Pros: The vast majority of the Newegg customer reviews of USB connected tuner devices state that AVerMedia products deliver the highest quality picture and sound, and have the longest life span. The AVerMedia AVerTV Volar Hybrid Q appears to be the next generation of the Volar Hybrid Max, which would make it AVerMedia's current top of the line model for USB connected tuners. (The 5 eggs are for "best in class.")

Cons: There are very few A/V players that recognize AVerMedia USB tuners. Of the five players mentioned by AVerMedia that work with the older Volar Max, Windows Media Center dummies down all recordings of HD programs to 704x480 SD, AVer MediaCenter 3D freezes up a little after 20 minutes into any recording (caused by two threads in an infinite wait state), Sage TV was assimilated by Google and no longer is available, Cyberlink PowerCinema cannot see the Volar Q, which leaves only the $99 Beyond TV. Beyond TV definitely is not my first choice for an A/V player, however, for anyone who wants to record HD channels in HD, Beyond TV is the only choice.

Overall Review: Attaching the tuner to a cable outlet or antenna using RG6 or even RG58 cable puts too much stress on the PC's USB port when the tuner is plugged directly into the port. Newegg has a nice 6" USB extension cable available. Buy it and use it. The Volar Q does not include the AV Input Dongle, and it does not have enough demand to justify Newegg carrying it. You can buy one directly from AVerMedia (details are on the back of the Volar Q box). FM tuner - excellent selectivity, average sensitivity. Output: 16-bit 44.1 Khz PCM. Analog tuner - good results. Output: 7000 kbps VBR MPEG-2 digital video; 224 kbps 48.0 Khz CBR MPEG-1 layer-2 digital audio. AV input (S-Video or composite, stereo) - good results. Ouput: 9000 kbps CBR MPEG-2 digital video; 224 kbps 48.0 Khz CBR MPEG-1 layer-2 digital audio. Digital tuner - excellent results. A single Volar Q tuner CAN receive all of a major channel's subchannels at once, but Beyond TV can only record 1 subchannel at a time. (Ou