Over the past 18 months several companies have introduced USB ATSC receivers. The first units were relatively small external boxes. Recently even smaller USB ATSC tuners the size of large USB thumb drives have entered the market, as noted in previous issues of RF Report. However, the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick is the f

The USB ATSC tuner stick differs from earlier Pinnacle USB tuners sticks in its ability to receiver ClearQAM digital cable signals (although this feature apparently is not available in the current software release). The unit also has the ability to record TV programs on an integrated flash memory in multiple formats (iPod, PSP, DiVX).

The compact size and reasonable price should make it a very interesting device for experimenting with SDR.

Coming to market later this month is the PCTV HD Pro Stick from Pinnacle, a device designed for desktop and laptop computers to receive HD signals (which usually means no compression) directly over-the-air or from a digital cable box. The "stick" is a USB HD tuner and looks nearly identical to a typical USB flash dr

Following the launch of Pinnacle's PCTV HD Pro Stick, a gadget the size of a typical USB memory stick for PCs ( HD Notebook, Oct. 11, 2006 ), USA Today has given the new product 2 of a possible 4 stars in a Oct. 12 review. The Pro Stick plugs into a laptop, and with the aid of an antenna, pulls in HD signals for live

Pinnacle has added another USB ATSC tuner to its extensive ATSC tuner lineup.

This week there was news of two new products that allow viewing and recording DTV programming on computers, desktop or laptop.

DigiTimes.com carried an article by Vyacheslav Sobolev, CeBIT: TV tuner in a USB Stick from Compro , describing the VideoMate DVB-T Stick, a complete USB 2.0 based DTV receiver for the European DVB-T format. According to the article, Compro Technology plans to begin shipment of the tuner and two analog-only USB 2.0