'TV on a Stick' Makes a Great Holiday Treat

Our computers have literally become the digital hub for most all of our electronic medial products. We use our computers to manage the photos from our digital cameras, the music for our mp3 players and the videos from our camcorders and DVDs. And there's no end in sight. I've recently added my cell phone to that list, because my iPhone uses a copy of iTunes to manage my calling contacts, in addition to most everything else I just mentioned.

Yet the television still seems to elude so many of us who are really into using the PC to manage our multimedia. The Apple TV has certainly helped to bring our TVs into the digital mix by letting us use the TV to view what's displayed on our computer screens. But what I'm talking about here is actually watching TV programming on your computer's screen.

Displaying TV programming on your computer requires you to purchase and install a TV tuner card and the included software. And while that seems like a simple thing, many of us haven't done it. I believe that's because many people wouldn't feel comfortable opening up their computers and installing the necessary hardware.

And the required video drivers and other software that come on the installation CD to make it all work can sometimes interfere with the computer's video-display hardware. Plus, running the TV application can be somewhat daunting in setting things up. Even accessing the TV programming guides to find what's on the different stations can be a real turnoff.

But there's something new that eliminates all of those problems and makes watching TV on your computer a breeze.

Pinnacle's PCTV HD Ultimate Stick does everything for you. All you do is plug the ultra-portable device into any USB port. There's no software to install, because everything you need is already built into the device. That's right: There's no software installation required.

The only other thing you have to plug in is the video source. If the TV signal is coming from the air, just attach a little telescopic antenna – included with the device – that will pick up the signal. If the source is from a cable TV or satellite box, just connect the appropriate A/V cable into the Ultimate Stick's included connectors.

Once you get it going, it gets better. The Ultimate Stick is capable of receiving and displaying standard-definition and high-definition programs on your computer's screen. It will also use your computer's connection to the Internet to automatically download a television programming schedule, so you will know what's playing up to a week in advance.

And if that weren't enough, the Ultimate Stick has a complete personal video recorder (PVR) built into it. The PVR will let you record or time-shift up to two hours of video directly into the device. The destination file formats support other video-based, consumer-electronic products such as the iPod and PSP as well as a variety of video standards like DivX. You can even burn the video directly to a DVD.

And because it's all in the Ultimate Stick itself and not the computer, you can easily unplug the device and insert it into another computer when you want to watch programs at another location. Remember that everything is on the stick itself, so you can watch TV or what you recorded on another PC at any time. When you unplug the device, it's as if it were never there, so you don't have to worry about uninstalling anything.

The Ultimate Stick also includes a little remote control so you can sit back and control all that you see and hear without having to get up from the couch. The device supports analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) TV signals alike and is hardware-ready for ClearQAM, which is unencrypted digital cable reception.

The PCTV HD Ultimate Stick only works with Windows PCs and sells for $129.99. And it's small size makes it a perfect stocking stuffer.

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source: palmbeachdailynews.com