This is an ongoing review of my TV Card: The Pinnacle PCTV Dual Hybrid Pro PCIe aka the PCTV 3010iX.

This section is no longer updated since I no longer watch TV or use this device, but perhaps the information here is still useful to some.

If you find the information here useful, why not let me know and help ensure I keep these pages here for the benefit others.

The most recent software that I used is listed here: TV Centre 6.4.0

Why I bought it:
I was originally using a Hauppauge WinTV PVR which I must have had for around 8 years... and people seem to think Sky Plus' ability to pause live TV is a new technology! The Hauppauge was unreliable from the start, although that was largely down to the AMD K6-2 366MHz 128MB Windows 98 computer that it was originally being run on. Reliability improved considerably when run on a more modern dual core Windows XP system (even though XP wasn't fully supported by the drivers/software!), and as glitches crept in over time the only sure way to sort them out was to format and start from scratch.

So I thought it was time to upgrade and as the deadline for terrestrial to be fully switched over to digital in the UK creeps ever closer I needed a card which supported both, so I went for the Pinnacle PCTV Dual Hybrid Pro PCIe.

Why not another Hauppauge? Mainly because I had seen they were still using the same WinTV 2000 player and if they can't update that in almost 10 years, what else is dated? I went for the Pinnacle mainly for its ability to watch and record two channels at the same time.

The problem is that using the Pinnacle TV card has not gone smoothly and this is the reason for this section at my website - to document my findings. Since creating this section my website has been inundated with other users of the device trying to find solutions for problems. So, welcome. I hope you find some answers - I've had some comfort in knowing I'm not the only person to have these problems! If you have any tips or want to have a rant because you can't get anywhere with Pinnacle then feel free to get in touch!

If you're looking for a review about this TV card to aid your decision in buying one, then this site should make up your mind (just read all the error messages that I and others have experienced)... don't buy one! While the original software that was bundled with my card was glitchy from the start and newer versions have been released which have corrected a number of these, there were always issues - it was never glitch-free.