Plextor Launches USB HDTV Receiver ($99)

Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver on Wednesday that the
company says will transform a user's laptop into a wireless personal video
recorder.

According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be ordered
now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device that customers can
use to watch, pause, and record high-definition TV on most Windows-based
laptops—all without a subscription fees or recurring charges.

The high-speed USB 2.0 receiver comes bundled with software that
automatically scans for free air-to-air digital and HD signals in a given
area and will subsequently pull them in with a flat digital antenna. Users
can then watch and record live TV with standard definition TV and HDTV video
resolution in the basic configuration, Plextor said.

The receiver also converts recorded TV into MPEG-2 files in real-time and
stores them on the user's hard drive. Once there, they can be easily burned
directly onto a DVD, according to Michael Arbisi, vice president of channel
sales for Plextor.

....

If users want to watch standard definition TV using the PX-HDTV500U, they'll
need at least a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista equipped computer with a Pentium
III, 1.0 GHz CPU, 256-Mbytes of RAM, a 32MB VGA card, USB 2.0, and a sound
card.

For HD, the receiver will mandate a Pentium 4, 3.0-GHz or equivalent CPU,
plus 512-Mbytes of RAM, and a 128 MB VGA card at the minimum.

Plextor says the receiver supports automatic channel scanning,
picture-in-picture, aspect ratios of 4:3 and 16:9, full-screen or scalable
screen views, and still-picture capturing.

The PX-HDTV500U is set to ship to distributors in North America in April and
have a MSRP of $99, according to Plextor. The device supports the DTV
Standard ATSC protocol for free air-to-air digital terrestrial TV and audio
program playing as well.

On Mar 30, 10:27 am, "Doug" wrote:
Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver on Wednesday that the
company says will transform a user's laptop into a wireless personal video
recorder.

According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be ordered
now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device that customers can
use to watch, pause, and record high-definition TV on most Windows-based
laptops-all without a subscription fees or recurring charges.

The high-speed USB 2.0 receiver comes bundled with software that
automatically scans for free air-to-air digital and HD signals in a given
area and will subsequently pull them in with a flat digital antenna. Users
can then watch and record live TV with standard definition TV and HDTV video
resolution in the basic configuration, Plextor said.

The receiver also converts recorded TV into MPEG-2 files in real-time and
stores them on the user's hard drive. Once there, they can be easily burned
directly onto a DVD, according to Michael Arbisi, vice president of channel
sales for Plextor.

...

If users want to watch standard definition TV using the PX-HDTV500U, they'll
need at least a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista equipped computer with a Pentium
III, 1.0 GHz CPU, 256-Mbytes of RAM, a 32MB VGA card, USB 2.0, and a sound
card.

For HD, the receiver will mandate a Pentium 4, 3.0-GHz or equivalent CPU,
plus 512-Mbytes of RAM, and a 128 MB VGA card at the minimum.

Plextor says the receiver supports automatic channel scanning,
picture-in-picture, aspect ratios of 4:3 and 16:9, full-screen or scalable
screen views, and still-picture capturing.

The PX-HDTV500U is set to ship to distributors in North America in April and
have a MSRP of $99, according to Plextor. The device supports the DTV
Standard ATSC protocol for free air-to-air digital terrestrial TV and audio
program playing as well.

So it's another like this?

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ...ta_hvr950.html

Boss has one of these and is very happy with it.

GG

G-squared wrote:
On Mar 30, 10:27 am, "Doug" wrote:

Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver....

According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be ordered
now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device....

So it's another like this?

Seems like there are bunches of these on the market. I may get one eventually
to use with my laptop when I travel.

G-squared wrote:
On Mar 30, 10:27 am, "Doug" wrote:
Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver on Wednesday that
the company says will transform a user's laptop into a wireless
personal video recorder.

According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be
ordered now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device that
customers can use to watch, pause, and record high-definition TV on
most Windows-based laptops-all without a subscription fees or
recurring charges.

The high-speed USB 2.0 receiver comes bundled with software that
automatically scans for free air-to-air digital and HD signals in a
given area and will subsequently pull them in with a flat digital
antenna. Users can then watch and record live TV with standard
definition TV and HDTV video resolution in the basic configuration,
Plextor said.

The receiver also converts recorded TV into MPEG-2 files in
real-time and stores them on the user's hard drive. Once there, they
can be easily burned directly onto a DVD, according to Michael
Arbisi, vice president of channel sales for Plextor.

...

If users want to watch standard definition TV using the PX-HDTV500U,
they'll need at least a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista equipped computer
with a Pentium III, 1.0 GHz CPU, 256-Mbytes of RAM, a 32MB VGA card,
USB 2.0, and a sound card.

For HD, the receiver will mandate a Pentium 4, 3.0-GHz or equivalent
CPU, plus 512-Mbytes of RAM, and a 128 MB VGA card at the minimum.

Plextor says the receiver supports automatic channel scanning,
picture-in-picture, aspect ratios of 4:3 and 16:9, full-screen or
scalable screen views, and still-picture capturing.

The PX-HDTV500U is set to ship to distributors in North America in
April and have a MSRP of $99, according to Plextor. The device
supports the DTV Standard ATSC protocol for free air-to-air digital
terrestrial TV and audio program playing as well.

So it's another like this?

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ...ta_hvr950.html

Boss has one of these and is very happy with it.

GG

Yeah, look like.

I have a Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick but haven't been able to get it working
yet. Maybe it has a problem with the antenna?

Doug

On Fri, 30 Mar 2007, Doug wrote:
I have a Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick but haven't been able to get it working
yet. Maybe it has a problem with the antenna?

I have mine working with a 6 inch rod antenna.

However, if your analog reception sucks (the Pinnacle can do analog) then
you should expect issues with your digital reception.

Also, you need to have a reasonably fast CPU. 1GHz is barely adequate for
viewing; better to have 2GHz especially if you wish to record.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

Mark Crispin wrote:
On Fri, 30 Mar 2007, Doug wrote:
I have a Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick but haven't been able to get it
working yet. Maybe it has a problem with the antenna?

I have mine working with a 6 inch rod antenna.

However, if your analog reception sucks (the Pinnacle can do analog)
then you should expect issues with your digital reception.

Also, you need to have a reasonably fast CPU. 1GHz is barely
adequate for viewing; better to have 2GHz especially if you wish to
record.
-- Mark --

Thanks Mark. You dead on!

When I tried using it on one of my computers, it said the computer was too
slow. So I checked the "System Requirements" and it says I need a Pentium 4
running at 2.4 Ghz or a Pentium M running at 1.3 Ghz or Athlon 64.

I have the antenna too.

So this all gives me good excuse to build a new, faster, shinier computer,
right?

Doug

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

Hardware for Macs only:

Elgato EyeTV Hybrid & others http://www.elgato.com/

Miglia TVMini Express & others http://www.miglia.com/

…probably other companies…

Elgato's EyeTV2 software is suppose to work with a lot of third-party
hardware including Hauppage, Miglia, Plextor, Terratec, Pinnacle…

(just wish I could afford any of these…)