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Hi All,
I am looking to get a b-day gift for my teenage son. Looking at either the Pinnacle (HDTV USB Pro?) and the Hauppauge PVR-950 as choices for a desktop (AMD Athlon64 3200+ processor) HDTV tuner.

Any comments pro/con on either of these products. Also curious if the processor has enough power to run either of these products?

TIA,
SteveK

the on air gt has gotten my attention recently. 5th generation lg tuner, analog, qam, atsc, dvr. s/n meter, etc.

http://www.autumnwave.com/products/consumer/onair_gt.html

http://www.buy.com/prod/OnAir_USB_HDTV_GT_Personal_Video_Recorder/q/loc/101/202493924.html

performance depends on the combination of processor, memory, video board, ota signal, operating system, etc.

you may want to readup more on the subject here.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

Nobody with opinions on the Pinnacle vs. Hauppage?

No one else has responded so please forgive a newbie for taking a shot.

I have both these tuners on my desk now and have been doing some testing. I bought the Pinnacle PCTV HD at Best Buy for $99.99 on sale last Sunday. I bought the Hauppauge WinTV HVR-950 from Circuit City over the Internet for $59.99AR.

Both tuners were tested on a 1.7 GHz Pentium 4/M laptop with 2GB of RAM and Windows XP SP2. While using the Pinnacle for less than 30 minutes, it got so hot that it burned my left hand when I picked it up. It also made the connected USB 2.0 port very hot. I solved these problems by taping the Pinnacle to a heatsink and using a USB 2.0 powered hub to connect to the laptop. The HVR-950 has 6 tiny vent holes and doesn't share this problem. I suspect they both use the same hardware under their shells.

The HVR-950 does not come with a remote like the Pinnacle. It's a $16.95 option. The remote appears to be the same one that comes with the HVR-1600. The HVR-950 comes with WinTV 2000 and the Elecard codec pack, which is quite extensive. The Pinnacle comes with Pinnacle MediaCenter, Pinnacle Studio, and a DivX 6 codec.

Given the price/performance differential, I would recommend the HVR-950. :)