The ongoing romance between PC and TV has gathered pace this year: you'll now find a wide range of solutions if you're looking to get these two household 'essentials' working together. Although pivotal in the development of TV tuners and similar products that allow you to receive both terrestrial and Freeview channels on a PC, Pinnacle's latest product, PCTV to go, offers similar advantages with a bit of a twist.

Rather than incorporating a dedicated tuner itself, PCTV to go is a networked unit that acts as a pass-through box between your television and a source device such as a Sky box, VCR or Freeview box. This simply means that instead of wiring the source directly to your TV, you send the signal through the PCTV unit so it can also be sent to a PC in another room.

The unit we have on test here is wired operation only, so you'll need a wired network set up and a way to get an Ethernet cable close enough to plug in. Alternatively you could use a solution such as Devolo's Homeplug to avoid stringing wires about the place: we used one of its latest 200MBps models in completing this review and found it very effective.

Once you've got the device hooked up to the network you simply install the supplied software and work your way through an all-important setup wizard that'll detect the unit across the network and allow you to configure the exact make and model of source device (Sky+, etc.) so the software can configure correct operation. Provided you have no network issues this process is pretty straightforward, and is essential for enabling some of the more innovative aspects of the system.

Using a small gadget called an IR-blaster, which is set up on the source device to transmit the relevant IR codes from afar, you can change channel, adjust volume, view menus or carry out any operation you'd usually do with a remote from the comfort of your PC in another room. In addition, you'll find you can stream content online to watch it from a broadband enabled PC in another location.

Those running Windows Media Center Edition gain the added benefit of being able to use the MCE remote to control operation from afar, though XP users only have the option to use the virtual remote on-screen, which isn't nearly as convenient since you'll have to be in front of your PC to do so.

You'll find a solid arrangement of features here without anything particularly dramatic. Streaming television in this way allows you to pause and rewind playback (time-shifting) and record direct to your hard drive. There's a range of options for adjusting playback and recording quality and, impressively, we saw flawless performance, with no pauses, skipping or jumping. Of course this is a lot to do with the speed of your network, and those looking to manage HD content will need to make sure they're using the latest standards, but in general we were very impressed.

The PCTV to go is more expensive than your average TV tuner, but if you're looking to view Sky channels, for example, and don't want to invest in a second tuner, this is a very effective solution. You're given the added advantage of flawless time-shifting and recording, but we'd like to have seen better remote control support, as those without Windows MCE won't find it nearly as convenient.

PCTV to go is an interesting alternative to a TV tuner that doesn't offer quite the wide range of features but throws in a few added advantages instead. If you think you'll get enough use out of it, you'll be pleased by its performance and usability.