I've had 2 Pinnacle USB sticks over the past year and both were terrible. The last caused Vista media Center to stutter and record shows that couldn't be viewed, I assume because it required the use of Pinnacle's special software encoder in order to allow it to tune in VMC. It was horrible.
The other USB stick was just as bad, but different. QAM could only be tuned using Pinnacle's software, which I didn't like.
I replaced it with an Avermedia tuner and that works fine.
Those are the very reasons why I went with Tivo. Although I hate its monthly fees, it's hassle-free. I completely agree that a HTPC is a more flexible system. But, I already have a PS3 and 360 (hd-dvd) to supplement for my other needs.
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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I've had 2 Pinnacle USB sticks over the past year and both were terrible. The last caused Vista media Center to stutter and record shows that couldn't be viewed, I assume because it required the use of Pinnacle's special software encoder in order to allow it to tune in VMC. It was horrible.
The other USB stick was just as bad, but different. QAM could only be tuned using Pinnacle's software, which I didn't like.
I replaced it with an Avermedia tuner and that works fine.
Those are the very reasons why I went with Tivo. Although I hate its monthly fees, it's hassle-free. I completely agree that a HTPC is a more flexible system. But, I already have a PS3 and 360 (hd-dvd) to supplement for my other needs.