Tuner uses PC to record and file live TV

If you've bought a PC recently and spent more than $2000, you've invested in a fair bit of computing power. Now it's time to use it.

Why not turn it into a home-made TV recorder, encoding live TV feeds as mpeg2 video files? You won't have to touch your VCR again. And you'll be able to file episodes of Lost, Third Watch or Coronation Street, or movies and sports broadcasts in a big electronic library.

The Pinnacle PCTV is one of the better TV tuner bundles on the market. But you still need to take the cover off and delve into the guts of your PC, something that requires care if not great technical knowledge. The card fits into a PCI Bus slot in your computer and, once detected by Pinnacle's software, is ready to use.

An application called Vision runs the TV tuner card. Once you've plugged your TV aerial into the back of your computer, Vision will pick up the feed and assign channels automatically as modern TV sets do. You can then change channels using the software interface or infra-red remote control. Suddenly you see free-to-air TV on your computer.

There is no internal sound cable on the PCTV card - a cable is supplied to feed sound into your computer's sound card, a minor flaw. Once plugged in, sound will run through your PC speakers.

Vision is fairly basic and therefore good for beginners. You can select channels, record and play. There's a timer for pre-set recording. An application called Webtext is bundled, but it didn't work for me. Who uses Teletext now anyway?

Vision's simplicity also means it's not overly useful.

It would be nice to be able to edit adverts out and chop video streams into nice packages. Sadly, you'll have to pay for the full version to use Studio 7 on an ongoing basis.

However, the card is supported by a number of third-party software packages with more functionality.

The PCTV supports so-called time-shifting, letting you pause TV while it continues to record in the background. Once behind the regular broadcast schedule you can skip through the adverts.

Pinnacle recommends a minimum of a Pentium II 450 with 128 megabytes of RAM, but my computer is much more powerful and was still grinding away during recording. Image quality for the mpeg2 video standard was reasonable, watchable for TV programmes, less so for full-length movies.

You'll want a good deal of free hard drive space as an hour of mpeg2-quality TV takes up around two gigabytes. But you can burn it to disc to free up hard drive space.

The Vision software stores the captured video feeds in a gallery and will burn them to DVD, VCD or SVCD. You're can play the footage in most DVD players. Basic software called T-Rex lets you convert the video file for the format needed. The Pinnacle card also has inputs for a VCR or digital video camera.

The PCTV's downside is that you need to be near your aerial connection to get the best picture. TV reception via rabbit's ears looks terrible when encoded in mpeg2 video.

Hauling your desktop PC into the lounge may be an option, but there are lots of more convenient alternatives. Pinnacle offers a wireless media receiver to send recorded TV feeds to a PC in another room.

Some LCD monitors now come with TV tuner cards built in and software to allow the TV signal to be captured. There are also a number of stand-alone TiVo-type boxes on the market which sport TV tuner cards and built-in hard drives. DVD burners, some with built-in hard drives, have dropped in price and are easy to use.

At the other end of the scale are full-blown multimedia PCs such as the Hewlett Packard Media Centre ($3999) which runs Windows Media Centre and does a good job of recording live TV.

Ascent.co.nz is offering variations on the internal TV tuner card theme - an external USB version for $186, the PCTV Pro card with stereo sound and an FM tuner built in sells for $160.

Pinnacle Systems PCTV tuner card

Pros: Easy set-up; good quality footage; easy to burn to CD and DVD.

Cons: Need terrestrial TV aerial input; no video editing functions.

Price: $126

Herald Rating: 7/10

www.ascent.co.nz