If you’re like many of us who love to watch television and would like to have it available to enjoy on your PC, this new device is for you. The Pinnacle PCTV HD pro stick (www.pinnaclesys.com, $99.99) is a tiny external unit that looks much like a USB thumb drive. It plugs into a USB 2.0 port on your PC and, using an included small telescoping antenna and software, receives free, off-the-air analog or digital TV channels. Depending on where you are located, some of these channels could include HD content.

The PCTV HD pro stick is an amazing device, not only because of its small size but also because it’s USB 2.0 powered--needing no external power source such as an AC adapter or batteries. A cable type "F" socket is used to plug in either an indoor or outdoor antenna. The antenna you’ll need depends on your location, but the telescoping indoor antenna works well for us in our moderately strong signal area (to check on the signal strengths for HD in your area, go to http://www.antennaweb.org). In addition to the PCTV HD pro stick’s USB connector, complete with a protective cap, the device has an A/V adapter to connect to cable or satellite boxes, camcorders, DVD or VHS players. If your computer is connected to the Internet, the device can also access and play Internet radio stations.

At installation a scan for receivable local TV channels and Internet radio stations is performed. If you like, you can sort these stations into favorite lists for convenience. Installation was lengthy, with the need to make some choices for which there was no readily available help, so we just accepted the defaults and it worked out fine.

Included with the PCTV HD pro stick is the TVCenter Pro program, which controls the display and use of the device, turning it into a TiVo-like digital recorder and using your PC’s hard drive for storage. The TV display on your PC’s screen is resizable from full-screen to TV-in-a-window and can be positioned in any convenient spot on your monitor screen. The control-button bars can also be positioned anywhere, including on the task bar, or hidden until needed.

From the TVCenter you’ll be able to access TV, Internet radio or previously recorded programs or video files. Information about techie stuff--such as signal strength and quality, signal type, channel frequency and more, is also available at a click. Activating the record mode manually also activates the timeshift feature for your recordings. You’ll be able to display the timeshift bar showing the start of the recording and the current time. Jump anywhere in between to replay a segment.

Included with the program is a one-year free subscription to Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which provides up to 15 days’ advance scheduling information about shows on most of the channels you can receive. When you activate the EPG you are presented with a window from which you can view program information, sorted by time or channel. See a program you want to watch now? Click on "Watch Now." Or see a program coming up in the next few days you want to record? Just select the program and click the "Record" button, and that program is automatically scheduled to be recorded. Or from the EPG window you can manually set up a future timed recording, view a list of scheduled recordings, view a list of already recorded programs or a list of video files.

If you’d prefer not to use hard drive space for your recordings or video captures, you can use the "direct to DVD" feature. Also included is Pinnacle Studio Quick Start v10, a video editor used for editing and some DVD/CD burning chores, including exporting in iPod or PSP formats. A cool feature of TVCenter Pro is the ability to take a Snapshot of the TV screen so you can save it for whatever you want. The PCTV HD pro stick comes with a cute mini remote control that can turn the TV on or off, change or select channels, control volume and start record/playback functions.

Computer requirements are fairly stiff, needing Windows XP SP2 or Vista (32 bit), Pentium 4, 2.8 Ghz, 1GB RAM, DirectX 9 compatible sound/graphics card and 20GB free hard drive space. Help is in the form of an 82-page manual and button tips.

Using the PCTV HD pro stick was an interesting experience for us. While watching TV we were able to surf the Internet, check e-mail or work on documents. Whether you consider watching TV on your PC a convenience, a diversion, or a distraction you’ll have to admit the HD picture is just great.

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