Cheap Pinnacle Systems Studio PCTV Pro (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of Pinnacle Systems Studio PCTV Pro

PROS
easy to install
great interface
great picture

CONS
does not have a TV out so you can use your TV as a montior
You can set a time to record (so you can use your pc like a tivo
the screen captures and video captures even with the settings at the highest possible could be a little better

In conclusion i thought this would be the coolest thing but i really don't use it that much, its nice for watching tv at your pc when there is not one around and has a nice channel surfing option that gives you a thumbnail of each channel, but if you want to capture a picture or video it will have to be pretty small if you want a good resolution. Even for the web you need small pictures like 320 x 320

A great bang for the buck
In my home I am the only "Techno-juckie". I was recently looking to add a new toy to my PC and came across the PCTV Pro card at a ridiculously low, "today only" sale in a local superstore. I was suspicious at the low price, but Pinnacle's reputation won me over. The card's design forced my to have to "unseat" my motherboard to clear the FM and TV inputs. Once installed it setup as easy as pie. I ran the "tests" to see if it was compatible with my existing grpahics card (Diamond Stealth III 540). My card failed the Direct Draw Overlay test, but I'm stubborn and insisted on trying it anyway. It worked flawlessly, (even at full screen 800 x 600 32bit resolution). I put a signal splitter on my cable line and was able to "autoprogram" the card so that I was able to watch a different cable program from the one showing on my TV. I also tested it with my camcorder (without any problems).I am looking foward to trying out the video conferenceing capabilities. Also, the FM Tuner works really well, even with a "make-shift" antenna. I highly recommend this product even though it's diagnostic program could use a treak, and the inputs re-positionied for easier installation. To quote my 15 yr old daughter "That is the coolest thing I've ever seen on a computer"

Cheap, Excellent and almost reliable.
If your the home video maker and want a bit better video editing then 2 VCR's and the play and record buttons. Then card is great for that! Even when your on a very low budget movie, this card is very cheap and also a TV & radio on your computer. The only set back was no video output. So unless you have a cd-burner, theres not much way to get your home videos out of the computer and onto tape. Never the less a great card for so cheap. I my card from an order store for about ... Australian, When I found out about Amazon selling this card for lots cheaper and the normal PCTV card for even cheaper. I was kicking myself. I might get my friend the same card for him. It is a really good card and for so cheap as well.