I need a program to capture Pinnacle HDTV Pro Stick

[hpcampr]

I've been trying for ages to figure out how to capture with Virtualdub. I want to capture my Pinnacle HDTV Pro Sticks TV signal. The program that came with it is hopeless. In the Past I've used Nero for my camcorder with no problem,but it refuses to record this stick. Also Media Center has huge audio delay and video stutter. I just need a reliable way to capture some tv programs. Any advice much appreciated. I also have VLC but haven't found a step by step for tv capture either. Thanks
I posted this as a comment under an old post so i thought it might get a response by itself. I hope thats OK.

[themaster1]

i think vlc only work fine on linux with dvb-s/dvb-s2 cards

Careful, virtualdub is for analog cards not for hdtv...as far as i know

i recently discovered dvbviewer to record dvb-s (not hd) streams you can try it maybe don't know if it's compatible with your card though.Dvbviewer support dvbs2 cards.

There are also software like mytheatre people seem to like or even MCE

[hpcampr]

Thanks for the reply. I am trying to capture analog from cable. MCE nearly always has out of sync audio and a kind of flashing stutter in the video. It does have a nice and so far the only working epg (for the USA) of the programs I've tried. The ones that I couldn't get to work are Pinnacle TVCenter Pro 4.92 through 4.94 (hours of time spent and it would never even open). NeroVision Express3,(it finds the TV Card device and shows a tv picture but as soon as I hit record the picture disappears and the recording only captures a green box for a second). Virtualdub has never shown a tv picture and when I select capturing device I get the blue screen of error and have to reboot). Cyberlink Power Cinema could capture but for $99 its not worth it to me without an EPG for the States.I'll check out the programs suggested but already saw there is no demo for DVB viewer.Thanks

[edDV]

Did you try BeyondTV? Check their tuner compatibility list and ask in their forums. They seem to be ahead of MCE on new digital tuner support but I haven't checked on the Pinnacle.

Also, exchange the stick for the "ultimate" model if you can. That one is supposed to be provisioned in hardware for cable clear QAM reception which is highly desirable.

I'm holding back until I see clear QAM actually working on this stick. I want one for my Vista Premium laptop.

[hpcampr]

Thanks. I can't exchange it as I got it off Ebay (and have been occasionally trying to get it to work for some months). I downloaded and installed Mytheatre but so far haven't even been able to find out how to set up the analog cable tv channels for recording. I'll check out the BeyondTV now.

[hpcampr]

BeyondTV has me in a bit of a Cat22 now as it only shows one channel and when I go to change its lineup to Cable provider it says it can't change it if LiveTV is running.When I shut it down I no longer have access to the settings which are in the form of a web page. I haven't been able to test its recording so far.

[edDV]

Best place to ask is in the BeyondTV Support Forum.
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=021f2c0a60085fd7f4e202f79b0b1ff2&f=5

Maybe someone has an answer for your specific tuner. Each tuner differs in supported features. Some are dual tuners that can record two broadcasts at once or support recording a different channel than the one being watched (e.g. analog + ATSC/QAM).

[hpcampr]

Thanks I sent a fairly complicated support request in and am told I will receive a response in 1-3 days.
Actually I kept fooling with the settings for too much time but changing and rechanging the provider(it finally offered me more than than basic cable) and perhaps that allows me to change channels now also switched recordings destination. The first try recorded correctly so I'll keep my fingers crossed and report back. Thanks

[hpcampr]

Major problems in trying to figure out what I have to do to keep the settings that allow me to change the channels. It keeps reverting back to a state where they can't be changed and so far very unintuitive in trying to figure out how to deal with it. I finally got it figured out. I was changing and changing with nothing happening. I didn't realize I had to hit "jump" tp make it change. Its capturing correctly so far. I'm no fan oof the way they hide settings all over the place and would have preferred the various commands at the top like most Windows programs. There were even commands stuck away in the "about beyond tv" located in the taskbar rather than the top. One problem I'm having now is that the top part of the picture has somehow gotten moved to the bottom (although its filled with video noise) any tips on how to deal with this? Thanks