If you don't have MS Media Center and you wish you could schedule and record television shows or even just time-shift your television watching so you can fast-forward through commercials,
PCTV HD Pro Stick might be just what you need. You can schedule recordings and time-shift all you want... you can even time-shift radio stations!
I found that radio stations came in nicely using the included antenna. There were also 20 Internet-based radio stations available, which offered a variety of music styles. I live on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, and the television signals aren't exceptionally strong here, so my reception was limited, but, even so, I had three HD stations that were, quite frankly, beautiful on my wide-screen laptop. The clarity difference between HD broadcast television and normal definition television is remarkable. The difference between the amount of required memory and processing power is also quite amazing. Decoding HD broadcasts will require some hefty computing power and memory, so you won't want to be watching HD television programming while doing other things in the background.
The telescoping antenna features a magnetic base-plate, allowing for a firm connection on metal surfaces. The antenna is not exceptionally long; when fully extended, it's right at two feet long. A longer antenna might have made reception in remote locations a bit better, but this antenna's strong point is its portability. When fully collapsed, it's just over 6 inches long. So, collapse the antenna and roll up the two foot cable, fold the 1 foot USB 2.0 extension cable in half and grab the 3 inch PCTV Pro Stick and tuck it away in your laptop bag and you're good to go. Have PCTV Pro Stick, will travel. However, you will want to be careful with the magnet - especially around magnetic media, such as (shudder) floppy disks.
Video-Spin video editing software
is included with the
PCTV HD Pro Stick and it allows for easy editing and burning of DVDs. Out of the box, you can record your video in MPEG-1/2 and DivX formats. For a trial period, you can also save MPEG-4 formatted video, compatible with the PSP and iPod. This video codec can be purchased online via the software's menu system, if MPEG-4 formatted video is something you want to do with your
PCTV HD Pro Stick. In addition to being able to record to your hard drive and then watch or burn to a DVD later, you can even choose to burn the recording directly to DVD.
