03/06/2007, 10:40am, EST
Tuesday, March 6th
Pinnacle debuts three USB TV tuner devices
The devices feature USB 2.0 connectivity for high-quality video streaming to a Mac, and the Sticks are USB powered without the need for an external power supply. Each stick comes with a remote control, and connect to an external antenna via a built-in standard antenna input alongside a mini antenna for use indoors or in buildings where no external TV antenna is available.
Pinnacle TV for Mac Sticks ship with Elgato EyeTV Lite TV viewing and recording software, and the "TimeShifting" feature supports pausing and rewinding favorite shows. Users can record shows or schedule recordings ahead of time using the integrated electronics program guide (EPG), and can save recordings on the Mac's hard drive in DVD-quality MPEG-2 format. An included A/V adapter cable also enables users to import video from external sources such as camcorders.
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Vista users are going through this as well - you can't build a machine and install a CableCARD Slot - the whole machine needs to be certified. So you'll only see a handful (if any) with this capability.
I'd also be concerned about the total lack of any form of OS X support, I find that to be a sticky wicket. They don't even say "the hardware will work on a Mac but none of the software we make will ever work and we are not going to discount it so you have to pay for the winblowz software, even if you can't use it (thank you so much for supporting winblowz)"
I know the Hauppauge & the Hybrid are the same, as I have a Hybrid and a friend has an HVR-950. We both can use EyeTV and WinTV w/ either device. Pinnacle's HD Pro Stick (or Hybrid Pro for Europe) is supported by EyeTV 2.x as well as Hauppauge's HVR-900/950.
Honestly, buy the Elgato Hybrid instead of Pinnacle's stick and save yourself a lot of money. I doubt the extra 50$ will get you better recording/exporting software than Elgato's EyeTV (full).
Still the Hybrid (with EyeTV full) sells for the same price as Pinnacle's Mac stick (with EyeTV lite). Pinnacle better have good Mac software to record (and export) from their stick. If not, you'll have to upgrade EyeTV (for probably $50).