EDITED TO GIVE A FAIR REVIEW AFTER I HAD A CHANCE TO USE IT MORE. This IS my favorite tuner and it will stay in my setup.
First impressions.
If your using stbs, there is only enough cables for 1 in the box. There is a good collection of cables and a coax splitter. Since it uses a mini 3.5mm plug for sound, chances are most people are not going to have one laying around and you should check your cable stash to see if you need to get one if you have one ordered and go buy one before the store is closed and you want to get it in immediately.
The drivers are not on the website yet so I had to use the cd. One plus is before it starts installing anything, it asks if you want to check for a newer version on the website. I hope this becomes a trend for all manufacturers who make parts where your machine should be internet connected by the time you put the driver disk in. Obviously, I can't see this being helpful for chipset and nic card drivers, but everything else should go to this method.
Definately a single slot, even when using 2 stbs. Its not low profile though so you small case users might be out of luck.
Shipped with a copy of the basic purevideo decoder and a copy of sonic's mydvd. it only says limited edition on the mydvd cd so I'm not sure if its a trial or not. But a good packaging option since most people will probably want to burn shows off their machine.
Install went easy, just put the card in, told windows to cancel finding the drivers and ran the setup on the cd. it has you reboot and a very simple 1 time only splashscreen telling you how to setup mce to use the tuners. at least I assume its 1 time only. might splash until you do set it up. The install also prompted for what parts you want to put in, so I have a better version of purevideo or someone with another prefered decoder can easy unselect it from installing.
There is a more programs option to change settings. its a very limited only toggles on some items. For those with vcrs, there is a relaxed timing option to help you sync vcr tapes if your trying to capture them with mce. Other wise, its very simple only a couple other options but definatly options to fine tune this thing to your usage.
The manual. This is the best guide to fine tuning mce ever made. Not the manual in the box that is only a quick guide but the full 120 page pdf that gets installed when you put in the drivers. They NEED to chop this thing up and put in parts with video cards. Its primarily around nvidia technology but it has dozens of pages on how to fine tune your tv using the windows samples. good examples of correct and incorrect. A beginners hand held guide to getting mce to look the best it can. It also goes into purevideo settings to get better playback and then into tuner settings to get the best capture.
Out of the box:
By default, they made it for the least common denominator of a user. Someone with a crt television with svideo/composite who may not trake the time to adjust settings. great playback with an extender. For the home theater and person who takes the time to adjust, the options are perfect. Modes of pro, cinema, home theater/isf, normal and basic. Color seperation, noise reduction and timing for those with a vcr.
Pros:
- single pci slot even with 2 stbs
- Best manual ever written for a user new to home theater trying to adjust the tv on their own.
- good collection of starter cables and single fm antenna
- comes with basic version of purevideo decoder
- comes with mydvd from sonic
- install cd can check the internet for newer version for you
- purevideo and mydvd are optional installs and your not forced to put them in then uninstall
- installs really easy and has onscreen next step of setting up tv in mce
- minor adjusts available while looking at the image in mce.
- vcr timing option for those who use a vcr to capture tapes in mce.
- has a mce remote control version with real mce remote and ir receiver with ir emitters.
Cons:
- Only comes with cables for 1 stb.
- audio for stb is 3.5mm mini stereo plug so having a cable laying around for second stb is probably unlikely.
- a little pricey for tuner only but that single slot thing might negate this point.
- full profile only. will not fit in low profile cases where the cards are vertical. should fit with a riser though.
- not available in pci-express.
who should buy:
- Everyone
- Anyone making their first mce with oem disks. This one purchase can get you 2 analog tuners, remote control with ir emitters, decoder and mydvd burning software. pretty good value when you need all those things.
- anyone who can't get another tuner in because of slots. Good single slot dual tuner.
In closing, anyone who tries to write up an article on this card and doesn't specific what setting the card is in just tossed it in and didn't adjust it for capture. Lots of goodness in this card.