OTHER TECH

Pinnacle PCTV hd pro stick high-def USB tuner & DVR $130 pinnaclesys.com The screen on a notebook computer is puny compared to that bigscreen HDTV in your living room, but most late-model notebooks have just as much picture resolution. So, why not use one to watch HDTV? Enter the Pinnacle Systems HD Pro Stick, an ATSC tuner on a thumb-size USB drive.

The USB 2.0 tuner can pull in over-the-air DTV/HDTV and NTSC broadcasts, thanks to an antenna with a magnetic base. There's also a remote. (For HDTV viewing, you need a Windows XP computer with the latest service pack and 1 GB of RAM.)

You can download an electronic program guide (free for 1 year) from the Internet.

Pinnacle's MediaCenter software (which comes on a CD-ROM) lets you pause and then replay live broadcasts and record shows, including high-def ones, to your PC's hard drive. (There's video-editing software, too.)

You can save to DVD, DiVX, Apple iPod, and Sony PSP formats.

The software scans the airwaves for stations, but how many you pull in depends on where you place the antenna. I got about half the available DTV stations in my area by putting it in a window (and I was surprised to pick up an all-music-video DTV station that's not available on my cable system). Pinnacle recommends connecting the HD Pro Stick to a rooftop antenna.

Receives 32 Pinnacle-selected Internet radio stations via Wi-Fi.

The HD Pro Stick can tune in and record analog (but not digital) cable channels directly from coaxial cable. - Michael Antonoff

Sony Vegas movie studio +DVD platinum 7.0 editing software $100 sonymediasoftware.com Sony's scaled-down version of the pro-grade Vegas video-editing software gives you everything you need to create polished-looking home videos complete with titles and special effects - all for $100. The surprisingly comprehensive package (for entry-level software) features advanced color correction and support for high-def HDV-format camcorders and provides controls to create your own 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround-sound mixes. When you've completed your movie, you can format it for DVD using the bundled DVD Architect Studio program or export it for playback on a video iPod or a PlayStation Portable using the software's presets.

The ability to handle a total of six tracks (three video and three audio) provides plenty of flexibility for editing projects.

The still-image animation feature lets you do things Ken Burns-style - nice.

The included templates for DVD authoring look pretty, but there are tools for designing your own menus as well.

All of the programs have a reasonably steep learning curve, but Sony gives you solid documentation and tutorials along with a training DVD. - Al Griffin

Visit our Holiday Gift Page Back to Homepage What's New on S&V