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AVerMedia Hybrid TV Card
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It comes with one of these Getting Started in 'x' languages books that do not quite say enough. I played safe and installed the software first but I think you could probably have inserted the card first.
Once installed run the program and the setup procedure auto runs, you can setup Analogue or Digital TV or FM radio first but you need to rerun the setup to find the channels on the other items before they can be used. A reasonable wire FM aerial is supplied. There is an attempt at providing a portable TV aerial but even though I live only about twelve miles from the main TV transmitter it was useless for me. However just by plugging in my normal aerial produced excellent results.
Tuning was a lot faster than with most other TV cards I have used and produced perfectly acceptable results. On next start you get a screen within your screen and a control module below. While a remote control is supplied I think this is a little over the top as most people will be sitting near enough to a notebook to use the screen controls.
The Analogue mode produced a perfectly acceptable image on all five channels.
Digital mode did tend to suffer from the occasional stutter and I think I would be less than happy watching a film in this manner, it could be that I needed a cable extension to reach where the notebook was but I have reviewed other TV cards using this format without problem.
The FM radio reception was fine and again the tuning was rapid.
There is of course a PVR mode and this worked correctly. When you first open a channel you get a now and next but there is also a EPG and this worked efficiently as well. Teletext is also supported for the channels that use it.
With more and more digital channels opening (like ITV4) you will probably benefit from doing a scan every few weeks, this can be done from the setup icon on the control module. However while it will find channels - even when they are not broadcasting - if you select one that is not broadcasting the screen vanishes rather than show a blank screen. The box does state that it is HD ready once channels start broadcasting it.
There is a .PDF file that describes all the features of the control module and I must admit I had to refer to it on more than occasion as the icons to describe the actions were not always that obvious. I always feel a little disappointed to have to refer to the manual to use something. Don't get me wrong I always RTFM but only once I have satisfied myself without it. More to check I have found and used all the features that the product has to offer. So using it to make a product function correctly always seems to me to make it less than user friendly. Perhaps if the Getting Started booklet had covered the control module this would not have been necessary.
The AverTV cardbus product is available for £51.45 including VAT and shipping from the first link below :
The AverTV cardbus product is available for $129.99 including shipping from the first link below :
The AverTV cardbus product is available for €80,30 including shipping from the first link below :
More details also from http://www.avermedia.com/avertv/UK/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=8
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