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AVerMedia MTVHBVMXR TV Tuners & Video Devices
Customer Reviews for AVerMedia AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max MTVHBVMXR USB 2.0 Interface - Retail
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Price: $79.99
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Review Summary (116 Reviews): Rating + 4
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Reviewer Product Review
davebrik
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
1/19/2010 6:29:11 PM

Rating + 4 Avermedia USB Tuner


Pros: The software is an easy install, but download the latest.
Scans and displays effortlessly. Worth the $$$......bypass the cheap ones..

Cons: The manual written and on CD is short on explanation and the software could be a litle more user friendly. This USB will NOT work on USB 1.0 and that should be emphasized.

Other Thoughts: I researched a lot and Avermedia seems to be one of the better tuners
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

By USB specification Data Transfer Speed on USB 1.0 will not support Live TV video.
AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max certified USB 2.0 solution and on Retail Box, we have labeled as USB 2.0.
All recent PC and laptops come with USB 2.0 interface.
If you system older then 5 years, we recomend you to use USB 1.0 to USB 2.0 addapters

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/11/2010 4:33:54 PM

Rating + 4 Works for me in 32bit WinXP Pro and Win7 Ultimate


Pros: Using the lastest drivers, device worked as spec'd in both 32bit WinXP Pro and Win7 Utimate. Managed to pick up all OTA HD content in my local area.

Software is also stable.

Cons: Aver MediaCenter application is klunky.
It would be nice to have separate windowed height and width adjustments as well as the ability to minimize non-video content in windowed mode (title bar, control bar etc...) to allow more efficiency use of desktop real estate when using other apps.

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msujedi
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/30/2009 2:44:26 PM

Rating + 5 Great Product


Pros: -Easy to install & set-up...with a click of a button it scanned & found all of my cable channels. They come in crystal clear.
-Good options regarding recording, yet simple enough to set up. Pausing live-tv works well, just like a regular dvr.
-Pinnacle Studio 10 recognizes it as a capture source, so I'm able to capture TV programs directly into my video editing program in case I want to cut commercials, create a dvd menu, then burn a dvd.
-The avermedia program has a button that opened my web browser to a free website that has a customizable channel listing...quite nice! I can sort it for movies, then program my pc to record from whenever to whenever.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Strange design...but could be a 'pro'...it comes with a 3" usb cable so that the device doesn't stick out of the back of the computer too far, but can hang down along the back of the computer. However, if you're coaxial input cable is too short, you could make up the difference with a longer usb cable and have this device hang or sit wherever it needs to be. It is very lightweight, so hanging from a usb cable doesn't put any extra stress on the usb connection.

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Viðarr
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/28/2009 8:32:40 PM

Rating + 5 Works perfectly in Win7


Pros: Worked perfectly from the get-go! Good reception of all the stations I can get here on my DTV and indoor antenna. The drawstring bag that comes with it is nice. Keeps all its accessories in one place. I haven't tried adding the tuner and its USB cable. That might te a tight fit. Overall, I recommend it highly.

Cons: None. (I haven't tried the little antenna that comes with it, so I can't comment on it.)

Other Thoughts: I attached this to an unamplified log-periodic indoor antenna (TERK HDTVi), plugged it into my Win7 Home Premiun 64 laptop, and it worked perfectly! Win7 found, downloaded, and installed the correct driver within seconds of my plugging it in. I then launched Windows Media Center and was ready to watch and record within a few minutes (as long as it took WMC to look up the stations and set itself up). WMC also reports excellent signal strength on all available channels.

So forget the included s/w, connect to the Net, plug the tuner in, and let Win7 do the rest.

I'm going to get another one for each computer I have. It stays remarkably cool after several hours of continuous use, and the blue LED makes it easy to find in the dark. (This unit replaces a similar Hauppauge unit that simply wore out.) I'm in no way connected to either AVerMedia or Newegg.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/18/2009 12:35:53 AM

Rating + 4 Tech


Pros: Works well and does what it's suppose to do. I work in the field alot and this tuner works well with the laptop in my truck.

Cons: The suction cup for the antenna sucks but the clip on whats well.

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HighTech
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/17/2009 12:07:10 AM

Rating + 1 Not good with 7


Pros: It works with it's own software, which is written poorly.
Works with XP (I don't have Media Center with XP), so I GUESS it works with XP Media Center Edition- but not using MS remote control- it need its own proprietary remote.

Cons: Will not work correctly with 7/32 or 7/64- gets error message "Low Data Rate" after 10 minutes and bluescreens until reset/reboot- Avermedia says that its 7s' Media Centers' fault (specifically, the audio driver)- there is no solution. This device was not made to work with Windows 7 Media Center. It works with its own software application okay, but the app is written so poorly as to be unusable. Really BAD!

This does NOT come with a remote control, and the software included IS NOT compatable with the Microsoft Standard Remote Control- but the MS remote DOES work with Media Center (until I get a "Low Data Rate" error bluescreen). BAD planning, Avermedia!

Their tech support is horrible- i.e. "Pass The Buck", "It Ain't Our Fault"

Other Thoughts: If you have Windows 7 (either 32 or 64 bit) then DO NOT get this tuner. Tech Support only says that it is Media Centers' fault. Funny- Avermedia says that it's media center certified- but, in fact, it is not. Don't believe me- then YOU buy it.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

DCHTPC
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/13/2009 7:16:15 AM

Rating + 4 Works great with Windows 7 Media Center


Pros: I am using this tuner on a laptop I turned into a HTPC running Windows 7 Media Center. By following the directions it was a painless driver install and worked immediately. I have Comcast cable and the ClearQAM and NTSC signals work fine. The HD channels look beautiful.

Cons: Having cable television connected prevents me from receiving any decent FM signals. I would try adding a splitter to run cable and an antenna to it, but that would add leakage from and interference to the cable line- one contributing factor to poor cable everywhere.

Other Thoughts: Media Center's auto channel program defaulted to the analog channels and ignored the digital versions available. I had to manually set up my channels so I could see the true HD versions and not the fuzzy 4:3 backward compatible ones.

I am only able to see the QAM channel numbers. I cannot see the virtual/mapped channel numbers, the user friendly number the cable company assigns. I do not know if this is a weakness with the tuner or with Media Center.

For example, Comcast has the local Fox HD channel listed in their channel lineup as being on virtual/mapped channel 213. My HTPC and Sony TV only show it as physical channel 5.1. Comcast doesn't have a listing of their remapping, instead insisting I get their set top box and watch their way.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/11/2009 11:10:56 PM

Rating + 5 It's Magic


Pros: Plugged it in, installed drivers from CD, it works as advertized works on both XP and Vista. The little antenna is amazing for it's size I recieva all my local channels.

Cons: The software does not make it easy to find recorded video if one is using several locations to store media. Not a big deal for me but my wife struggles. Mabe I will just have to add a harddrive just for the recorded shows.

Other Thoughts: My laptop struggles to play 1080p in full screen mode but I think it has to do with the hardware in the laptop.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/22/2009 12:01:26 PM

Rating + 2 Do not purchase if you use Windows XP 64bit


Pros: Comes with A/V cables and hookup, which enables a laptop to act as a monitor to play console video games (PS3, Xbox etc.)

Cons: Horrendously optimized for Windows XP. With the majority of reviews being positive for this product, I can only assume that they are using a different OS. I use Windows XP 64bit, which, according to the box. is supported by the product None of the software that came with the tuner worked, and when I contacted tech support (while helpful), said that the tuner was not supported by win xp 64. The techy gave me some drivers to download which were impossible to find on the website, which allowed the MediaCenter to at least install and start-up. However, if I run any other program at all, it's not a question of if, it's when my computer will freeze. Even running Opera or Internet Explorer with Aver MediaCenter running simultaneously will eventually cause a freeze. I have a quad core processor and 6gb of ram, so this problem obviously points to the faulty tv tuner or poor optimization. Also, recording a 2 hour movie through the MediaCenter eats up 100 gb for some reason (no thats not a typo)

Other Thoughts: If you plan to turn your computer into a televsion with no room for any multitasking (which defeats the purpose to me), then get this product. Otherwise, stay away from this one.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max does support Windows XP 64 bit. We do have drivers and application that you can download from our website. http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=431&tab=APDriver

AVer MediaCenter records in MPEG2. MPEG2 is high quality video and does take up alot of storage space.

Please contact Technical Support at 877-774-4543 if you have any questions.

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

IronSinew
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/12/2009 4:01:07 PM

Rating + 4 Good product


Pros: It's portable, it's light-weight, it's great for someone who doesn't want (or know how) to open up their case and put in a PCI video tuner card. It's reasonably priced and works well.

Cons: The software that comes bundled with this is terrible. At first I thought the odd skipping and sound issues to be the hardware, but the hardware actually functions quite nicely. AVer's bundle software is just so poorly laid out. Use Windows Media Center or some other program other than AVerMedia's so you can have a guide, stream it to your xbox360, just don't use that software!

Other Thoughts: I dropped an egg just because the software bundled was so bad. The cable at my complex is far from being close to "good" signal, but this little USB 2.0 baby does quite well enough.

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Chris Rosko
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/12/2009 2:40:05 AM

Rating + 4 Good but has its hiccups


Pros: Works quick and effortlessly once set-up properly, displays all desired content well and does not miss any channels.

Cons: Takes a long time to set-up the initial channels and can be difficult if you are unsure of what settings to use. Has some trouble with interference and cannot be moved or else interference in displayed on the picture.

Other Thoughts: I bought the card to watch tv at college on my 1080p monitor. It displays all of the hd channels perfectly, the only problem is that whenever my computer (a laptop) is moved and the card is shifted, my picture is interupted and sometimes remains messed up until I fix the orientation of the card. Overall it does everything it advertises and does it well. The media player included was used for a short time but I mainly stream my windows media to my xbox, so I cannot give an accurate review of the software.

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StellarRat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/6/2009 11:12:23 AM

Rating + 4 Works.


Pros: Works as advertised. Picture and sound are excellent if the incoming signal is strong. Receiver is very sensitive specially considering the size of the included antenna. Pickups a ton of FM stations. More than my big stereo receiver!

Cons: Supplied software works, but the interface is really poorly designed. Took quite a bit of "experimenting" to figure out how to do basic operations like rescan the channels. Have had a few lockups while changing channels, but seems to work fine if you don't flip a lot. Haven't had any luck picking up VHF signals with the included antenna. Probably because the wave length would require a much longer set of "ears".

Other Thoughts: The included antenna is tiny, but amazingly the receiver antenna combo seems to work as well as my big UHF roof antenna. I live about 55 miles from the some of the stations and they are coming in just fine on the tiny antenna they send you. I need to try a different antenna to see if I can pull in some of the VHF stations that I can receive on my big TV and antenna.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Shawn F
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/3/2009 5:15:45 AM

Rating + 1 Great device, no ESD proctection


Pros: Great picture! Software installed easily.

Cons: Do NOT touch the external antenna unless you are grounded. I went to adjust the antenna and the ESD from walking across the room killed the tuner. Doesn't seem like a good design to me. Hopefully they will replace it when I call for a RMA.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

Please contact Technical Support to determine if the product has been defective to issue an RMA. We provide one year warranty for repair or replace if the product is defective.

Technical Support toll free line: 877-774-4543

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

wayninja
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
10/17/2009 2:15:21 PM

Rating + 3 Average


Pros: Good picture, antenna

Cons: slow and clunky software, tech support is very responsive with "can't, won't, wait and no", on the expensive side

Other Thoughts: This is a decent piece of hardware, however the Software is not very good at all. There is no way to add channels manually and scanning channels destroys any customization done to channel settings. Also there is no way to backup settings or apply to multiple profiles (i.e. if you log in to windows as a different user, you have to start from scratch). The software interface is slow and ATSC/NTSC channels are separate so you have to choose a different when you want one or the other instead of seamless channel surfing. I have also notice that sometimes the scan wizard pulls in channels slightly out of order from my televisions which I don't quite get.

I have asked their tech support several questions to try to resolve these problems and although responsive, tech support invariable answers with a negative or at best 'wait a few months for a tool'. Website FAQ is nearly non-existent, expect to be asking questions.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,
Thank you for sharing your experience with us and providing us with suggestion on how to improve our application.

Currently we do offer an tool to back up your TV Channels line up, and you can use it to either transfer to another computer or as back up.
As far as supporting multiple profiles, we recommend users to setup individually per Windows users. In this case admin will have an option to block some channels (Parental Control)
In case if you are using Over-the-Air ATSC your channels number on TV and TV Tuners will be the same. If you are signal Clear QAM, most TV lists channels by Frequency which is different then TV tuners. However in AVer MediaCenter you can manually change channel numbers (please see manual)

In case if you need technical support we do offer toll free support phone (Technical Support number 877-774-4543) and Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

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JD
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
10/3/2009 4:09:14 AM

Rating + 5 Works well!


Pros: Hooked it up to the antenna, plugged it in to my usb port and was watching TV within 7 min using Vista 64-bit Media Center. Little antenna works quite well in any room, including basement. By air, I'm approx 15 miles from all of the TV station antennas. Picture is crystal clear, every bit as good as cable. I was able to hook up my TWC DVR via the coax to capture (using Roxio Creator 2009) recorded shows to my lappy so I could watch them while on a business trip.

Cons: Only one con, won't hold a signal while in a moving car so don't bother. A bigger antenna might help??

Other Thoughts: Try antennaweb.org to see how good your signal strength should be. It was very accurate in my case. Didn't buy from newegg. It only happens about once every 5 yrs so worry not, the egg still rocks!

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mikemac4344
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/2/2009 5:55:55 PM

Rating + 5 Great Gadget


Pros: The device itself is simple, works very well. and delivers excellent video and sound. I use it as a television receiver as well as for FM radio. While it can also be used as a music player (mp3 files and the like), photo manager and video player, it seems overkill for those functions.

The software interface is quir

Cons: I found the software setup confusing until I just closed my eyes and accepted all the defaults. When it did the channel scan, every channel was off by one...I repeated the scan and all was right with the world. Giving the channels names is an exercise in patience.

Other Thoughts: If I could have given it 4.5 stars, I would have...the software really is quirky.

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bob
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/1/2009 7:02:27 PM

Rating + 4 Great Unit


Pros: USB so I didn't have to install inside computer and can move to other computers easily. HD reception is excellent. SD reception is excellent. Works with my cable service for unencrypted channels. Drivers are stable. Software works. Also works with WMC.

Cons: The software that comes with it needs improvement. Interface is clunky and somewhat hard to use. I often have a hard time figuring out what channel is tuned in. The need to manually switch between digital and analog tuners instead of a seemless channel surf.

Other Thoughts: The radio gadget is detected as JS/Wonka trojan but it appears to be a false detection, I have email into McAfee so hopefully they will fix. The false detection can interfere with installation and use.

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evo
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/26/2009 2:00:39 PM

Rating + 2 Not for XP SP2


Pros: Has good picture quality and has good hardware.

Cons: Horrible software. I tried every combination of AverMedia software and driver packages for XP. It froze every time I tried to use QAM. Sometimes it froze immediately after swithing to QAM from analog, sometimes it took a while. And if I left it on QAM, it froze immediately when opening the TV software.

Other Thoughts: A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD 3400+ @ 2.4 Ghz
3GB Ram
XP SP2
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

We have updated version on our website for AVer MediaCenter. Please download updated version as many bugs had been addressed. http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=431&tab=APDriver

Please contact Technical Support at 877-774-4543 if you have any questions.

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

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stealth94rt
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/23/2009 8:45:47 PM

Rating + 5 Works Great!


Pros: Easy to install. Pretty decent software (much better than the Hauppauge that I tried previously). Includes an external antenna and everything else you need (except for a remote). Great features and price = good value.

Cons: No remote, look like there is an optional one, based on what I saw in the owner's manual.

Other Thoughts: I had previously tried one of the Hauppauge units, and was disappointed - the unit worked OK on my system, but would not install on my son's PC, and the software was teriible. The AverMedia unit has much better software, and seems to work as advertised. After running it for a few hours, it is slightly warm, but not hot. I have not had any technical problems, so far. I am planning on hooking it up to my cable feed tomorrow to see how that works.

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Tom
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/20/2009 7:30:18 PM

Rating + 2 HD Could be better


Pros: Inexpensive, analog works great. USB interface is very handy - easy to switch computers if need be. Found channels I did not even know I got!

Cons: Won't stay tuned to HD channels, after about an hour of watching HD, the channel will jump up to the next higest one, will then have no sound. Does it even with 95% or more quality on the signal.
Tried to fill out an online Technical Support Form - link goes to a page that displays garbage. HD can also quickly pause/skip at times.
Software could be much better - when using time shift, the time bar will not go away in full screen mode. No way to save a time shifted program. No way to jump back to the last channel you were watching.

Other Thoughts: Would have given 4 stars if HD would work better, 5 if software was improved. I would RMA it, but had to use UPC for rebate.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

Since you are getting video issue please check the driver date of the graphic card and update the drivers if the current one is outdated. We also have updated AVer MediaCenter 1.7.5 that you can download on our website. http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=431&tab=APDriver

Please contact Technical Support at 877-774-4543 if you have any questions.

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Barge
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/14/2009 11:00:03 AM

Rating + 3 Decent hardware, bloated software


Pros: The HW has a lot of features. Most of the basics you need are covered. If you want ATSC, FM radio and composite in, this has it.

Cons: -It gets hot. It won't burn you, but it's noticeable. Use the USB extension to move it further away.
-AverMedia Center is slow. Slow to boot and slow when running.
-AverMedia Center is almost entirely mouse-driven. Navigating it is quite the chore.
-Seems like it won't run with a lot of tuner software. I was unrealistically hoping that it would run with Radiator. Silly me. Just use the included software.

Other Thoughts: I think this unit will be much more useful to me when I find some well-designed FM/ATSC software. I feel uncomfortable working in Visual Studio with that monstrosity running in the background just to play FM radio.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

We have updated AVer MediaCenter on our website that you can download. http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=431&tab=APDriver
AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max is compatible with Sage TV, Beyond TV, or Cyberlink PowerCinema.

Please contact Technical Support at 877-774-4543 if you have any questions.

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

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pwcorgi
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/8/2009 9:24:43 PM

Rating + 4 Pretty good tv tuner!


Pros: Very easy setup with Avermedia software, and with the multimedia dongle, I was able to play my ps3 on my laptop with hardly no lag if any. That was very cool!

Cons: Trying to run the setup on WMC wasn't as good. Many times, the tuner was "not" found, even though the blue light was on. The device needs to be of stronger material. I almost broke the usb from the circuit board. That may be the reason WMC is having trouble.

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leenaud
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2009 7:30:27 PM

Rating + 2 Worked OK on Vista, No sound on XP-SP3


Pros: Well made, excellent picture, software takes some time to get used to but then is easy to use. Recording schedules can be named properly.

Cons: Worked fine under Vista. Had to move it to XP-SP3 pro machine, Again picture is excellent. Sound does not come on sometimes, Have to change channels(????) to make the sound work(Never heard of that). When recording TV the playback of the recording has no sound. Avermedia told me to install latest drivers for my audio card and install the ac3 filter. Both items were already installed. I do have sound when recording to WMV format. Ugghh!

Other Thoughts: Will tinker with it a little more. I have also a Hauppauge 950q and that works fine on both machines, so I don't think is my hardware or software configurations.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

AVer MediaCenter records in ac3 audio format and it does require ac3 filter installed in order to hear audio when playing back recorded files on another application. Here is the link to the latest ac3 filter. http://ac3filter.net/project/1/releases

Please contact Technical Support at 877-774-4543 if you have any questions.

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2009 9:46:31 AM

Rating + 2


Pros: it did what it was supposed to. I got good reception through it and never had a problem with image quality.

Cons: flimsy product held together by cheap plastic and little solder on the usb connecter

Other Thoughts: broke with little to no effort after 5-6 days
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

We provide one year warranty for repair a replace defective products. Please contact us at 877-774-4543 if the product is defective.

Live Chat is also available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

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hightechelec
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/21/2009 5:08:43 PM

Rating + 5 problems with 7 (32 or 64)


Pros: PIP(3 channels at once), S-Video, composite video inputs. Works peachy in XP- truely 1080i in full screen mode (assuming you have a 1920 X 1080 monitor)
Detected 147 digital channels in Modesto Comcast (only 23 available unlocked), gets ALL Comcast analog channels (70 channels)

AverMedia tech support is...actually...pretty good- they responded to my request within 12 hours (by telling me that there is no resolution)

Cons: Using Win7 (32 or 64) gets problems "Low Data Rate" bluescreen. This is a known problem with 7- no fix available yet (that I'm aware of- and I'm looking). I freaked out trying to "fix" this problem (on my multimedia system)-
Using MCE, can't record S-Video or composite (using EXTRAS app in MCE, provided by Avermedia)- but this is a design flaw with MCE- NOT Avermedia. Manual is 4 pages long, dedicates 2 pages to the remote control(not included) and the IR (also, not included).
Included software is...really yucky- but it DOES allow me to record composite or S-Video NTSC, while MCE does not allow it.
NOTE: ALL video tuner devices are reporting problems with 7 "low data rate", so this problem is not unique to Avermedia. The error message pops up every 10 minutes or so...and kills my recordings.

Other Thoughts: I bought this because it's supposed to be "the best of the best"- and it kinda is- but the included software is...a total trainwreck. BE SURE to get the latest drivers from manufacturer- the included software plays at VERY low volume levels, but is fixed with "Beta" software.

Gigabye GA-E7AUM-DS2H (NVidia 9400), Intel E8400 3Ghz Dual-core, 8GB (4 X 2Gb Corsair XMS2 800), WD Caviar Black 7200RPM SATA-ll, Plextor DVD SATA ll, Linksys WMP54 ver. 4.1 (Ralink 64 bit drivers), Acer 23.3" 1920 X 1080 HDMI/DVI/VGA display

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Alex
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/20/2009 1:19:08 PM

Rating + 5 Absolutely Amazing


Pros: Works perfectly with windows 7 rtm x64 media center. do not even need aver software unless you use rca or svideo input which isnt great for wii. scanned for channels in about 5 minutes on regular cable, havent used OTA but i expect it will work

Cons: no remoted, ordered a vista MCE IR remote

Other Thoughts: custom computer build, i7 x58 gtx 285, 24 inch wide dell monitor 1920x1200. get this its wonderful for TV, regular channels look great, HD channels look real

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Dave
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/14/2009 4:27:50 PM

Rating + 1 Junk.


Pros: Little lag when recording from Composite. Good for recording console games.

Cons: Software: The software this comes with is total junk. It's horrendously ugly, hard to use, and annoying. Why is so horrible about using Window's look that is too bad for them? Using Windows Media Center is MUCH better.

Video quality: This devices claims on up to 720p. This is a utter B.S. claim. The picture quality on this looks WORSE then on my 15+ year old CRT Sony TV. That, PLUS it will NOT display anything in color, only black and white.

Other Thoughts: I bought a similar device by EyeTV for 5$, used. Much better device. Save your money and buy a different brand.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max is Hybrid tuner and it's capable to capture Analog signal from S-Video/Composite or RF in Maximum resolution of 720 × 480 (480i/p resolution)
And on Digital Part either from Over-The-Air ATSC or Digital Cable QAM up to 1080i.

If you are seeing Black in White Video on analog on Windows 7 OS, this isssue has been fix with new driver released, please download from our support side www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv or run Windows 7 Update

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Jnaz
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
8/11/2009 4:33:16 PM

Rating + 5 FIVE EGG: Best TV tuner card yet...


Pros: Easy to set up, comes with great accessories, USB 2.0, external, changing the channel is faster now so is setting up channels for signal strength.
I was having a difficult time getting my media center to pick up certain stations(none were fully green, about half were fully yellow). I spent about a month moving the antenna all over the house, buying connectors new cables, new antennas, nothing would come in green. Well I tried the same antenna setup with my flat-screen and no issues. So I said it has to be the TV tuner card. I read a review saying this was one of the best so I got it. I had a two other tuner cards; ATI and Saphire. Both worked. Now all 21 OTA channels are fully green two still red. Antenna tweaking will fix it.

Cons: It is larger than it looks, so you may not be able to stick it straight into the USB port because of the width. But it comes with a short extension.
Blue light eliminates, but that is minor.

Other Thoughts: This unit was half the cost of the other two I have (Open Box). I have wasted so many hours trying to get my Vista Windows Media Center to have perfect reception. I wish I would have bought this card first. It comes with a cute micro antenna perfect size for laptop toting. Not sure if it is any good as I am using one of the antennas from the other cards.
Comes with PVR software, that gave good channel information, looked great but I don't like it as much as WMC; it was too bright and colorful.
With this unit, I don't see how anyone wouldn't use this over cable television. Better quality picture, oh and no monthly charge ;o).
I guess my only other wishlist would be to be able to watch one channel while recording another(maybe if I got another one)? Minor though.

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Harrkev
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/11/2009 8:21:43 AM

Rating + 5 Great for the money


Pros: This unit works great. It receives ATSC (digital broadcast TV), QAM (digital cable), NTSC (analog broadcast TV), FM radio, DIgital FM Radio (unable to test this in my area), and Composite + SuperVideo (good for video game systems). It runs great on my 1.6 Atom netbook (running XP home). The manufacturer even supplies Linux drivers on the web site. Installing into Ubuntu simply requires running one script as root. The Linux part just installs drivers. You are still stuck trying to use the Kaffeine player (which I still have not figured out how to use, so I have not fully tested Linux compatability. Kaffeine did auto-scan and find all local channels, so I assume that it works).

Cons: The included antenna is not very good. Of course, this has to be the case, since it is small. Bigger antenna = more signal = more to carry. Everything about antennas is a compromise between size and strength, so I think that the antenna is fine for its intended purposes. I can pick up all local stations from the top story of my house. The unit also does NOT report any sort of signal strength. This will make is somewhat harder to orient the antenna for maximum signal. Not a big deal, though. Lastly, the included software is kind of clumsy, but it is functional.

Other Thoughts: Overall, this unit does pretty much everything I expected, and then some. I am glad that I got this unit. It does get a little warm while in use. Software is mediocre. They provide a short USB extension cable, which you SHOULD use, since the unit is much larger than a USB drive, and too much pressure could break your USB port.

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ReasonablyHappyVista
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/30/2009 8:46:22 PM

Rating + 5 Works great... if you're lucky


Pros: Works good. When it works. I have tried it in two MSI motherboards. One has a 2.4 GHz Q6600 Intel Core2 Quad with 8GB RAM. The other is a 3.0GHz Phenom X4 AMD Quad-core with 6GB of RAM. Both are running Vista 64 Media Center.

I have an AverMedia PCIe card that works fine on both, but for some reason the Volar Max doesn't work well on the AMD system. The odd thing is that it seems to work works except that the HD reception has bad video artifacts that look like noise. Yet the same computer and same cable connection with the PCIe card works fine, and a different computer with the Volar Max works fine.

Cons: With Windows Media Center, I can use the Volar Max (and in fact this is true of the PCIe card as well) for either Analog or High-Def, but not both. Luckily I have some old Hauppauge analog cards lying around for the non-digital channels.

Other Thoughts: Vista Media Center is lame, but once it works, it's pretty cool. Your best bet is to install Vista (at least SP2) from scratch and then install the Vista Media Center TV Pack. Otherwise you will not be able to see the ClearQAM channels (you *must* install the TV pack on top of a recent install).

I had to manually tell Vista Media Center that the AverMedia card was attached to a ClearQAM source. Left to its own devices it selected it as an analog source and never detected the HD signal.

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Dongle
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/22/2009 9:01:40 PM

Rating + 4


Pros: Small package, good accessories, good picture, and fair tuner selectivity.

Cons: Volume is very poor. Volume is only controlled by PC volume control, no software adjustment of volume in AVer MediaCenter to increase volume beyond that of sound card adjustmnets. Gets kind of hot too.

Other Thoughts: Aver Media software works OK by its self, does not interface with Win XP pro or other video application in XP. Could be a 5-egg device if volume was louder. I can't give it 5-eggs since it is hard to hear due to low volume.

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hpowell
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/15/2009 2:39:29 PM

Rating + 5 Happy so far


Pros: - Quick and Easy install
- Gets great radio and some TV station reception
- Comes with a bunch of adapters
- Feels solid

Cons: - the unit has a very bright blue LED light
- takes a bit to search for radio stations

Other Thoughts: Apart from the 2 small things that bothered me about this I am very glad I bought it.

Here's a back story. I purchased PC components from other manufacturers about 2 weeks ago. They haven't arrived. I purchased this item 2 days ago and it arrives. Gotta love newegg and their amazing speed

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JU58
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/14/2009 11:52:13 PM

Rating + 1 Did not work


Pros: Did not work - no signal

Cons: I was not able to get this thing to work - it did not receive a signal. Tried it with the supplied antenna, tried it with an external antenna - no success. What a wast of time and money.

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Rogr
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/14/2009 10:57:47 AM

Rating + 4 Great little tuner (corrected review)


Pros: TV and Radio work extremely well. Clear picture and sound. Can't get anything with antenna where I live, but with coaxial connection it's fantastic. Recording works very well. Hooking up VCR to make DVDs from VHS tapes is a breeze. Works great with XP Home. Nice small size. Hooking it up couldn't be easier.

Cons: (Not sure what happened to the Cons I wrote in my first review, so I'm trying again). Like many others have said, the software is extremely poor and counter-intuitive. Once you figure it out, it does works OK, but I think the whole thing needs a complete design makeover to be more user-friendly. I've had some audio sync problems with recording to Divx format, but that may be more related to my older computer.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I'm very pleased with this little unit. It's performance exceeded my expectations. If only the software was better.

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Rogr
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/13/2009 9:37:45 AM

Rating + 4 Great little tuner


Pros: TV and Radio work extremely well. Clear picture and sound. Can't get anything with antenna where I live, but with coaxial connection it's fantastic. Recording works very well. Hooking up VCR to make DVDs from VHS tapes is a breeze. Works great with XP Home. Nice small size. Hooking it up couldn't be easier.

Cons: TV and Radio work extremely well. Clear picture and sound. Can't get anything with antenna where I live, but with coaxial connection it's fantastic. Recording works very well. Hooking up VCR to make DVDs from VHS tapes is a breeze. Works great with XP Home. Nice small size. Connecting it to the computer couldn't be easier.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I'm very pleased with this little unit. It's performance exceeded my expectations. If only the software was better.

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Ricky
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/11/2009 5:00:20 PM

Rating + 5 Aver Media Center Flunks


Pros: The only real perk is the ease of use in all aspects (except for the low quality Aver Media Center). Also versitility of the tuner is a plus. Can think of no other tuner in this price range that is of this quality :(

I have to use this tuner in my dorm, as I don't have room for a TV and my HD monitor. I do not get high def through my cable, but over the air seems clear enough, though not much to select from in my area. Or maybe it is not picking up all available channels like some have listed here.

Cons: Hickups on some analog (NTSC) stations. Very very and annoying fuzz on all analog input. This is primarily due to their codec choices on the decoder, encoder Aver uses. The best picture quality can be obtained with VLC player however, at present time i cannot get the sound to work at all. Hybrid Volar Max does not show up in VLC player audio input in the capture section. This is the biggest flaw, poor analog and inability to change decoders, encoders on the fly.

At present time, there is no crystal clear and fully customizable tuner card. This is total bull and should be looked into by all companies. Instead of making these apps for the basic user, professional quality customization should be added.

Using GraphEdit, i was able to get a clearer and sharper picture by changing codecs around. This could be much easier to do if implemented in the base software package.

Other Thoughts: It is a good solid product, even with the flaws and lowsy analog picture. It is still on par with other tuners. Most of the flaws i listed can be pertained to ALL tuner cards at present time.

I highly recommend this product, give it a shot while its cheap.

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Brianod
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/11/2009 9:24:40 AM

Rating + 4 Can be great with 3rd part software


Pros: Possibly the best hardware for standard NTSC TV tuning I have yet tried (and I have tried a lot). Very nice picture and all coax cable supplied Comcast channels come in well. No lag in channel changes, no glitches so far. Does not run too hot.

Cons: Supplied 3 inch antenna (6 inch unfolded) is useless.

Supplied software is terrible, practically unusable, everything others have said about tiny text on high res monitors, inability to title programs to be recorded, obscure interface. See other thoughts about my solution. It's a shame that such good hardware is defeated by the supplied recording software.

Other Thoughts: This is my 6th tv tuner device, some have been pci, others USB. Kwo*ld tuners, which are not very good hardware, supply Arcsoft Total Media 3 software which picks up this Avermedia device automatically and works well making this combo a good solution. Download the trial from Arcsoft and see for yourself. Just be sure the Avermedia driver is loaded first. Works on both the standard NTSC and Hi-Def options of this device. However, since this a hybrid device, you must reconfigure the hardware when you switch from NTSC to Hi-def and back. This is pretty standard.

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zhane
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/10/2009 4:41:52 PM

Rating + 5 nice


Pros: Since it is external, great for HTPC. Hook it up to VMC with TV pack and got QAM channels. Sweet.

Cons: Included software is immature. But I don't really care since I intend to use it with VMC.

Other Thoughts: Running on AMD 4050e with 2GB ram without any hiccup.

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Camtek
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/8/2009 10:56:11 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent Product


Pros: Easy, Small, Great performance....Also works great with Windows Media Center. For $60 you cant ask for more!

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: A longer USB cord would be nice, but I guess you cant ask for everything.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/8/2009 11:42:59 AM

Rating + 4 Mmmmm, K


Pros: When it was all setup the video quality was pretty good I thought and it picked up channels much better than my Kworld stick I bought for giggles last week. Didn't get very warm and small. Like the hardware so far.

Cons: The software isn't intuitive and functionality it is awkward. The people that tested it were probably the software engineers themselves. Cough.

Other Thoughts: Had high hopes for getting this to work in Linux. Compiled the driver without error on Fedora 11 but it is only verified to work on Fedora 7 and 8. It would kinda work every now and then and once actually hard locked my Linux box. It also caused issues with Alsa and Pulse (audio). Wasted about three hours fighting it before giving up. Bummer to, I was wanting to only boot Visduh about 10% of the time for games but I need my TV, if for nothing else background noise.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/6/2009 7:03:36 PM

Rating + 5 Exactly what you are looking for


Pros: PNP with windows 7, but works better once the provided drivers are installed
Digital cable looks crystal clear
analog looks clear when a split connection is NOT used
usb means that it won't cause vga heating problems

Cons: uses a decent amount of cpu power. I have a PII x4 that idles at about 800mhz per core, and live TV takes about 20% of this speed. I also have a radeon 4770.
The software is terreble. the only thing i could use was fm radio.

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svhorizon
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
7/5/2009 8:33:49 AM

Rating + 1 Does not work for me


Pros: Dongle is included to capture video.

Cons: This unit has an extremely poor tuner and refuses to tune any stations that are more than 4 miles away. About a month ago I built my HTPC with AMD 5050e (45W 2x 64 bit Athalon). 4GB, Vista 32-bit Home Premium. I live in Tampa and my Samsung LCD TV with an attic mounted RCA ANT1550 antenna finds 39 digital stations - all the major local stations show 7/8 bar signals and the TV never gets signal hiccups. The AVerMedia tuner, connected to the same antenna, only gets usable signal on two stations that have antennas 4 miles away from me. All the rest (6-10 miles away) show a single (red) bar on the Vista Media Center Digital Tuner page and trying to watch them shows only a "No Signal" message.
Also, if I leave the signal strength running for more than about 3 minutes, I get a Vista BSOD with a fatal error in the AVerMedia driver. I download the latest January 2009 drivers from the AVewrMedia site but that did not help the aborting.

Other Thoughts: It is a shame the tuner is so poor in this unit. I bought it based on the NewEgg recommendations but I have just not had the same good experience. I was hoping to use this tuner and MCE to time-shift OTA shows but obviously that is not going to happen.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

Please contact techncial support at (408) 942-2121 so we can troubleshoot the issue.

Live chat is available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

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eliastech
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/4/2009 2:48:17 PM

Rating + 3 Is this the best?


Pros: Compact. Driver, software and device installed easily. Came with a USB dongle and mini antenna. Clear QAM HD channels over Bronx, Cablevision came in beautifully (no FOXHD).

Cons: SD channels are fuzzy. Software is unintuitive, limited and buggy (lots of hangs). Third party software just doesn't like it. Drivers are rather old, latest drivers are from 12/08. EPG programming guide doesn't work very well. It shows about 4 channels. Setting up favorites is painful and doesn't work well as the Default channels ends up staying default.

Other Thoughts: I'd give it 2.5 stars if it were an option. Vista MCE only plays ANALOG (Microsoft's doing not Aver). Trying to trick it using Antenna didn't work for me. Using it with SageTV gave me only the second BSOD in Vista. Never could finish the install. BSOD on accessing the BDA driver. ArcSoft TotalMedia 3.5 couldn't find the digital driver. Can't remember but I think Cyberlink Power Cinema had the same issue. I know it didn't work so I uninstalled the trial.

I'm using Vista 64, 8800 GTS (g92) in SLI with latest drivers. Q6600, 780i Motherboard, 8GB Ram.

NewEgg rocks, but you know that. I'm thinking about getting Hauppauge's 950Q as that seems to be supported by all the third party software. I'll be getting a good OTA antenna and if that gets all the local channels including HD that I want I'll just keep this AverTV.

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Duke
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/29/2009 12:39:22 PM

Rating + 5 Works perfectly...highly recommended!


Pros: Great features, clean interface, user friendly, and performs as advertised.

Cons: Audio level varies greatly on ATSC stations, but it did the same thing with another tuner stick that I tried.

Other Thoughts: This unit was a breeze to install and get up and running. What a relief after dealing with many problems using a Hauppauge WinTV unit on my HP Media Center computer.

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Tat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/27/2009 4:36:15 AM

Rating + 1 Blue Screen of Death! Yikes!


Pros: Pulled in lots of HDTV stations.... and that's it.

Cons: This tuner/software crashed 2 computers (core i7 and a dual core). I could get it going and the signal looked great, but then it would crash. Sometimes from changing the channel. Sometimes from recording. I even got the blue screen of death, which I haven't gotten since windows 98. Instantly sending this back. Terrible product.

Other Thoughts: I work with video for a living (full editing of AVCHD, DV, ect since 1997). I also have Tversity streaming to my Buffalo Link Theater).... In other words - I KNOW computer video. I KNOW codecs.

I installed the latest downloaded software on a high end video editing machine - crashed during channel changes. Then I installed on a dual core that didn't have all the 'extra' video programs my main computer has. Recorded a bit, and then big crash (blue screen!).
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

We recently released new drivers for AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max. Drivers are downloadable at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=431&tab=APDriver

If you still need technical support please contact us at (408)942 - 2121.

Live chat is available at http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv

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Tech lurker 626
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/20/2009 9:24:18 AM

Rating + 4 AVerMedia AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max MTVHBVMXR USB 2.0 Interface


Pros: It work fine. I can pick up channel off the air like HDTV channel. I can select the radio. It is compatible with any operation.

Cons: It cant seem to pick all the HDTV channel off the air. It lagging when it try to scan or search channel for tv channel or radio. Sometime it does freeze, i have to restart the program for it. I hope they would fix the firmware on this .. selection on TV & FM radio is pain.
i guess it is good for its price.

Other Thoughts: they need remote control for it

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Sonic
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/17/2009 8:26:58 AM

Rating + 4 Great HD Tuner


Pros: Great tuner - pulls in all stations available with ease - better than my ATI PCI tuner card. Very affordable and painless installation. Got it here for 59 bucks with free shipping - Go Newegg!

Cons: Included software is a little odd. Very basic but works fine in my experience. Not a very intuitive interface by any means. Click "Live TV" to go full screen for example, so takes a bit to get used to. I didn't bother setting up any of the features other than HD channels as that's all I am interested in. DVR features in included software is lacking. Can't name recordings and other annoyances.

Other Thoughts: Using this tuner as a 2nd tuner in Media Center - works flawlessly. For Media Center users I would rate this as a 5, but for those that will use the included software I give it a 4. The shear quality of the tuner itself is really impressive for the price.

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Soarntz
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/10/2009 6:11:23 AM

Rating + 4 AverMedia Hybrid USB TV Tuner


Pros: Portable, small "Carry-Bag" included that keeps all the parts together. Short USB "Dongle" included. Excellent Picture on my 1080 HD Laptop Display.

Cons: Software installation required I uninstall the first install and reinstall. the install directions are minimal and NOT satisfactory! the second install was successful!

Other Thoughts: I am impressed with the Picture Quality and the available stations ( 2 Analog & 6 Digital) are received reliably with included antenna. I purchased this device so I could watch TV on my deck without running a Cable outside and having to also carry a TV out to the deck. This device meets the intended purpose very well. I have not experimented with the other features as I am not interested in them at this time. This is the ONLY TV tuner device I have ever purchased so my experience with other brands is NIL. I would reccomend this product as I know it for the purpose I am using it. I cannot speak to any other features at this time.

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Pete
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/1/2009 8:35:12 AM

Rating + 4 Works Great


Pros: Great for analog to digital conversion, this is the main reason I bought it and it couldn't be easier (converting my VHS to DVD)

Cons: The mediacenter does require time to set up the TV channels, but I guess this is expected.

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Hungry1968
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/27/2009 12:17:27 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent TV tuner


Pros: It came with bundled software, but we use it with Windows Media Center, and it works perfectly. I would highly recommend this product to anyone. No tech knowledge was required - thread the cable TV wire on the USB dongle, and then plug it into an open USB port.
Installation time was measured in seconds!

Cons: None

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Kajel
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/27/2009 7:14:57 AM

Rating + 5 Works great with Win7RC


Pros: All I had to do was plug it in, Win7rc found some drivers, then installed the Win7 beta driver from Aver site. Ran Media Center TV setup and I was watching OTA HD.

Cons: none yet

Other Thoughts: It was great not having to install any app. Windows 7 Media Center is so awesome and this device works great with it.

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techyvideoguy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/24/2009 10:51:57 PM

Rating + 1 volar max too resource hungry


Pros: small and seems to be chock full of good features. Radio worked fine.

Cons: Tried to use on two different systems and the tv function did not function smoothly on either system (XPSP3 2gbram, dual core 4800+amd, and hplaptop 3gbram, 1.5ghz cpu). This has such potential and yet it is unusable for any tv related functions on these systems (even with the newest drivers from avermedia, jan09). Have not tried disabling the averquick function mentioned on another review. But after a few months of starting fresh, will not spend anymore time with this. Am now using a hauppauge hvr 1950, not perfect, but better.

Other Thoughts: I have the avermedia nanoexpress expresscard laptop internal version for my laptop and it works great. I guess the problem is with the USB versions for all of these adapters (no matter the brand).

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George Washington
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/19/2009 2:48:20 PM

Rating + 4 Good not perfect, required user tweaks


Pros: Complete setup with all except a remote that I would not use anyway.
Ran on both my desktop and to my surprise also on my Atom based MSI netbook.

Cons: Avermedia software needs some work

Other Thoughts: Much better than the Hauppauge 950Q??? unit that I returned for aborting on my desktop. Worked with email support and was never able to get corrected. This unit also had a the same problem with the provided software. Avermedia support was okay, two emails. One to clarify my set up (Q9300, ATI 4870 512mb, 4gb ram) and the second to tell me to update my drivers. Duh, thanks I just built the system so yes they were up to date. Giving up on their escalation tree I tried several items myself. The one that finally cured this was turning off AverQuick. Some type of conflict with the toolbar app, the Avermedia app, XP SP3 and my machine. If this hadn't solved it I would have returned and given this one egg! I was also able to get to work most of the time by changing the priority of the app in Task Manager to higher than normal or real time. Turning off AverQuick was better and didn't require this manual adjustment each time.

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Kryptyx
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/13/2009 11:54:42 AM

Rating + 5 Windows 7 Compatable!


Pros: This thing is great! I originally bought this to use on XP but with all the hype of Windows 7 RC1 I decided to upgrade. Windows Media Center really makes this tuner shine. The quality is decent on my 24" 1920x1200 monitor... The HD signal seems to work really well and the channels come in really crisp.

Cons: The packaged software does not come close WMC, however it does the job for Windows XP.

Other Thoughts: Intel i7 920 (w/ Cooler Master v10) @ 3.8Ghz
EVGA X58 3x SLI
6GB Corsair Dominator 1600mhz DDR3
WD Raptor 150gb (10,000 RPM)
x2 EVGA GTX275 SLI
Logitech G35 7.1 Surround Sound Headphones
Corsair 1000w PSU
Cooler Master HAF 932
Acer 24" LCD - 1920x1200
Windows 7 RC1 - 64bit

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DocS
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/1/2009 3:02:58 PM

Rating + 3 Crash and Blue Screen


Pros: Good reception from cable - clear Qam with Win 7 .
Using with Media Center in Vista and Win 7 .

Cons: Crash and Blue Screen on shutdown or restart in Vista Ultimate .
This is known issue . To stop this loop of crashing and rebooting , have to remove unit before shutting down or restarting .

Other Thoughts: Problems could be with chipset or Vista , works great with Windows 7 Beta .
Manufacturer Response:Recently we released a new drivers for AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max, please download from support side http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=431&tab=APDriver.

If you still need assistance, please contact our Technical support line either by email or phone or live chat (available in business hours only 9:00AM-5:00 PM PT)

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Sha
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/28/2009 7:39:26 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome TV Tuner!!!


Pros: Simple to install. Great price. However, if using with your cable system, make sure to buy upgraded cable for HDMI. Picture is much clearer with no noise.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Can be used with the AVerMedia software or Windows Media Center. I personally like the Windows Media Center option better but both work fine.

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Willieboy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/13/2009 3:41:02 PM

Rating + 4 Brilliant Hardware/Atrocious Software


Pros: Brilliant application of USB interface. Cheap and easy to install.

Cons: AVer Media Center is the worst software interface I've encountered in recent memory.

Other Thoughts: Any product engineer who distributes software this counter-intuitive, quirky, and difficult to use, should be arrested by the software police and waterboarded (or gelded with a dull knife).

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Malivon
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
4/12/2009 10:06:44 PM

Rating + 1 An interesting product...


Pros: I enjoy the quality that it produces from analog. However, this is pretty much where it ends.

Cons: I have had numerous problems with this device. The software has crashed on me several times, and to a point blue screened my computer. I would not permit anyone I know to buy this device with the amount of problems it has caused me. I have tried desperately to find better software to run the device, but it seems to be locked.

Save yourself from the grief this device will cause you. If you want to try it, go ahead. However, be warned that it crashes more than enough times to be reasonable.

Other Thoughts: The software isn't great. The device seems very high quality. Something has happened.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max should work with Cyberlink Power Cinema

Sincerely,
AVerMedia Information, Inc. USA office

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Roger
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/4/2009 12:26:01 PM

Rating + 5 RogerD


Pros: Easy to use. Like the auto search. Being a USB connection is nice so you can use it on a desktop or a laptop. Update on web.

Cons: Digital either have it on you don't. None really.

Other Thoughts: Like that it is a FM tuner too.

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Kyran
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/2/2009 1:01:45 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect for Windows 7 Media Center


Pros: ClearQAM worked out of the box in Windows 7's Media Center (7MC), no manual drivers needed at all.

I was worried when I only say ATSC drivers on AverMedia's web site, but it turns out that's okay. The manual ATSC drivers *ARE* required if you wish to view over-the-air broadcasts in 7MC.

Keep in mind that Windows Media Center does not support QAM unless you have Windows 7... or you have the not-so-publicly-available TV Pack for Vista Premium/Ultimate.

I have not even bothered to try the included software because that's not what I bought this for.

I wanted a digital TV tuner for my MicroITX box without blowing the lone PCIe slot, so I went with a USB device. This one easily seemed to be the most practical.

Cons: Regardless of what I plug my antenna into (TV, this device, or otherwise), OTA reception is only good for one or two channels for a given antenna position. This is to be expected, but it makes it worthless for DVR use, so I had to exploit ClearQAM. Not a fault of this device.

However, that side dongle would be sweet if it did component 480p input, but I can't ask too much from a fairly low cost dongle.

No built-in filter (see Other Thoughts).

Other Thoughts: At first, my ClearQAM reception with the Hybrid Volar Max was terrible which disappointed me considering plugging the cable directly into my TV worked flawlessly. I only had my cable company bother to physically hook up my internet feed as I let my power conditioner split the cable for the modem and TV. With the Hybrid Volar Max internet activity had a direct influence on TV reception, yet it would still cause TV glitches in idle, but unplugging the cable modem completely would solve the problem. Again, my actual TV's tuner didn't have an issue with cable modem interference.

THERE IS A SOLUTION.

Apparently my TV had a built-in filter for this, but the Hybrid Volar Max does not. I ordered a High Pass filter, specifically a Pico Macom HPFO-54MHZ. I stuck the filter onto the dongle itself, then attached the cable to the filter. BAM, all problems gone. Even the FM radio reception got better.

So if you're splitting your cable for modem and TV, this device will need a high-pass filt

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mingkee
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/13/2009 10:05:42 AM

Rating + 4 very good reception, awful software


Pros: very good reception, the stick runs cool, can be used on netbook with minimal hiccup, F type antenna connector

Cons: the software is kinda awful and takes a while to get used to

Other Thoughts: the stick works fine with AAO, even though it doesn't meet minimum requirements, the best part is reception, can pull a lot of stations just with included antenna, highly recommended

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DocuMaker
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/10/2009 1:25:05 PM

Rating + 3 Oh so much potential...


Pros: Mine does not get hot. Stays nice and cool. Drivers installed in XP SP3 ok. ATSC/QAM tuner is pretty good except when I go to record on occasion. (see bleow). HD OTA picture is quite nice. Successfully tuned in digital radio. This was only $55 O.T.D. I didn't bother with the 10 rebate which would have made this a real value at only $45.

Cons: The included software is just awful. It is very frustrating and completely unintuitive. It's very limited in functionality, and it's ugly as well. The best I can say about it is that it does in fact work if you fool with it enough. It's a love hate relationship because you can see the real potential in this device if only they developed the software a bit better.

From visiting the Aver website it looks like there is very little in the way of software devlopment going on.

Looks like we are stuck with this ugly, limited, and non-intuitive interface unless we use Media center (which I don't have) or pay for some 3rd party software which costs more than this whole device.

Channel surfing is a real pain with this software. Going up or down one at a time is ok.

The H.264 recording is a joke. It's max is 320x240 so the quality is low and only used for portables. You will have to use MPEG2 for good quality 720x480 NTSC recording.

Other Thoughts: The ATSC/QAM tuner has one bug that can be very frustrating. I will be watching a program over the digital tuner, and want to record it. I go to hit record, and for some mysterious reason the tuner drops down a channel and records the channel below it! I figured, no problem. I will just trick this thing by going one channel higher, then hit record. No dice. Of course it sticks on that channel and won't drop down.

When viewing this can easily be remedied by quickly going down one channel and then back up quickly again. It usually will lock on the right channel if you do this once or twice. But you can't toggle like this when recording.

Thankfully it doesn't always slip a channel, and I was able to record the Super Bowl in HD w/o any hiccups. Nearly 30 gigs for 4hr 17m of 1080i.

Never slips a channel when record to NTSC.

If you just want to light on a channel for an hour this unit will suffice. If you like to surf, the software is just too difficult to navigate

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kortik
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/4/2009 8:31:22 PM

Rating + 5 Really capable device


Pros: This is my 5th PC tuner, and the first one with digital capabilities.
Overall, very nice and clear picture and sound. Worked right away. Picked up all analog channels from Brighthouse cable, and a WHOLE bunch of digital channels, close to 230 total, including music channels. Most of the channels were intended for cable box and were protected, but 82 could be viewed or listened to in clear, including 40 or so music channels. Sound quality is great. 5 or 6 HDTV channels, some 1080i, some 720p. Amazingly, also picked up 7 FM channels from TV cable.
Istallation with super easy, except I was forced to scan digital channels 3 times, something didn't want to work and PC froze a couple of times. Looks like this thing needs a cople of re-boots to settle, then no problems.

Cons: Software works O.K., but it is indeed, like some folks mentioned, is a bit weird. Takes some time to get used to.

Other Thoughts: If you want to watch both analog and digital TV, and listen to FM, get it.

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Cam
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/30/2009 7:38:43 AM

Rating + 5 Works with live video games


Pros: Able to view and play video games thru composite video. Recording works well. Plays Clear-QAM video. Receives FM audio.

Cons: Tends to get warm (maybe 105º F) when in use. Recording to h264/iPod format is restricted to 320x240 max. USB extension cable is too short in my opinion. The software included (and downloaded off the tuner's website) isn't the best.

Other Thoughts: I ended up buying a 6 foot USB extension cable because I thought the weight of a cable wire + the tuner would be too much for my USB plug in my laptop to handle. The tuner tends to get warm when running video/audio thru it, but it's to a point where you'd need to keep a fire extinguisher handy. Video is superb and audio is quite good also for such a small device. For some reason it wouldn't see that I had the Lame MP3 codec. As for tuning, it tuned in video excelently. I could only get 6 Clear-QAM channels, but that's my cable company's fault, not the tuners. The channels I can get though look clearer than my cable box's video does! I was surprised that I could play my xbox thru the composite without any video lag. This would be excellent for recording video games.

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LittleCobalt
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/29/2009 1:14:34 PM

Rating + 4 Vista MCE just rocked


Pros: VISTA immediately recognized the device, installed drivers and setting up as the TV source was flawless. System is stable and the TV quality is better than the previous tuner.

Cons: Channel switch is slower than on a TV, but not slower than other PC tuners I tried/saw.
The device creates some heat.
The PC runs at quite high CPU load (>85%) on my 3.2GHz Intel P4 640 HT.

Other Thoughts: Nice thing the tuner also supports ATSC and QAM, so switching to digital is not an issue.

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ranthon007
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/27/2009 4:56:23 PM

Rating + 4 Quality Harware..so so software


Pros: Great Price for a USB HDTV (QAM) Receiver
Great HD Picture
Uses less system resources than I expected
Capture (side) Input a plus

Cons: Standard Definition Analogue TV Picture is VERY POOR
AVerMedia Software is merely OK..but it does work.

Other Thoughts: If you have access to QAM via your cable provider this little piece of hardware gets the job done. I have Time Warner in central Ohio and accidentally discovered I had access to QAM--now I am glad I got the MAX edition of this product (QAM is an HD digital signal unencrypted--like over-the-air but through you cable without a box).

I was originally using OTA HD antenna, but why should I when I do not have to? The OTA reception and picture was just as good, but now I have access to both analogue and HDTV without having to switch inputs from cable to antenna.

Other than that the hardware appears to be pretty good, but the analogue is very fuzzy (much worse than my old ATI TV Wonder, so I left that installed).

Also, the software is not great, but it does work. I have not been able to get the OTA HD or QAM HD to work with Beyond TV 4.9. That is not AVer's fault so I did not lower my score for that. The reality is in order to get 5 eggs analogue needed to be much better than i

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Dan
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/26/2009 9:57:04 PM

Rating + 4 Works, software is awful


Pros: Hardware works well, I'm in rural Montana and it was still able to pick up FM stations from 35 miles away. Appears to have decent Linux support though I haven't tried it, just running under XP. Allows recording of FM radio but only to .wav format even though .wma is listed.

Cons: A lot of people call the software bad/awful. They're being very generous. The menus and text scale to whatever you resize the window to, so on a 1920x1200 display it's almost unusable. Make the window small and unobtrusive and it's unreadable. When you schedule recording it asks what you want it to do when it's done - standby, exit or whatever. It sounds like it's just what their software should do but what it means is that will suspend/shutdown the whole stinkin' computer! Entire user interface is pathetic and counter intuitive. Software wouldn't even rate a 1 egg.

Other Thoughts: I was hoping to be able to get PBS but signal is too weak out here. I was really counting on it to get the FM radio signals and it does a very good job of that, especially considering how small the antenna is. The software though... man... worse than bad. They should fire whoever came up with such a horrible, non-standard, intrusive, inefficient and illogical user interface

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darkdemon1
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/19/2009 11:47:29 AM

Rating + 5 Good Stuff


Pros: Pretty good reception for an antenna so small.

Cons: Suction cup on the antenna doesn't stick too well but that can be solved with some duct tape :D

Other Thoughts: I live in NYC so I get pretty good reception compared to most states.
I use Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit so I don't have to use the application that comes with the software.
Newegg Rocks!!

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/15/2009 6:59:27 PM

Rating + 5 Works Well


Pros: This works well and is of good quality. The included antennae works great (although it's not the strongest), which is good because the price was low. Haven't had an issue with it.

Cons: None except that it would be nice if it came with a serious antenna, but that would boost the cost quite a bit.

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Mike H.
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/13/2009 1:59:35 PM

Rating + 5 Works great for my needs


Pros: Great tuner for a great price. I am very impressed! If you're looking for a solid HD tuner, you've come to the right place. A nice plus is it's USB, so you don't have to crack open the case. Just load the driver from the website, plug in and go.

I live 20 miles from the broadcast stations and the little antenna works great for OTA local broadcasts. I live on a hill with few obstructions though, so results may vary. I also get QAM via analog Comcast cable using the AverMedia software, but then the programming guide doesn't list anything. Got 325 stations, although most were locked. The ones left were mostly the same OTA ones I already got, and no clearer signal.

FM stations come in great, although that wasn't why I bought it.

I have it plugged into a Vista desktop, 2Gb ram, Dual core 6750 CPU. I don't use it to record/capture from external sources, so can't comment on that. Don't use the portability aspects, but nice to know I could.

Cons: None that I've seen yet.

Other Thoughts: I prefer the Windows Media Center with Vista interface for a couple of picky reasons, but the AverMedia software works fine too. AverMedia center pulls in QAM signals right out of the box. To get QAM in Windows MC, you have to get a copy of TVPack 2008. Not completely stable yet though, so proceed with caution. Google it, you'll see, or check thegreenbutton.

I watched football on OTA via Windows Media Center and then QAM via Avermedia center. There was some jitters in QAM/AMC that weren't present in OTA/WMC. Not sure if it was software or signal.

Recorded a show Saturday night in Media Center. 1.5 hours came to just under 10Gb. So make sure you have a big hard drive.

The shipping was a little slower than normal, but it was over the holidays. I also found out if you combine items that have varying shipping (UPS 3 day with Ground, for example), it reduces the whole order to Ground.

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mvs
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/11/2009 5:29:17 PM

Rating + 5 Great for laptop


Pros: I use this at the office. Works great on a dell 710m 1.6ghz 2gb ram. would highly recommend.

Cons: None

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Voltark
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/7/2009 9:31:13 PM

Rating + 4 DTV a good thing


Pros: This works good, I use it in my root cellar / Office and the DTV and FM are clean and shiny.
It starts up quick and basically does the job.
I tried to get GBPVR and MediaPortal to work and after five hours and a splitting headache decided the software from AverMedia was just OK for now.
I have a X31 Notebook with a measly 16 MB video. And FM and Public Broadcasting TV work fine, even time shift.
Compared to three other sort of similar TV computer things I have worked with, this is close to Five Eggs.

Cons: The NTSC which will fade away soon is not clear with the tiny antenna provided.
Software is a bit silly but most software is a bit silly.
The Corporate Capitalist channels are choppy and sometimes out of sink and tax my Centrino Mobile 1.7 CPU at 100%, PBS Channels work perfectly and runs at ~25%.
Can't set up recording yet, "time exceeds 1 day" message
no matter what I do, probably just goofy interface that I haven't figured out yet. Maybe Ill read the manual.
Most likely the software is not right.
Four and a Half egg Hardware, Three and a half egg Software.

Other Thoughts: DTV has content not offered thru cable and it comes in very clear on the Public Broadcast channels and the Religion channels, if your short on religion then get this cause about half the channels are of such.
I pick up 19 channels Under The House! in Portland OR.
You do not have to Install Adobe Acrobat as stated. Ghost View / Script works fine.
Just couldn't give it five eggs cause AverMedia's software Needs work NOW, are you listening Aver? Hopefully Aver will fix a few or a dozen things and will get Five eggs all day long.

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gmac
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/5/2009 3:00:14 PM

Rating + 5 Great on HDTV


Pros: Very good product and small in size. Picks up HDTV very well.
SD signals not as clear as on TV.

Cons: AVerMedia Center beats MS Windows Media Center hands down but has some bugs of its own. Instruction manual on installation CD which made it difficult to find and read what I wanted. Program Guide is wasted space with large font and not enough room for information. Difficult to navigate and find what you are looking for. Minor thing, though.

Other Thoughts: Using Vista Home Prem on Dual core AMD 2 GB ram Lenovo 3000J system, using outdoor antenna 18.5 mi from transmitting tower.
After consulting via email to Tech Support I updated nVidia on-board video and found all channels, but under separate menus. AVermedia Center needs to combine both HD and SD channels into the same menu as trying to get to SD stations then back to HDTV mostly freezes up forcing one to use Task Mgr to close pgm and try again. Not repeatable every time but frustrating. SD stations not as sharp focus as they could be, but may not be a Volar Max problem.
No problems otherwise. Volar Max actually brought in some channels my big LCD HDTV doesn't find. All foreign language I don't understand. The tuner runs pretty warm, so I use the included short USB cable to isolate the heat from the computer. I have only started to use the FM and it sounds great on the stations I am interested in.

All in all, AVerMedia did a good job on this tuner.

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e
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
1/4/2009 6:18:12 PM

Rating + 4 works great on asus eee pc 901ha


Pros: small, comes with everything except remote control - tuner card, usb extension, antenna and suction cup or clip mount, and carry bag. installation was simple. crystal clear images, good audio.

Cons: channel scans are very slow during initial setup. uses lots of system resources! (though the eee pc 901ha [intel atom 1.6ghz] has no problem)

sometimes (rarely) AVerMedia hangs, but i kill it and restart it - no problem.

Other Thoughts: love it, love it, love it! glad to have a nice tv tuner that works properly. thanks for all the reviews here, i chose this instead of the hauppage.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/4/2009 7:28:24 AM

Rating + 5 Works very well


Pros: Software is easy to use and the unit really doesn't use resources as intensively as has been stated here by others. You probably can't play a game at the same time it's open but surfing the web and watching TV on the same screen is easily done. MY PC is about a year old now. Running XP with a dual core AMD and maxed out RAM.

Cons: I have the ATSC version as well and the software retains the last configuration that was used so there was only one step once it was setup. There is no information on exactly which standard to use weather NTSC, ATSC or whatever and the hookup diagram could be slightly more extensive. Took me a while to figure out that S-Video need to have the sound outputs hooked up as well on the Direct TV box.

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emt
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/2/2009 8:22:20 PM

Rating + 5 Exceeded Expectations


Pros: I was hoping to get over 4 stations for football on trips. I am receiving about 10 digital tv channels with free antenna and 28 digital with my home antenna. The quality is great. It works on my laptops 1. XP Acer Aspire one 2. Dell Inspire 6000 3. Vostro 1400.Also old desktop Compaq SR1710Nx all with stock systems. I downloaded newest avermedia software & driver off their site and it works great on all of these XP systems and easy to swap when someone in family wants to watch tv. It's also fun to use the radio function and record songs for free for my personal use off FM Stations, just hit record. The record & up down tab changes TV and Radio signals pretty fast and no locked-up screens when tv reception fades out when driving, just chose another channel. TV Quality & signal strength is great. USB plug disipates heat good and is not hot. Connection by coaxial cable is easy to swap or add lengths or antennas. Cool looking with aspire one & small antenna clipped to screen when walking

Cons: The system wants to first search for the soon to be obsolete ANalog TV. Do not autosearch for these. It's a pain that it keeps coming up 1st and having to use the pulldown tab to find atsc(qam) in second choice position. A similar pain is the FM 1st choice is finding digital radio and most areas have ZERO so tab down to FM radio in second position.

Other Thoughts: Avermedia software is available on their website for newest download, I did not try disk included. Next, open product, put on computer and then restart. Then add hardware usb plug & I made sure I choose avermedia driver to go to hardware instead of chancing windows xp to find correct driver, do not let analog tv search channels since soon to be obsolete (skip step) go to ATSC(QAM) auto search and your set to go. Also I did FM search auto but no digital were found in my area. Reboot, click small yellow icon in bottom right and once again do not let it autosearch for analog tv (skip) hit pulldown tab and click atsc. At top of screen is radio picture for selecting radio signals and nothing comes up until you hit tab & click on FM radio. To record a song you like, click bottom left as with tv recording. Movies/Music/dital tabs are at top of program to use for storage locations, as is TV & Radio that I primarilyl click.

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Wolf
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/31/2008 5:30:48 AM

Rating + 4 Works well


Pros: My PC marginally meets system requirements, yet:
mostly trouble free install, no lockups or blue screens (but see the first con). Tuner found almost all clearQAM channels my cable co provides. For SD content, I run about 15% CPU usage viewing, 25% recording. For HD, it's more like 60% and 70% recording. RAM usage is under 500 mb.

Cons: - On first install, starting a recording would result in jerky framerate and/or blank screen recorded. Also, after PC sat idle for several hours, all USB devices would be unresponsive until reboot. Disabling "Enable Standby/Hibernate" in AverMedia software fixed this problem.
- Channel/subchannel numbers don't match what my cable company lists (e.g., cable co has ESPN on 99.27, AverMedia has it as 99.6). Also, tuner didn't find one clearQAM channel that I would like to have. Cable co and AverMedia support are both stumped.
- Documentation is OK to lead you through basic install/setup, but lacks info on other options, settings, troubleshooting. Website doesn't add much.

Other Thoughts: - Have only used as cable-QAM tuner, not OTA or with video inputs.
- Software is fine but it definitely has the feel of running a so-so software application on a PC, not a polished media interface like a TIVO.
- To clarify other review comments, you can name recorded programs when you set up a scheduled recording, but if you just hit the record button while watching TV you'll only get an auto-generated timestamp filename. You can play recordings using any MPEG player without needing to plug in the USB tuner.
- My CPU usage comments apply with no other applications running except antivirus, etc..
- My system: AMD Sempron 3400+, 2gb PC 3200, nVidia 7600GS 256mb video (PCIe card), 160gb EIDE HDD, XP Pro

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/29/2008 5:14:30 PM

Rating + 4 Good, but could be better


Pros: It's a good basic USB video capture device. So, so quality.

Cons: The video game plugin isn't that sharp and is a bit laggy when starting up in Windows media center. It's not much of a problem but there's also this annoying weird looking background on the sides. I'd much prefer plain black so that it looks more normal but it's this wavy blue annoying sides background.

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GPK
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/20/2008 9:02:55 PM

Rating + 1 Decent hardware, terrible software


Pros: Beautiful HD signal reception, picks up channels my other TV card didn't.

Cons: The software. This has got to be the worst software I have ever used. It doesn't allow you name what you want to record, it randomly crashes when it attempts to begin a recording, and once it records another file, WMV can't decode the previously recorded programs. Oh yeah, it seems I can't delete the recordings unless I reboot also.

Other Thoughts: Tried it on three different computers, two of which exceed the requirements easily only to be greeted with great disappointment. Out of all the great products I have bought from Newegg I guess it was time for me to find one I didn't like. And boy am I not pleased.

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bogusinfo
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
12/19/2008 10:24:25 AM

Rating + 3 Hardware Good, Software Bad


Pros: Good tuner, good quality, picks up every digital channel for miles around, It's great when it works.

Cons: Software locks up all the time, so I have to give a mixed review.

Other Thoughts: I bought this to be a troubleshooting tool for my work laptop, instead of carrying around a TV. So it will be fine for that. I have a Core Duo T2300 @1.66MHZ and a Gig of Ram, so I meet the minimum requirements. It works good on a faster machine.

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caseybea
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
12/15/2008 9:29:13 PM

Rating + 3 Mixed feelings, good hw, icky sw


Pros: On the pro side, this is a nice piece of hardware. Compact, and comes with a 4-inch usb dongle if you need to attach it in a cramped location.

The hardware receiver must be pretty decent, because the picture is great as is the audio. This gets my review its first 3 stars (eggs).

Cons: The software. The Avermedia software is the most awful piece of media software I've ever used (and I've used several). The user interface is counterintuitive, the number of configurable options is limited, you cannot "name" your recordings (files saved with timestamp only). I sadly do NOT have A media center edition windows setup, so I'm stuck using the aver stuff. Add if your usb device isn't plugge3d in, the software refused to operate. BOGUS. (What if I want to set up scheduled recordings for the weekend, but my device is still at work, for example?).

Being a usb device, this thing chews on your system. My 2.8Ghz P4 with 1G memory isn't quite enough for digital tv. My upcoming pc upgrade (core 2) will handle this however. I expected this - so no bad marks for that.

Other Thoughts: The thing that REALLY caught my eye on this is this is one of the few current usb devices that can actually be set to RECORD fm radio- which I am an addict of (weekend npr). While I may not be able to withstand the truly BAD avermedia software, I can at least use this to record my FM shows, and that at least lets me dump and old old pci-based tv card that was doing that job.

Sadly, I'm stuck recording radio in WMA - MP3 is not an option (grrr).

If avermedia overhauled their software (unlikely), this would be a 5-star gem. *if* you have Media Center (ala Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate)- then from other reviews, you should be golden.

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sage satisfied
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/15/2008 5:47:55 AM

Rating + 5 It works!


Pros: Very portable, able to record from my dvr without much or any configuration out of the box.

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: I'm using this on Windows XP. I needed to transfer recordings from my dvr. One time I was recording from my dvr, I opened up a program on my computer, as a result, there was a "stutter" on my recording. It showed up when I played the dvd. Maybe my 2.2 gig single core was the weak link. I suggest a good build to run this smoothly.

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Tdog
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/4/2008 6:05:18 AM

Rating + 4 Volar Max


Pros: Cheap, portable, clear picture. Avermedia made a nice product here. If you're looking for a TV tuner, this could be it. Works awesome on my i7 2.93GHz with Vista.

Cons: The software isn't all that intuitive to my mind. The set up was horrible, there's no clear way (it's there, but I didn't find it very quickly, you may) to change the contrast, brightness, etc ...I don't like that it doesn't synch with Titan tv to display the channel you're looking at and what program is on (My elgato on my Mac does).

Other Thoughts: I could be doing it wrong, probably am, but I'd rather something be quick, easy and right, just by plugging it in. I think Avermedia slipped a bit on the software application, not the hardware. They are thinking about themselves when they are designing things and not with the end user who will see the 'finished' product.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Tar Heel Fan
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/3/2008 8:47:54 AM

Rating + 5 Excellent choice for the money


Pros: Easy to install, good media center software
I use it at work on my laptop and on my desktop at home. Excellent for recording programs I would normally miss. No monthly fees or additional charges.

Cons: Can't think of any yet.

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skipper25
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/26/2008 4:13:54 PM

Rating + 5 Great


Pros: I love the fact you can record anything on this card. Also it will work with windows media center.

Cons: NONE

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

AvermediaFAN
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
11/10/2008 1:58:50 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent


Pros: Excellent OTA reception, picture, tech support. I sent tech support an email when I was setting it up. (My error, antenna problem which I solved.) But guess what... they CALLED ME to help! How many times has that happened to you? :-)

Cons: Software could be better, but given the positives, not a big deal.

Other Thoughts: After reading all the mediocre reviews for pc tuners, I was very hesitant to buy one, but this one is excellent. I am about 20-25 miles from Dallas towers and using a homemade "McGuiver" antenna in my attic based on youtube plans. Perfect reception!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat low
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/16/2008 1:01:22 PM

Rating + 5 Great!


Pros: Cheap, Awesome,Good Picture

Cons: When recording tv shows i noticed the file was 1GB after only 27 minute show! O_o
Attena sucks but just use regular Coax Cable you should be good to go!

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Okayz
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/9/2008 7:09:18 AM

Rating + 5 Great TV Interface


Pros: This is a great usb tv interface. After owning and using a few, including built in PCI / PCIX, this actually was the one that gave me the best quality image.
Easy to use with Windows Media, and I use it often on my laptop.

Cons: Not much, other than lower quality on the "low" channels like 2, and 4 often seen.

Other Thoughts: Great antenna also included for those not interested in connected with cable. Unit picks up my digital cable (regular and HDTV) without a hitch.

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Chief
Tech Level: low
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/6/2008 8:40:03 AM

Rating + 5 Good tuner at a reasonable price


Pros: GREAT product for the price. Worked 1st time out of the box. Easy to use, quick to install. Has lots of options for inputting AV signals. Software has ability to save to AVI and JPG file formats. Very good picture quality.

Cons: Antenna is VERY lacking, but highly portable. Software can be improved. Have had NO luck getting the FM tuner working in my area. VERY slow to scan channels to setup.

Other Thoughts: Good product for someone on the move and or with limited space.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/28/2008 9:31:17 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: Small size, gets hot but not too hot, and setup was easy. The included cables allow for inputs from most standard AV devices. The software is relatively intuitive.

Cons: Virtually no digital cable/QAM functionality. Also, if you use the bundled media software you cannot browse saved files without attaching the card. The company focuses on hardware, not software, so don't expect much support if the program gives you headaches.

Other Thoughts: Windows media center might be a better alternative, if you have it. Mine is borked, so I've been trying to deal with the bundled program.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Turbo
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/26/2008 4:57:37 AM

Rating + 5 Make Laptop a Tv


Pros: Let's us watch television channels on our laptop.

Cons: None good little electronic gadget.

Other Thoughts: dont know if this is a con but it's one of the reasons i bought this thing in the first place, I thought I would get massive amounts of television channels magically by just plugging this thing into the usb port. Alas i wasnt able to pick up a single channel over the air. Plugging my Cable that goes to the tv into one end and the usb into the laptop gave me all the cable channels.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

W4AMP
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/16/2008 1:40:24 AM

Rating + 5 Great tuner for the money


Pros: Great tuner for only 80$. Works well with a Toshiba Satellite A205-5000 running a Celeron 540@1.86 Gig processor and 2 gig ram. I do not use timeshift and if something memory intensive is running the HD TV signal will jump.That is understandable since my laptop is well below the minimum requirements for the tuner! The recording feature is great, as well as recording off of the composite input. I am converting years of VHS tapes to DVD, and it works great! The Avermedia center is much easier to use than Windows media center. Great way to have an HD TV that can be moved from room to room if you have a laptop. Using a high gain UHF TV antenna with rotor and indoor pre-amp I can pick up HD TV in three states: Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama.

Cons: Can not decode a digital fm signal yet. Pick up fm from five states, but no digital fm yet. Atlanta is 60 miles away, but avermedia center does not find any on auto scan at all. Maybe I am doing something wrong? I am a 20 year amateur radio operator.

I find Microsoft Media Center useless compared to avermedia center. Obviously they are scared as you get multiple whine screens from vista when running the avermedia center. Windows Media center only tunes first hd tv stations, no -2,-3, etc. Can not figure out how to get Windows media center to tune live fm period, keep getting sent to Internet stations, which I could care less about. In my opinion lose Windows Media Center and use avermedia center and you will be happy. I have the full movie package on Charter, using digital QAM scan on a cable input yields only 5 locked stations. Obviously Charter is not sending free qam HD signals and ignoring the FCC rule that mandates they do so. I use an a/b switch for antenna and cable box outpu

Other Thoughts: I am into TV and FM dx'ing and have been for 25 years. I feel there are some areas of improvement though, especially with digital fm and QAM over cable. Please send advice to w4amp at charter dot net. Thanks

27 out of 31 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/13/2008 9:59:23 PM

Rating + 5 Good tuner needs good computer


Pros: Great TV tuner. I never tried the software that came with it because it works so well in Vista's media center I am surprised at the great picture on a usb tuner, its a little better than my old hauppauge 150

Cons: when i first plugged in my tv tuner, i got audio sync issues and the jitter made it unusable. however, i have no issues now that i set the priority for MCE to real time. (it uses about %40 on a core 2 duo 2.1 GHz)

Other Thoughts: Great tuner for a great price. Just make sure your computer has the required specs to run it.

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jack
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/12/2008 11:12:33 AM

Rating + 5 AVerMedia AVerTV Hybrid Volar


Pros: I wanted to write this review to balance an earlier review which stated that one must be absolutely sure to have the specifications of your computer up to par. While that is true, I wanted you to know that this item works perfectly on my Asus laptop, an older Pentium M, 1.7 GHz with 2 GB of RAM. I bought this not for the TV capability, but because I needed to plug my $99 wireless spy cam into the aux cable using the yellow and white composite connectors. It works perfectly. Using the AVermedia drivers and application software I installed this tuner on my laptop running XP with SP2. The TV and the aux cable work perfectly, and I can record on my 250GB hard drive for hours and hours without a glitch in the mpeg format. I had tried a Pinnacle product before, the PCTV HD Prostick, and it did not work at all, but I can highly recommend this item, and it runs on my not so powerful laptop beautifully.

Cons: It is a little bigger than a standard USB thumb drive, so you will need to find a USB port that will accommodate it, not really a con though because as noted by others, it runs fairly cool, so I think the extra size helps dissipate the heat. Does not come with a remote, but the quality of the product is so high I really don't mind.

Other Thoughts: It does come with a USB extension cable, I haven't tried it, but in theory that would get around the problem of the slightly oversized item. Also the little storage bag it comes with hardly fits all the stuff into it, it could have been a tad bigger. All in all I am thrilled, I was worried my laptop wasn't powerful enough to run this, but it works just fine.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

nicad
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/21/2008 1:56:11 PM

Rating + 4 Overall Good HD Tuner


Pros: USB interface makes installation a breeze.
HD reception is very good. Tunes as well or better than my PCI Fusion HD tuner.

Cons: -The tuner is somewhat large. It tends to crowd and USB devices in adjacent ports.
-Volume level of player is too low. Adjusting the tuner to a comfortable volume level causes other apps to be way too loud.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

ulillillia
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/19/2008 3:16:35 PM

Rating + 5 Superior quality


Pros: The video and sound are of great quality and for gaming, it works well with at least 4 systems: NES, Genesis, PS1, and Gamecube. There aren't any distortions and you can play the game in real time (that is, you immediately see the effects upon pressing the jump button, instead of a half-second wait or something). It also lets me record from my microphone while recording video and the original audio, useful for making narrated walkthroughs of video games.

Cons: It took a long time (2 hours) to get the color adjustments set properly to get reasonably close to true color. Contrast causes the image to get darker and brightness just grays the image out (it adds to the color values instead of multiplies). I also wished it could record in variable bit rate (which generally provides better quality while using less disk space) and out to 10 Mbps, but the recorded quality is still good. I also wished there was an option to record at 480x320 or something instead (midway from 352x240 to 720x480) using a simple 2:3 scale-down, useful for cutting back on the already high CPU usage (hovers at 70% on my Pentium 4 3.0 GHz system). Randomly, but hard to notice, is random skipping or repeating in the audio, spanning around 30 ms, likely a minor timing issue. Raising the priority in Windows Task Manager can help offset this, especially when scans or automatic updates occur.

Other Thoughts: I use this TV tuner primarily for recording my actions on my console systems. I got it as my previous one prevented me from recording both the game's sound track and my voice from my microphone at the same time. This one, and the previous USB one beforehand would allow for this and it's great for recording video walkthroughs while actually playing the game. A side program is needed for microphone recording though but there's plenty of free stuff around. I'm giving it 5 because the cons are mostly minor.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

hackman2007
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/15/2008 11:13:37 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome Tuner


Pros: Very small tuner, doesn't get very hot, all channels come in crystal clear, recording works very well. QAM works well.

Cons: It doesn't exactly fit tight in a USB port, when I put the cable antenna on the tuner it shakes around a lot, wish it would fit tight. Consumes a lot of RAM/system resources.

Other Thoughts: Make ABSOLUTELY sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements. I had to upgrade my computer to 4GB of RAM because with 2GB it kept freezing when I was running other programs. If you have a computer that exceeds the requirements, then the tuner will suit you well, just don't expect much if you meet the requirements perfectly.

21 out of 22 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Matt
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/14/2008 1:09:14 PM

Rating + 2


Pros: Good design, good reviews, Vista x64 driver.

Cons: Maybe I received a faulty unit, but I could not get the tuner to tune OTA, analog or digital cable. The tuner would change channels in incorrect increments (something like 1/10 of a "station" at a time) resulting in the same "station" spanning about 10 channels at a time. I tried tuning in both Vista MCE and the AverMedia software.

Other Thoughts: I was really excited about this one...

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

zoltan the gypsy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/12/2008 10:38:55 AM

Rating + 2 bad QAM


Pros: Amazing what is packed into a small package.
Surprisingly good analog tuner. Better than my ATI all-in-wonder card.

Cons: QAM performance very spotty. Some channels with 100% signal quality still freeze/pause/stutter.

Other Thoughts: Beta application and latest drivers sent by Avermedia tech support have the same problem.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/5/2008 3:42:54 PM

Rating + 5 Great Product


Pros: Excellent quality as a TV tuner, both for Digital signals (ATSC) and analog signals (NTSC). I've owned TV tuners for years and this far surpasses them. It's amazing that it's so small as well! Has been pretty stable so far.

Cons: the included software could be a little more intuitive to use. For example, finding, naming, and saving station info has been challenging. I could use Media Center in Vista Ultimate, but it doesn't support clear digital cable (clear QAM) yet on the 64-bit version. Guess I'll wait for that feature to be added.

Other Thoughts: Great product! Makes me want to buy more AVerMedia products.

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