Whoa, The Vista Logo Does Matter
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Last night, I went out to the local Circuit City looking for an external TV tuner/DVR. I had a model in mind, but bought something different because of the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo. |
As I blogged on Wednesday, I'm moving back to full-time Windows Vista now that there is a compatible third-party VPN for accessing my corporate network. I'm partway through the transition, mainly working on the Vista machine but using RSS, e-mail and some other stuff still on the other computer.
My test machine—Lenovo ThinkPad T60p, with 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 100GB hard drive, 15.4-inch widescreen display, 256MB ATI Mobility FireGL V5250 graphics processor and multi-DVD recorder—:doesn't have a TV tuner for use with Vista Media Center. I set out to buy the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-USB2. I've used this WinTV model before with excellent results.
However, I instead bought the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick. I wasn't swayed by PCTV's HD programming support, lower cost or smaller size. The WinTV is a real performer and trusted brand. I had no experience with PCTV, but chose the product because of the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo.
I've used Vista enough to have developed low tolerance for compatibility problems. PCTV had everything I needed in the box, while WinTV would have meant downloading a driver and software; fingers crossed, maybe it would work.
The Pinnacle product deserved the logo. Software and driver smoothly installed; overall experience was excellent.
Third-party products may be the main reason for gripes about Windows Vista. People rightly expect stuff to work, but so much of it doesn't. Some advice: The channel should do more to promote products that are known to work with Vista—and work well at that. Microsoft should play favorites, by promoting partners' Vista certified products.
Keyword TV
I work out of a home office and have a strong personal policy against watching television during work hours. The distraction is too great. I do make exceptions for disastrous events, like the recent shooting at Virginia Tech or the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. However after hours, if still working, I will put on TV channel IMF (International Music Feed) in a small window. The selection of videos is excellent.
TV would have more significance if there was more integration with the way I do other things. The TiVo recording concept is handy, but it stops way short of the Web lifestyle. At a time of ubiquitous search or keywording, TV is so 1950s. But what if television could go 21st century, so that end users could record programming based on keywords rather than time segments?
Programs broadcast close captioning or anti-copying protection. Why not keywords? I recently watched the Mundo Secreto music video "Poe As Mãos No Ar" on IMF. The song is in Portuguese, so I have no idea what it's about. I like the tune and would want to record the video. But I don't have time to screen videos on IMF. Keywording could make it possible to record the song automatically. I could set a keyword search, for say the band's name, and have the DVR record the video next time it airs.
The same concept could be applied to news and informational programing. My daughter is home schooled, and it's a major pain to do keyword searches on the Fios TV program guide looking for educational shows. Better: Set keywords that record shows whenever there is a match.
Better still: A Vista sidebar widget that would prompt for newly recorded programs based on the keyword searches.
Even better: Integration between Microsoft IPTV and Media Center products.
Pre-tagged content would be more searchable, too. That way end users could find the stuff they recorded.
Commenters, what would you like to see more from Microsoft and its partners around digital content?
Related Posts:
- Personal Vista, Microsoft Watch, May 2, 2007
- The Trouble with Windows Capable, Microsoft Watch, April 4, 2007
- Microsoft Controls My TV, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 12, 2007
Comments (15)
What's your CPU usage like with the HD Stick? I have one running on my Vista tablet (2GHz single core Pentium M) and it's hardly powerful enough to watch analog TV using Vista Media Center. I currently get audio, but no picture in the Pinnacle TV program.
Maybe I'll yank all the drivers (I was on the beta for Pinnacle stuff) and try again...
Or, maybe you have a different set of hardware than I do. Mine's called the same thing though and looks exactly the same as the one in your link.
TTFN
Posted by gregger | May 4, 2007 6:00 PM
gregger
You forgot to quote the most important thing .... HOw much system RAM do you have ??
Anything less than a 1 gig of Ram ...forgert it !
Posted by Neil | May 4, 2007 8:55 PM
Frankly, Joe, I don't see the big deal in downloading Hauppauge's driver. I installed my WinTV-PVR-USB2 for the Vista machine and it was dead easy.
Posted by Richard Eng | May 4, 2007 9:14 PM
It is so good to see a positive article here, I am glad it worked great for you.
I currently have to work out a problem with a Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1100 that keeps blue screening when I install the 'Vista' drivers.
Posted by Matt | May 5, 2007 12:25 AM
Oh, yeah, I should have added that... I have 2GB of RAM on my tablet PC. So, I'm 2GHz P4M, 2GB, 80GB HD.
Media Center just pegs the CPU when looking at the lowest quality TV.
But, my Vista experience on this Fujitsu Tablet has been abysmal so far. Fujitsu won't get off their a$$ and write proper drivers for their hardware so I'm left to scrounge through the hardware drivers from their new systems that they happen to have forgot to rev. between tablet revisions (for instance, no BT drivers at all!).
Driver support is the key to having a positive Vista experience. So, I may try to remove and reinstall the Pinnacle drivers now that they have proper support available.
TTFN
Posted by gregger | May 5, 2007 1:07 AM
I bought a few years ago the PCTV deluxe USB from pinnacle. It is by far the worst product i've ever bought. I hope Pinnacle fixed their problems (driver mostly), and you have a better luck with this one...
Posted by evan | May 5, 2007 6:08 AM
Gregger, Evan,
My good experience with PCTV ends with the the Pinnacle software. Under Media Center, the TV image is highly pixelated. The WinTV product had real MPEG encoding and almost certainly would have been adequate.
For my needs, PCTV will do. I wouldn't use Media Center anyway, because no program guide. The Fios TV program, which is a Microsoft product, is plenty good enough. I just feed the signal through channel 3 and work off Fios TV.
It's makeshift, but the Fios guide is so much better than MCE's.
Joe
Posted by Joe | May 5, 2007 8:31 PM
I purchased PCTV Pro USB is a USB 2.0 TV tuner, to use on a new Toshiba Satellite P205-S6287. Long story short. This item does not work with the included software or any that I downloaded from the website. So it sits on the desk collecting dust and just taking up space.
Posted by Steve | June 10, 2007 4:41 PM
New Toshiba comes with Windows Vista Premium loaded.
Posted by Steve | June 10, 2007 4:49 PM
My Pinacle PCTV PCI don't functioned whit my PC
Placa Asus P5N-E SLI NForce Quad Core.
I have 3 Gb RAM - processor is 2.8 Pentium Inside D - Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bits.
I don't find one drive for my PC.
Sorry but my English is very very bad.
I need help, One Person say where i find the driver?
Thank,
My congratulations,
I live in Brasil, north east: Fortaleza/Ceará.
Mario Cesar
Posted by Mario Cesar Alves Ramos | June 19, 2007 2:10 AM
I just purchased PCTV HD pro stick which included Studio Quick Start v. 10 for my new laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. I have 2 problems.
1. I've connected to my digital settop box, but I can only get analog, no digital stations.
2. When starting up Studio QS, I get a message that says "Pinnacle Studio is incompatable with this version of Windows".
Can you Help me?
Thanks,
Tom
Posted by Tom Campbell | June 25, 2007 7:05 AM
I had similiar experience with the HD PRo Stick. It wouldnt work. After trying few times, I went for the live chat with their support group. Apparantly, you have to clean up your register and then do the 4.9 version of the TVPro installation to make it work.It finally works for my HP now after few attempts but Toshiba wont work yet.
Posted by Sunny | June 26, 2007 1:33 PM
Hi - First, you need to know that I virtually have little to no computer skills. My situation financially has become so grim since my car accident and no way to generate income for myself. Without boring you with a my rather pathetic personal life as it is now, it has been making me crazy to find ways to cut costs while living alone, no money and ofcourse fearing that the next day what else was going to be turned off for non payment. To my point, my cable. Where I live, I have to pay an arm and a leg to have any TV. On one of the last occasions that I had my cable, there was a talk show that spoke about getting free TV via your computer! After some research, I finally pulled together all the cash I had and purchased the Pinnacle PC/TV HD Pro Stick. I have grown to be a negative person since my accident due to the "B.S." of our lovely health care system, and so, I ofcourse expected to be screwed on this new item as well. I was not! Oh my gosh! This worked without one hitch! I worried that due to the area (very rural) I wouldn't get one station to even see if this little unit was working. I actually receive several stations, 3 really good ones, the rest are in Spanish. The installation was effortless which is not the case for anything else I have ever tried to do with adding software and such to my laptop. By the way, I have a three year old Dell Inspiron 6000, not the new Vista and only the pre-loaded 1G HD. Anyway, I have never put in my two cents with these forums, so I thought I would stick mine in as well. Even though I presently only get 3 channels with exceptional clarity, I feel that it was a great investment based upon my grim financial situation. At least I will know what is going on in the outside world. Now, I suppose I should invest in some Spanish lessons so that I may enjoy the several other channels!
***** My Product Review
Posted by Koleen | June 26, 2007 7:43 PM
The analog reception on the HD Pro Stick is exceptionally poor. The pro stick does not allow transmission of digital broadcast through a cable modem unless you cough up another $129/year. The reception is like watching tv through wax paper. Would recommend the purchase of a TV instead of Pinnacle system.
Posted by Raymond | February 14, 2008 3:26 PM
I currently get audio, but no picture in Vista Media Center... (2,4 Ghz, 4 GB ram - FSC Notebook)
Posted by Thomas | February 16, 2008 8:19 AM