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Exchanging for a Slingbox Pro
Reviewer: Nibbles from Grand Prairie, TX on Jun 22, 2007
86 out of 113 found this review helpful

In Home Firedog technician here.

Advertised as a device that can sling an HD signal to a computer over a wired/wireless connection along with over the internet I was interested in reading more about this product.

On the side of the box it specifies thatyou can use this device with up to 5 computers over a network. Slingbox is limited to only 1 computer. The PCTV device still only allows 1 device to connect outside of the network.

It also states that it can be used with Windows Media Center software but fails to mention that you need an infrared device to make this work.

Unlike the Slingbox this device has built-in wireless, but you must configure the wireless with the included software. There is no GUI. You can use a static IP configuration for a wireless connection, but it is not possible with a wired connection. That proved to be disappointing. Also the wireless functionality cannot be turned off.

Now as far as the performance the device does not take long to overheat. Once it gets warm enough youwill lose your picture or it will just give you lots of static. When you first get it working you'll probably be a bit excited about the fact that you have your audio and video being sent to your computer, even though the video signal isn't really in HD.720x480 is the resolution you'll be receiving your TV in, and that is not much better than DVD quality, the same resolution you are able to record in. That proved to be another disappointment but not nearly as bad as when the picture and audio cut off. Also the quality outside of the network, even with a fast upload speed will not come anywhere close to the 720x480 resolution, It is not listed but appears to be approximately 10% as good.

To help against the device overheating it is recommended to not stack it on any other device (even your HD set-top box).

Explanation of my rating:

Ease of use: When actually configured, and you have the software running it certainly is easy to use but is still not as responsive to channel changes as the Slingbox is.

Performance: I was highly disappointed in the video quality and then the fact that it overheats so easily. It just appears that it has been released too early.

Ease of Installation: It's not hard to configure with the settings given to you, but I rated it poorly simply because it does not give you enough settings to configure it with more advanced networks. If you want to connect it to an existing Wireless G network you should have little trouble. if you have a Wireless N network, and you do not want toswitch it to Mixed mode to sacrifice performance you may have some difficulty (having to use the hard wired connection).

Cost-Benefit: The product simply does not perform well at this point. I truly hope that Pinnacle works out the problems and even recalls this item. I do not recommend for anyone to buy this. I read the reviews here but still wanted to check the item for myself first. After setting it up and using it for a couple of hours I quickly saw the problems that this device has, and I really recommend that anyone interested in a device such as this instead considers the Slingbox Pro instead with the Sling Meda HD Connect Cable instead. It may not record out of the box, but you can find 3rd party software off of the Internet that will easily getyou around this minor problem.

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Intallation Problems
Reviewer: pinoy from Sacramento on Apr 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

When uninstalling and reinstalling the Wizard Software, there seems to be a glitch when reinstalling. I keep getting an error message which is not intalled properly.
I called a technician with Pinnacle and they are having the same issues when remotely troubleshooting my PCTV TV TO GO. I have a 30 day return policy which I will definately return if the problem has not been resolved.

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very interesting tool
Reviewer: cybernov from EHT, NJ on Mar 20, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

Its pretty much what you need to record your favorites shows. Very convenient can be use wired and wireless. Main thing do not need to buy a new tv

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