Pinnacle Systems has released PCTV Deluxe, a digital media device that connects PC and TV entertainment systems for under $200.

PCTV Deluxe lets consumers use their desktop or laptop PC to watch TV and digitally record programs for time-shifted viewing.

The external product can be used to capture and compress video in real time from any video source including a TV, VCR, camcorder, digital set-top box or DVD player. The DVD burn feature lets consumers view video on devices other than the PC.

PCTV Deluxe uses MPEG real-time compression and audio synchronization hardware to encode one-hour of video in only one hour. It stores the video in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format on the PC's hard disk or can burn it to a CD or DVD discs that can be played back by set-top DVD players.

The PCTV Deluxe is used with USB1 and USB2 Windows ME/XP/2000 systems. Unlike USB2-compatible devices that only operate in USB Full Speed mode (up to 12Mb/s), it provides support for USB2, which allows users to access USB 2.0 bandwith (up to 480Mb/s).

The PCTV Deluxe USB2 device includes a remote control unit, a USB cable, Pinnacle PCTV Vision software, Trex software and a trial version of the Studio 8 video editing software. PCTV Deluxe comes with TitanTV, an electronic program guide that sets up program preferences for automatic recording and viewback.

TVTechnology