Here are my findings when I upgraded from MediaCentre 4.23.841 that came with my Pinnacle PCTV Dual Hybrid Pro PCIe TV card to TV Centre Pro 4.9.1.

Installation and what's changed:
The software I had received with the hardware was MediaCentre version 4.23.841, this required .NET Framework 1.1 which was included and installed automatically during the installation process. I used this software (and put up with its glitches which are documented below) for about a month before discovering the updated version called TV Centre Pro (version 4.9.1) for download on the Pinnacle website. This requires .NET Framework 2.0 which isn't included in the download so the upgrade process isn't as straight forward (unless you have received it via Windows Updates) and is as follows:

The difference between MediaCentre and TV Centre Pro is simply in the name, the underlying application is still the same (apart from the updates).

Having said that the "remote-friendly" menus have disapeared and the application is claimed to require less memory. Maybe these two changes are related and I actually think the latter is a step-backwards and not an improvement. I have plenty of memory so I couldn't careless how much the application uses! As for the lack of "remote-friendly" menues, I think this should be made an option that the user can enable if he/she wishes.

Regarding the claims that the newer application requires less memory, I have noticed that TV Centre takes longer to open and close than MediaCentre did.

Also, don't throw your old MediaCentre disc out as you will still need the product key if installing the device from scratch.

Setup:
Completing the installation requires a restart. Upon booting into Windows the setup process begins. The scanning of channels is much improved over the old version as it scans two tuners at a time which I don't think happened before (or it wasn't made apparent):

After scanning is complete, the organising of favourite channels is streamlined into the process and is beautifully straightforward - just drag and drop. The only let down during the setup process was the Program Guide section because I don't see why the user needs to specify how often the "free broadcast program guide" needs to update itself, why isn't there a "however often is needed" option because I haven't got a clue!? I randomly chose Hourly to find the Time option still present - confusing.

Once the setup competed I began the application to see what had changed. The design is a little different (new icons) and a little cleaner. The icon to watch a previously recorded video takes you straight in to browse for a file instead of first giving you a drop-down menu.

A good improvement is that you can now enter the Settings area while watching TV. This was a major annoyance in the old version.

The variety of Capture options is now greatly increased, a major plus, although this may be just an illusion. You can specify different options for different tuners which is good although the Radio options are simply "Mpeg Audio" Best or Normal... is this MP3?

The timeshifting options section, although not mentioned a great deal with the MediaCentre review below would (I think) benefit from having the option of specifying hours as well as minutes. Well for someone who wants to specify 4 hours for example, and doesn't want to do the simple multiplication might like the option!

There are now Video Display options to adjust brightness options which could benefit many as I know I had problems with my old Hauppauge WinTV PVR being a little dark (not through it being old).

Gripes:

The option to make the icons smaller is no longer present.

Resizing the window to still include the icons and play/pause bar is awkward. The window seems to have to be above a certain size for them to show. This minimum size is quite large and on a 1024x768 desktop easily takes up quarter of the screen making multi-tasking difficult (unless you don't mind the lack of icons). You can right-lick the picture and specify a window size but this can change depending on the channel you are watching. Why can't you simply drag a corner of the window to the desired size and be done with it, without it changing!?

While watching TV in a window you can double-click the picture to go full screen. This doesn't work with videos and I thought it did with the old version?

I originally thought there was a lack of keyboard shortcuts but I was wrong. There are shortcuts but they aren't made aparent (like when you put your mouse over a button). I find keyboard shortcuts to be convenient and I keep reaching for the space bar to take a snapshot as I used to in Hauppauge's WinTV. Here are the keyboard shortcuts that I have discovered:

m = mute
p or space = pause/play
r = rewind
f = fastforward
+/- numpad = volume
page up/down = channel up/down
numbers = ?
F6 = teletext
F7 = radio
F8 = program guide

There is still no sound from all speakers in a quad/5.1 setup, only in videos as before. You just have stereo from the front speakers.

In the Information section of the Settings, H.264 encoding/decoding is disabled. Then when I run the hard disc Benchmark it states "Unfortunately, your system probably is not capable of decoding DVB H.264 streams. A dual core processor system running at 3GHz is required for this feature." even though my system has and is recognised as having an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ that runs at 3GHz. Maybe it just doesn't "recognise" this AMD processor as being a 3GHz as opposed to an Intel Core 2 Duo for example.

03/10/07: An annoying thing is that you cant schedule a TV recording while listening to the radio or vice versa.

14/10/07: When you record a Radio show the only option is to record the audio into .mpa format. This is fine if all you want to do is play it back on your computer - Winamp or Windows Media Player will handle the file fine. The problem I had was when I wanted to add the file to my portable media player - an Aigo A125 - not an unreasonable request!?...

1. I used Windows Media Encoder (9 Series) to convert the file to a .wma file.

2. Winamp wouldn't let me transfer this new file to my Aigo so I tried Windows Media Player (version 10)

3. Sync(ronis)ing this file using Windows Media Player works as WMP automatically converts the file before transferring it to the player.

Conclusion: Having to convert an audio file (twice) obviously takes time... I would therefore request that Pinnacle add the obvious option of being able to record in MP3 or WMA formats.

Errors and Glitches:

Changing to TV Centre Pro from MediaCentre brings improved stability and less glitches, but it's still not perfect and there are some new problems.

The most annoying (and new) problem is that occasionally the TV picture will go black and I have to quit out of the application and go back in. Or, the TV will randomly change a channel! These two faults keep occuring, seem to be related and cause a "Failed to switch channel!" error message. More on this below.

Occasionally when proceeding to open a recorded program the application will just close.

Tip: If the application produces an error you may find you can't get back into it without restarting your computer. This is obviously annoying and I find doing the following usually works. Close the application if possible/if open, open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and end the Processes: PMCLoader.exe and VideoControl.exe. You should then be able to run the application again.

11/01/08: By clicking to record a program that is listed in the Guide section of the Program Guide (EPG) will always produce an error for me. The whole application will then close and I will have to do Ctrl+Alt+Del (see above):

28/09/07: A problem that once occurred with MediaCentre was when I proceeded to watched a recorded show, the sound from the previous TV channel was still playing over the top - well it happened again.

23/09/07: Error received again when TV Center was left on to record:

22/09/07: Error received when TV Center was left on to record:

An error I received on 28/08/07 just happened out-of-the-blue while watching TV:

I clicked on OK and tried to change channels but received "Failed to switch channel!", I clicked on Details and received "Another input is currently in use".

I clicked on OK and quit out the application and re-loaded.

30/08/07: Now this thing is really starting to annoy me. The channels change at random, the OSD (on screen display) comes up and stays up, the picture goes black or the application seems to freeze. These issues seem to be related. I could be sitting back and watching some TV and all of a sudden the channel changes. Or sometimes when watching TV full screen the menu bars (which I have set to auto-hide) fail to return when I move the mouse (which I can't see). I try double clicking to restore and nothing happens. All I can do is press escape. The whole picture going black is really annoying because once it starts it becomes really persistent. I switch channels between Analogue and Digital to try and get round it which usually helps for a while but generally I have to quit out of the application and back in because I received the errors illustrated above "Failed to switch channel".

The random channel changes and picture going black are new issues since upgrading from MediaCentre. I may try uninstalling and reinstalling TV Centre Pro, or going back to MediaCentre to try and rule out a developing hardware fault.

Last night I scheduled a recording which started fine but I woke up to find it was still recording the 30min show... luckily the 16+GB file didn't take up too much room on my 500GB RAID0!

Suggestions to the makers: 02/02/08

• In the Program Guide and the Scheduled recording list, an estimated total disc space required would be nice.

• Some graphical means of seeing which tuner is available for use when scheduling recordings at a particular time or some in-built intelligence so the software can decide which tuner to use when two recordings co-inside.

• The ability to re-size the window without it re-setting itself based on the content - so annoying!

• The ability to record from the radio in .mp3 format.

• The ability to schedule a TV recording while listening to the Radio (and vice versa).

• The ability to watch/record TV and radio at the same time... there are two tuners afterall right?

Conclusion:
I am pleased to say that there have been some noticeable improvements to the application since MediaCentre version 4.23.841. The setup process was more straight forward I felt. There are still some areas that need addressing and as for stability and errors there are still some issues and some new ones, but only time will tell as to how persistent/common they are.

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