Pinnacle PCTV HD mini Stick (USB)

[clettsome]

Is the Pinnacle PCTV HD mini Stick 80e (USB) compatible with VLC (in Vista or XP)? Has anyone successfully used this to watch and stream HD TV from a coax cable? I ask because I have had problems with a few USB tuners and VLC. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[clettsome]

Well here is a little update. I went ahead and bought the Pinnalce PCTV HD mini stick from NewEgg. I plugged the device in (Windows XP and Vista ultimate), installed the drivers that came with the device and connected it to a cable line (coax) directly from the wall (I live in WA state and have basic comcast). I opened VLC (ver 0.9.8a Grishenko) and tried to play from a capture device with "directshow" and nothing worked. I could not even select the device from the "card selection." I know the device is working because it works with Pinnalce's software. I have had problems with pinnacle pctv products in VLC before and it appears that VLC still has no solution for these popular useful devices.

VLC team! Are you working to support pinnacle PCTV products? Is it even on the radar, or is that not a high priority for the team? Legal issue? Can i get an answer back from the team?

Thanks for the support, still Love the VLC product.

Chad

[Lotesdelere]

VLC team! Are you working to support pinnacle PCTV products?

I have a PCTV Hybrid Stick 320e (Analog TV + DVB-T) and it's working pretty fine with VLC.
All of what you need is to install the BDA drivers for your device.

But unfortunately VLC 0.9.8a doesn't support ATSC yet. This feature is only available in VLC 1.0.0 test builds for now but AFAIK it doesn't support ClearQAM which your device can handle. ATSC requires a TV antenna input whilst ClearQAM can be received with a standard cable TV connection.

Open the Media menu -> Open capture device and select DVB DirectShow then tick ATSC and enter the frequency and symbol rate in the boxes below then click on the Play button.

However the DVB module doesn't work for now in VLC test builds. I guess it's the same for ATSC but I can't test it as I live in a DVB area and not in a ATSC one.

[clettsome]

Comcast should be putting out a ClearQAM signal. Under TVCenter Pro (Pinnacle viewing software) is says "Cable (ClearQAM)." So i believe i need to be able to do ClearQAM in VLC. My understanding is that ClearQAM will be the only thing coming over my comcast coax after a certain date not too far in the future. Am i wrong? Thanks for your input. I will try doing the settings u recommended and upgrading to a beta (VLC 1.0.0 test builds) to see if that does anything for me. Will post my findings.

Chad

[Somedude]

You can watch Tv in the vlc player with the HD pro stick this might be the same for others. Its worth a try. Just go to, (in vlc) "media" at the top of the window then click on open capture device (hotkey ctrl+c) then click on the "Capture Device" tab and in the Video device name drop down select the PCTV 330e/8v0e Device and do the same for the Audio device then click play at the lower right corner and it should work if this doesn't yet then do the same again but before hitting play click on Advanced options and then make the same selections again there too. That should defiantly work.
My problem now is in the display of it at the the bottom of the window it seems the picture has been doubled in a separate box like if there were two displays of the same video one above the other but you only see the top of the second one (sort of like a film strip that hasn't been adjusted or sinked to properly fit the screen) and the the copy is scrambled or something. I cant figure out how to fix this. I have tried cropping and changing the aspect ratio under video settings it will get a bit better or make that part of the windows display smaller but I cant get rid of it all together. This is for clarification during watching live from a cable box via the pro stick. If any one knows or can figure it out please tell us.

[Somedude]

Just quick follow up in case my explanation in the post before this or above this one works for any one as far as getting the video to work, but has the same problem I had with the doubled picture, I figured it out. Just go to the control panel in your window at the bottom and click on "Show Extended Settings" in there click on the "Crop" tab. Then in the box for the "bottom" "px" click on the number and type in 100. That was the right amount for me but try other numbers if its too little or to much. Good luck.

[clettsome]

There is no device to select in the "Video device name" or Audio device name" drop down boxes. VLC doesn't see anything to use. The HD Pro stick is a different product and i am wondering if that is the difference.

[VLC_help]

If you want to watch digital broadcasts, use Capture mode: DVB DirectShow.