Review: Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Pro PCI TV tuner card

Pinnacle's new DVB-T card may not be the first dual-tuner TV card on the scene, but it's one of the neatest. The half-height and half-length PCI card plugs into any available PCI slot and then it's just a question of connecting an aerial and the receiver for the remote to complete the hardware installation.

The software install is a little more involved, but only because Pinnacle provides both a comprehensive, Windows Media Centre Edition (MCE)-style program and also cut-down copy of its best-selling Studio video-editing software.

When we say MCE-style, it comes with the proviso that Pinnacle Media Center isn’t as good-looking as the Microsoft offering, nor as easy to use. It still enables you to watch and record digital TV, including scheduling individual or series recordings. The scheduling option is oddly referred to as Manual Recording, when in fact you're setting up completely automated tasks.

Pinnacle Media Centre can also play back DVDs – if you have a DVD decoder installed (WinDVD and PowerDVD are examples) – catalogue and display your photos and play your music. It works smoothly and efficiently, but looks more like a menu system you'd see on a set-top box rather than the embracing environment of Windows MCE.

The package includes a Pinnacle remote control, which is fine for controlling its own software, but is incompatible with Windows MCE. If you're thinking of buying the Pinnacle card to fit in an MCE PC you're building, you'll need to budget £25 for a genuine Microsoft remote to control it.

Pinnacle also bundles a copy of Studio Quick Start, a cut-down version of its video editor. This is something most rival dual-tuner cards lack and is therefore a distinct value bonus, as it enables you to take videos, perhaps of recorded TV programmes, and edit them down.

Overall, this is a good dual-tuner card, enabling all the TV features you'd expect in a modern multi-media PC. While designed primarily to work with its own bundled software, it's also a good choice to fit in a Windows MCE machine, apart from the non-compatibility of remote control.

Also consider
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 900
A dual-format analogue and digital TV tuner, but it's expensive

Terratec Cinergy T USB XE
Freeview on a PC, but it puts your processor through its paces

Kworld Dual TV Tuner DVB-T 220
Receive digital and analogue TV signals, but not simultaneously

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!