slow, but acceptable. Although we did experi-

ence a lockup, it seemed to be an isolated

experience. The included software supports

basic PVR functionality, such as pausing and

fast-forwarding, and you get a free one-year

subscription to electronic program guide info.

One weakness of the Stick: It doesn’t

work with unencrypted QAM signals, the

HDTV broadcast standard that most cable

companies use. We were also concerned

about the magnetic base on the antenna,

but Pinnacle says it has used the device on

other products and has never received any

reports of scrambled data; the official state-

ment: “Don’t worry about it.” Your comfort

level will depend on how strongly you feel

about computers and magnets mixing.

onair USB hdTV-GT

OnAir Solution’s bus-powered USB HDTV-GT

has more features than Pinnacle’s PCTV HD

Pro Stick, but it comes at the cost of bulk.

About the size of a portable USB hard

drive, the HDTV-GT has a key advantage over

the Pinnacle device: its “in the clear” QAM

capability. This allows the HDTV-GT to dis-

play the programs of cable TV systems that

broadcast unencrypted signals. Many cable

companies broadcast local stations over their

networks, which you’ll receive even if you pay

only for basic cable.

In head-to-head reception comparisons

with the antennas about three feet apart from

each other, both units were able to pull in the

same channels. Like the Pro Stick, the HDTV-

GT offers basic time-shifting and electronic

program guide capabilities, as well as video

capture modes.

One complaint, however, concerns the size

of the HDTV-GT’s remote; it’s freakishly huge—

a misstep for a device intended for notebook

users. But despite its bulk, the HDTV-GT

remote worked far better than the Pro Stick’s,

which didn’t always connect with the tuner.

The HDTV-GT’s tuner application is

also more polished and allows you to do

such things as schedule the thread priority

for the tuner above other applications. The

HDTV-GT even includes support for Nvidia’s

PureVideo Decoder for cleaner video dis-

play. We couldn’t see a difference when

comparing the output, though.

It’s a tough choice between the two, but

we have to lean toward the HDTV-GT for its

QAM support. Even though we’re against pay-

ing for HDTV signals, we’re not against paying

for basic cable, because you have no choice

when the man has you over a barrel.

HDTV Hootenanny

These portable HDTV tuners let you view TV anywhere!

onair apparently got a deal on surplus russian army remotes to

include with the USB hdTV-GT.

Why watch video on your pathetic cell
phone when the PcTV hd Pro Stick
lets you use your laptop instead?

$130, http://www.pinnaclesys.com

pinnacle pctv hd pro stick

haPPy dayS

Damn, it’s small, and it

does HDTV.

joanie loVeS chachi^7

Magnetic base on antenna

cannot be removed.

$180, http://www.autumnwave.us

onair usb hdtv-gt

WelcoMe Back, koTTer

QAM decrypting gives the

HDTV-GT the edge.

rooM 222^8

Remote is too big and the

tuner’s a little chunky, too.

February 2007 MAXIMUMPC