Pinnacle TV

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A Hardware Review
by Steve Evans
Review Date: October 2007

Product: Pinnacle TV for Mac HD Stick
Company: Pinnacle
URL: http://tinyurl.com/24pyow
Price: $129

MinimumSystem Requirements:
- Macintosh� computer with a PowerPC� G4, G5 or Intel Core� processor (For HDTV reception, a Dual PowerPC G5 or an Intel Core Duo processor is required)
- Mac OS X v10.4 or later
- Free USB 2.0 port
- 256 MB RAM (512 MB required for HDTV reception)
- Hard disk with 1 GB free space (20 GB recommended for TV recording)
- CD or DVD drive
- USB 2.0 port

Test Systems:
- iMac G5 2.0 Ghz, 1.5GB RAM, 250GB HD, OS X v10.4.10
- iMac C2D 2.4 Ghz, 3.0GB RAM, 500GB HD, OS X v10.4.10

Reviewer's Rating: 4 out of 5 Apples

High Definition TV (HDTV) has intrigued me since my days of studying Television Production in college. Back then, HDTV was something only scientists could see in a lab somewhere, but the discussion about it was hot! �Pictures so real you�ll feel like you�re looking out a window,� they said. �News anchors are afraid of HDTV�s picture quality,� they said. Well, they were right. It is that good. You can have HDTV right now on your Mac�s desktop for only $129!

I tested Pinnacle�s USB2 hardware with the included Elgato EyeTV Lite software on two separate systems: an iMac G5 and a new iMac Core 2 Duo. While the system requirements suggest that you�ll need a dual PowerPC G5 for HDTV, I found that my iMac G5 (single processor) worked just fine for viewing and recording off-air content.

The box includes a software CD, extendable desktop antenna, USB2 hardware stick & cable, as well as a remote control. Software installation is very simple and set-up was fairly routine. You do need to establish a free TitanTV account via the web to allow the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) built into EyeTV Lite to work. Connect your antenna or Comcast Cable to the USB2 stick and choose standard definition (SD) or HDTV during the software set-up to have EyeTV scan your available stations. If you�re watching over-the-air broadcasts, as I am, don�t worry about any special HDTV antennas or the one in the box, your existing roof-top one will work great!

Normally, I only have access to maybe 9-10 broadcast stations. Pinnacle�s TV for Mac HD Stick has more than tripled my number of stations. It�s not yet common knowledge, but �Digital TV� allows broadcasters to send out either one high definition channel or up to 5 standard definition channels using the same bandwidth.

WPVI and WCAU in our area are using that extra bandwidth to send out their primary signal and a weather channel. WHYY is broadcasting two alternative PBS feeds and WPHL is feeding an all-music video channel called �The Tube.� Having access to two 24-hour weather channels as well as an all-music station and two more PBS channels is very nice.

EyeTV Lite does not allow you to edit your videos nor watch them in any other program. The full version of EyeTV allows editing as well as burning with Toast. I�ve found that VisualHub has no problem converting �.eyetv� videos to any other format, so I imagine that they�re a standard format like MPEG-2 with Elgato�s custom file extension. Watch your hard drive space! A one-hour program takes more than 5GB to record in HD.

I never used the remote control. The on-screen remote and EyeTV menu system are so good, I never needed it. My new iMac has an Apple remote, however, and according to the instructions, that will work just as well.

While Pinnacle has a long history of making hardware for recording and editing video on PCs, the real make-it-or-break-it feature of this product is the included software: Elgato�s EyeTV Lite. It�s a shame that Pinnacle chose not to include the full version of EyeTV with their product, since doing so would�ve probably bumped this review up to 5 apples. The only other missing feature I�d like to see implemented is the ability to manually delete or add channels, once they�ve been auto-tuned. Overall, however, this product is great. If you buy, be sure to upgrade to EyeTV2 to enjoy all the benefits this product has to offer

Steve Evans
Reviewer: Steve Evans

Steve works full-time for FOX-TV and spends the rest of his day with his wife & four beautiful kids.

Rarely he manages to pry his kids fingers away from the keyboard long enough to turn in product reviews for MLMUG.

This site has many more reviews, all written by MLMUG members.
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