AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR MTVHDDVRR PCI-Express x1 Interface

Pros: I purchased this card to convert VHS tapes to digital files. The included software is extremely customizable. It allows you to record at a video bit rate of up to 15,000 kilo bits per second and an audio bit rate of 192 kilo bits per second per channel which equals a total of 384 bits per second. It lets you save the files in a huge number of formats including AVI WMA H.264 MPEG-2 and many Apple compatible profiles. The card is physically small and fits very easily into my somewhat large case.

Cons: *Because it has no hardware encoder it uses a lot of CPU power to record. I have a phenom 2 x4 with a clock speed of 3.4 GHz. When recording at 5500 kb per second video and 192 kb per second per channel audio at 720 by 480 resolution it uses between 20 and 25% of my total CPU time.
*Even though it claims to have HDMI support, I tried to record from the HDMI port on my new DVD/VCR combo unit I bought, and although it would let me see and hear the audio and video it would not let me record it saying something about copy protection or some other nonsense.
* When installing this into my computer's PCI slot the process of securing the bracket to the case with a screw prevented the card from being completely inserted into the PCI slot. The card works though but it still was a little unnerving.

Other Thoughts: I haven't yet decided if I will keep this card or not. I was not expecting it to be so resource intensive during the record process especially at such a low resolution and moderate bit rate. Competitors offers similar products with all the same features but also include a hardware encoder, which means all of the processing power needed to facilitate recording is physically included on the card. What this means is that using a competitor's card with a hardware encoder there will be virtually no additional load put on your CPU. These competing cards do cost about 50% more though

Pros: Resolution is great.
Reliable.
Software is alright.

Cons: May not work on a DVI LCD ...
For example, whenever I played my PS3 and had it display through the bundled software, I had to drag the window to my VGA-connected LCD screen. Windows would blue screen whenever I tried playing it on my DVI screen (I had 2 monitors).

Pros: It works great capturing the movies from my camcorder.The included software is surprisingly good but you have to change the settings to high quality.

Cons: I wish it would come with more options in the capturing formats so I don't have to edit the video to edit it.

Other Thoughts: In the end of the day this card is worth it.

Pros: It's a fairly cheap PCI-E Capture Card. It gets the job done.

Cons: It would be nice if I could record AVI files from the AverMedia Center software without being limited to the worst codecs known to mankind. How about some Lagarith or HuffYUV instead of the absolutely awful Xvid and DivX? Or at least let me adjust the bitrate to something reasonable so that it doesn't look horrible, since that option is conspicuously absent from the AVI recording options.

I can record in H.264 with a gigantic bitrate and it'll look fine but then I have to convert it back into an AVI anyway so I can edit it in AviSynth.

Anyway what I'm getting at here is that Avermedia center is a bad piece of software.

Other Thoughts: the Component Video-Red and Audio-Red cables were mislabeled. Nothing swapping the cables can't fix but it's kind of odd.

Also go download AverMedia Center 1.75 (You can find it under the Dark Crystal HD downloads which is a card that hasn't been released yet). It's a bit better than the version on the disc, but it's still not as good as it could be.

Pros: Does everything it's supposed to. 10-in-1 dongle is great. Recordings are clear and crisp, works well(minus details, see below) with Flash Media Encoder for streaming via sites like justin.tv. Capturing as h.264 and using Sony Vegas to edit is fantastic.

Cons: The AverMediaCenter software is pretty junky. The new version is much more stable at least, but it's still wonky, many times I have to close and launch it several times to get it to recognize input. Not HDCP compliant, so HDCP-encrypted devices like the PS3 have to be input using component cables rather than HDMI, and it can't record things off of something like Netflix being played through a game console.

Streaming via Flash Media Encoder works well, however FME only recognizes the YPbPr component input, so you can't stream something on an HDMI input. You also can't stream via FME and view/record via AMC at the same time.

Other Thoughts: Pretty happy with this overall. Likely going to buy a second one to add to my machine along with a YPbPr splitter/amp so that I can stream with FME and record/view with AMC at the same time. Especially for the price, I'd recommend this to friends.

Would be nice if Aver made better software in the future. An affordable HDCP-compliant product would also be great.

Pros: Captures video from a variety of sources, works fairly well with no major problems with the hardware...

Cons: ... however, the included software is sort of junk. I bought this to digitize a whole bunch of home camcorder VHS tapes from the 90's, and after recording for about 10-15m on about 25% of the tapes, it will stop recording stating that it can not capture from 'copyrighted' video sources. I'm not sure if this was because the video source was dropping out occasionally (old tapes.) or what, but it is annoying. I ended up getting around this by using two VCRs, VCR1 had the tape on playback, VCR2 had the output from VCR1 plugged into VCR2, and VCR2's output was plugged into the card.

Eventually, I got fed up with the Fisher Price interface in the included software and switched to VirtualDub. Save yourself some headaches and do the same if you purchase this.

Other Thoughts: Hardware: Good.
Software : Terrible.

Pros: HDMI inputs

Captured video quality looks great

Audio quality comes out great as well

Cons: It would be nice if the actual card had component inputs on it, not really a con though, cause you can obviously go buy a card with actual component inputs on it, if you want.

Other Thoughts: I get about a half a second audio delay with my video, which isn't a huge deal for videogames, but with any type of live action programming, it's pretty annoying. I have a beast of a PC so I know it's not my PC and all my drivers are up to date as well, but still, I get the delay. This could just be the supplied software though, I haven't tried any other capturing software yet. I gave it 4 eggs though because of the delay, it's really annoying and not acceptable, be it the card or the supplied software.

Also, the supplied adapter to run component cables into the HDMI doesn't work. I plugged my XBox360 components into the adapter and then went straight to the capture card and all I get is a blank screen. The component cables work fine on their own and again, I have all the latest drivers installed. I'm kind of disappointed about this.

Otherwise, the card is fantastic!

Pros: I have a Pc with i5 processor and a 1 gig video card. Installed easy and worked first time out. Does exactly what it is made to do. An excellent deal at the $100.00 price range.

Cons: Play back is slightly jerky, but not enough to make a big fuss.
Not recommended for serious or advanced video editors. I deducted 1 egg for that reason only.

Other Thoughts: I would advise purchasing a good video editing and BD burning program. "Toast" or "Nero" are what I use.

Pros: Easy to install, setup was straightforward. Works like it says it does. I had a home video on Hi8 cassette that i wanted to convert to DVD. I bought another device but it was dropping thousands of frames! I returned it and bought this. ZERO dropped frames, even at the highest recording quality!

Cons: Included software is horrible and will not record my home videos because it mistakenly believes they are copyright protected. Luckily, I still have Pinnacle Studio 12 installed from when I had a Dazzle and that program works GREAT with the AVerMedia card. Have not figured out how to get audio yet, but I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong.

Other Thoughts: Thanks NewEgg! Very satisfied.

Pros: *Records video in 1080i
*Good Product for the Price

Cons: *When switching different resolutions will stop recording and must hit the record again.

Other Thoughts: Easy to use. Must use video editing to fuse videos together parts that stopped when switching between resolution.