HDTV for Under $100, Video On-The-Go

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When the kids went to college we were “a little shy” on two key items:

1. room in each of their apartments for a big LCD HD TV set
2. enough money to pay for two sets along with new computers, new furniture, new nearly everything

Up until the holidays this was okay because they were busy settling in to the routine of school and getting most of their entertainment over the Net – TV shows, individually produced content, streaming everything. But before they went back to school they made it known they needed TV sets so they could watch the Super Bowl and basketball’s March Madness. Our daughter who was studying communications also wanted to be able to grab TV commercials so they could study them in class.

It was easier (and cheaper) than we thought.

While watching High-definition TV shows is more interesting and more dramatic than viewing standard definition television, purchasing two additional HDTV sets plus the cable service wasn’t really an option. With a little online research we found out that more than 30 percent of the American households don’t subscribe to cable or satellite service.

Instead they enjoy their entertainment the old fashioned way…over the air. To give our kids an economical HDTV viewing solution, we found a complete family of HDTV entertainment options from Pinnacle Systems at Best Buy. They were ideal because they were USB PCTV solutions that took up absolutely no room, worked with their notebook computers and were easy on the pocketbook.

The PCTV HD Pro packages we chose cost under $100 each and brought in a wide choice of HD channels in the store and in their apartments.

Content is Out There
When we researched the product, we talked to Jon Peddie, president of Peddie Research. He noted, “Today’s broadcasters have fulfilled their part of the bargain. More than 2,000 stations broadcast HDTV content in more than 130 markets across the country.” Never at a loss for figures, he said that roughly 21 million homes in America are totally reliant on an over-the-air signal. More than 91 percent of the 100 million plus households in the U.S. have access to five or more HD stations…over the air, free!

For our two college students who want to take a break for studies especially with the major sports events almost upon us, the PCTV HD Pro was just what they needed. It not only delivers brilliant high def TV shows but it also supports FM radio. The mini-remote makes it easy for them to change channels and watch shows from across the room without getting any serious exercise (prime concern for our son).

The PCTV HD Stick is an all-in-one, ultra-portable USB 2.0 device for viewing and recording SD and free HD TV on any PC—at home, at work, at a friend’s house. The Stick enables you to use a notebook computer and enjoy high definition television programs anywhere you can get a broadcast signal.

Loaded to Go
The unit is very complete including tuner and personal video recorder (PVR) software that is loaded in minutes.

For shows and events they want to save like the Super Bowl highlights, the fantastic commercials or key March Madness games; you can automatically record TV shows to the hard drive in a broad range of formats including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (optimized for iPod or PSP), DivX, or even direct-to-DVD. Once you see the crystal-clear HDTV image with absolutely no interlacing, ghosting or noise, viewing television any other way is almost impossible to bear. With the PCTV HD stick each of the kids own, it easy and affordable to give them the kind of HDTV entertainment they are used to viewing.

Phase 2 – On The Go
Since the kids seem to be in perpetual motion, they also wanted to be able to record shows, online videos or almost any content they wanted onto their respective iPods, smartphones and PSP without a lot of work.

The solution was the compact two-button Pinnacle Video Transfer device we also found at Best Buy. They simply had to choose their recording level – good, better, best – depending on the video quality they wanted and transfer the video files in minutes. The package was almost “dad proof.”

Mobile consumers, like our kids, have an insatiable demand for a solution that lets them take their content with them wherever they go. The pinnacle device lets them transfer their video without using their computer and be out the door in no time at all.

Providing anytime, anywhere entertainment convenience, the Pinnacle Video Transfer hardware is ideal for people who want to enjoy TV shows and personal videos on their iPod Video, PSP or just want to store them on a USB drive to archive or watch later.

With PC-less recording, the compact device is also excellent for our daughter who wants a simple way to offload footage from their camera to a portable USB device when away from home. In addition, if you have personal videos on VHS, Hi8 or VHS-C tape, the PVT can be used to make a digital copy on your device or hard drive for safe keeping—without having to deal with complicated PC-based software. Our son who is also an excellent video gamer also uses the unit to capture his sessions in digital format to edit on his computer or to take with him on his smartphone to have documented proof of his achievements.

Both of the kids say that video capture and direct transfer has never been easier. They are able to transfer videos to an iPod, PSP or USB device without having to copy the files to their PC. This saves them both valuable time and hard drive space. PC-less recording and the device’s small, compact size also make it a convenient solution for students or anyone who on the go and wants their entertainment readily available.

Videos are captured in the H.264 format, the high-compression multimedia technology supported by iPods and PSPs. This eliminates the need for time-consuming conversion. The encoding delivers high-quality videos with two to three times the compression efficiency of solutions such as the MPEG-2 standard, which is used in DVD video. With the press of a button, users can easily select the quality for each recording (Good, Better or Best). When Best recording is selected, videos can be captured at up to 720x480/576 (NTSC/PAL) resolution.

Not a bad overall investment for each of the kids. For about $200 they both added HDTV viewing to their rooms which they can take with them to the campus coffee shop or almost anywhere if they want. And they got a complete package that lets them grab content from almost anywhere and take it with them.