BIOS: Technology Means Business

The PCTV 200e is the first product of its type from Pinnacle Systems, a company best known for its excellent digital video software. The new line of PCTV products offer an impressive set of hardware and software that allow you to transform your Windows XP desktop computer/laptop into a TV, Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and digital media entertainment centre - much like a Windows Media Center PC. Its features aren't extensive, but its media management software effectively consolidates all of your media files into a single stylish interface that can be controlled remotely. Overall, the PCTV 200e is excellent value.

Pros: Excellent software bundle; active antenna; good value
Cons: Runs on Windows XP only; large remote control

The PCTV 200e is a complete package that includes software, an external TV tuner and a remote control. With these three components, you can transform your current desktop PC or laptop into a media center computer. Ideal for laptop travellers, or even those who don't want the hassle of installing a PCI-based TV tuner card on their desktop PC, the PCTV 200e unites digital TV (DVB-T) and digital media in an extremely easy to use package.

Connected to a spare USB 2.0 port on your computer, the tuner is unique in that it uses a highly sensitive active planar antenna (designed and manufactured by Hirschmann Electronics) and does not require a separate power supply, enabling you to watch and record terrestrial digital TV channels wherever you are - within reason of course.

Freeview support means you can access over 16 channels compared to the standard five channels. While Freeview coverage is growing, it's not available nationwide just yet, so it's worth bearing in mind before you opt for a package of this type. You should also note that the PCTV 200erequires a USB 2.0 to operate - video won't playback on older, slower USB 1.1 connections.

The supplied aerials with competing products have typically not been powerful enough to get a decent TV reception, often requiring you to connect a regular loft or rooftop unit. The quality of the PCTV 200e's reception is better than most, although it depends largely on where your computer is positioned.

Having said that, the supplied antenna adapter can be used instead of the active planar antenna in order to connect to an indoor or rooftop aerial. The only criticism with this design is that attaching and removing the active planar antenna or antenna adapter is fiddly at best, requiring you to position the components until they line up properly with the TV tuner before you can then snap them into place.

Once the software and hardware are connected to your computer, free-to-air digital television and radio signals are then received by the antenna. Of course, you need to be in a supported area to get the relatively wide range of free content without subscription fees. The supplied software, Pinnacle's own stylish QuickTime-like MediaCenter, then allows you to view digital TV broadcasts, listen to digital radio, record programmes to hard disk (MPEG-2 format), as well as burn recordings to CD or DVD (Audio CD, MP3 CD/DVD, VCD, S-VCD and MPEG-2).

We also really liked the ability to control live TV (time-shifting) with advanced personal video recorder (PVR) features including fast-forward, rewind, instant replay and pause, as well as the way the software can be used as a basic media manager to keep tabs of all of your photos (JPEG, GIF and BMP), videos (MPEG-1/2/4, XviD, WMV 9, ASF or DV-AVI) and music files (MP3, WMA and WAV) via a single, remote-controlled interface. Power users will also appreciate the remote-controlled electronic programme guide (EPG) and direct-to-DVD recording.

The really neat feature of the PCTV 200e is that the MediaCenter software combines all of its media management features into a single remote-controlled interface, so you get the feeling that you're actually using a Media Center PC opposed to a regular Windows application. And with the supplied remote control, which unfortunately is on the big side, you can sit back on your sofa and enjoy all kinds of digital media files stored on your hard disk without having to worry about streaming or connecting to a wireless network.

The PCTV 200e is not without its limitations, however. In particular, there's no built-in Dolby Digital audio decoder (AC3) or subtitling teletext, and you can't scan for scrambled programs. Connectivity options are also lacking, such as S-Video, composite video or stereo audio line-out, so you can't route to external A/V devices. Still, it's definitely one of the best products of its type if you're looking for a relatively low-cost external solution.