Hi,

I see there are pretty much two choices ("on the cheap") for getting
digital TV into a PC and having a PVR using a USB stick. The Pinnacle
PCTV HD (just the basic, not the Pro) and the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950.
Anyone have enough experience with one or the other to make a
recommendation?

I plan on using it mainly on a desktop Compaq Presario with XP
MCE2005, and this PC has a "3700+" AMD Athlon processor (2.20 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64), with 1 GB of
RAM, and a 250 GB HD, plus I have a 500 GB and a 250 GB external hard
drive hooked to it. Video card is a ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series that came with the PC.

I know the Pinnacle recommends the AMD processor. However I read that
the Pinnacle's EPG is only free for the first year, and the software
is quirky, but the included antenna is supposed to be good, and the
package says "ultra-sensitive reception". This is also the new
generation PCTV HD that supports both digital OTA ATSC and unencrypted
ClearQAM.

I will be using it for OTA reception, and live in an urban/near
suburban area (Cleveland, OH, and I just got a gov't converter box
that works pretty good with a UHF bowtie antenna in the attic).

I read good things about the Hauppauge 950, but wondering if it comes
with an antenna and the reception is as good as the Pinnacle? I don't
really want to drill holes in another room to feed another coax into
the attic, I want the better of the 2 using the provided (or simple
close to the unit) antenna. Will Hauppauge start charging for their
EPG?

I also may use the set-up occasionally on a laptop Toshiba Satellite
Centrino Duo (T2050 @ 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM), also XP MCE2005.

Too bad I missed the closeouts at Circuit City about a month ago where
they were selling the older (non-QAM) Pinnacle PCTV HD sticks as low
as $10, as what I read online, AFAIK, I don't need to worry about QAM
for OTA.

I tried Googling a comparison between these two sticks, but not much
out there as a direct comparison. Thanks much,

Dan