3. In Use

The Pro Stick is a software based tuner, which means that it works in tandem with the CPU to capture and encode video into a usable file that is stored on your PC. The enthusiast in me would much prefer any TV tuner to be hardware-based. Video encoding is one of the most difficult tasks that your PC will likely perform, and if the CPU can't keep up with the encoding process, the quality of the resulting video capture will suffer. Hardware-based tuners are capable of capturing and encoding content independently of the CPU. They produce less heat, and they are more reliable because they are less likely to output garbled video due to over-taxing the system. That said, one of the main reasons to purchase a Pro Stick is its portability, and its diminutive design doesn't leave enough room for the extra gear that a hardware-based tuner requires.

Fortunately, Pinnacle has found a way to increase the effectiveness of the software tuner: the Pro Stick is capable of distributing the work between the CPU and a graphics card's GPU. The GPU's involvement reduces the load on the CPU significantly, which smoothes out the capture process. Since the GPU lies mostly dormant during a normal capture process, it stands to reason that its processing power could be harnessed to do some of the work. An additional benefit to this feature is that using the GPU also frees up the CPU to perform other tasks while a capture is in progress.

I took a couple of screen captures of the CPU usage while recording 1080i content. The first shows the usage during a high definition capture using the CPU alone to encode the captured video. The second shows a similar HD capture using the CPU and GPU together.

Capture using CPU alone. I began recording during some lower resolution advertisements; you can see where the advertisements end, and the high definition 1080i video begins.

Another 1080i recording with GPU acceleration turned on. As you can see, the GPU cut CPU usage by at least half.

Software-based tuners do have a couple of benefits over their hardware-based siblings. Since the CPU is already participating in the encoding process, the incoming video can be compressed to various different types of files, while hardware-based units are generally only capable of producing MPEG2 video. The Pro Stick can easily be set to encode your TV programs into other space-saving formats, like DivX, on the fly. It can even be set to record directly to a DVD. Keep in mind, however, that highly compressed video formats like DivX require more processing power to encode. Make sure that your CPU is up to the task, or you will end up with poor video quality.