Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver on Wednesday that the company says will transform a user’s laptop into a wireless personal video recorder.

According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be ordered now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device that customers can use to watch, pause, and record high-definition TV on most Windows-based laptops—all without a subscription fees or recurring charges.
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The high-speed USB 2.0 receiver comes bundled with software that automatically scans for free air-to-air digital and HD signals in a given area and will subsequently pull them in with a flat digital antenna. Users can then watch and record live TV with standard definition TV and HDTV video resolution in the basic configuration, Plextor said.

The receiver also converts recorded TV into MPEG-2 files in real-time and stores them on the user’s hard drive. Once there, they can be easily burned directly onto a DVD, according to Michael Arbisi, vice president of channel sales for Plextor.

Plextor says the receiver supports automatic channel scanning, picture-in-picture, aspect ratios of 4:3 and 16:9, full-screen or scalable screen views, and still-picture capturing.

The PX-HDTV500U is set to ship to distributors in North America in April and have a MSRP of $99, according to Plextor. The device supports the DTV Standard ATSC protocol for free air-to-air digital terrestrial TV and audio program playing as well.