Operation:
The screen shots in this section are all from the non-MCE software that AVerMedia makes available for the AVerTVHD MCE A180. The below left image shows the basic configuration for watching television. You have the video window, as well as a detached panel for controlling the software. If you only require minimal controls, you can close the detached control panel, and simply use the buttons at the base of the video window (and others available by right clicking the screen). The below right image shows the control panel expanded to reveal a numeric keypad for selecting channels,a s well as a pop-up used to program recordings.
 
Overall, I am very pleased with the look and feel of the software. Of the three AVerMedia tuners, and of all the other tuners I have used in recent years, this software is perhaps my favorite (in terms of appearance and general functionality). If the silver style shown above isn't your cup of tea, there are other skins available.
In addition to the pop-up for recording shown above, several pop-ups are available for different functions. The one I found most convenient was a pop-up that listed all the available channels, that included a brief (pre-programmed) description of the channel.
The next several screen shots detail settings available in the "Setup" portion of the software.
The below left image shows a tab with a summary of programs for either digital TV or digital radio. The below right image shows a tab used to customize the layout of the software. Although I already mentioned I liked the interface, it is with this screen that you can further refine it to your tastes.
 
The below left screen shows some of the recording functions available on the "storage" tab. In addition to setting up the basics for standard recordings, it is where you can modify time-shifting features. The below right screen shows the extremely basic recording controls. As you can see, your choices are simply "MPEG II" or "Audio Only".
 
I have never had much luck with any over the air tuners, despite being just 40 miles from New York City. You'd figure if there was a market for picking up a variety of HD channels, this would be it. In my home I receive nothing, so to test this sort of product I pack up the PC and bring it to my office, just 20 miles from NYC.
My setup may not be optimal for ATSC tuning, as I rely solely on the small antenna included with an ATI HDTV Wonder. I don't have an aerial antenna at home that I can use, so waving this small Christmas tree looking device around the room will have to suffice since AVerMedia doesn't include an antenna.
Things do improve a bit with the travel from home to the office. Going from zero channels on either tuner, to four channels on the ATI HDTV Wonder and to three channels AVerTVHD MCE A180. Not sure if it is a matter of hardware or software, but it was interesting to note that both tuners could pull in ABC HD, ABC DTV, and ABC NOW, while only the ATI HDTV Wonder could also pull in CBS HD. Comparing the audio/video of the two tuners on the same channel (ABC HD) showed that both provided about the same quality.
Given the makeshift nature of the antenna setup, holding a signal for too long was difficult, but a few brief recordings were captured. As pointed out previously, the choices were slim for recording, and capturing just a few minutes of MPEG II video (and audio) extrapolates to a rate of about 6-8 GB per hour of recording. Have some hard disk space ready! Or perhaps have some third party software available to convert the files to smaller formats for archiving (or burning to DVD).
The tuner requires some fairly modern system hardware to function, and for good reason. During a recording the processor temperature rose about 4 degrees Celsius, telling me it was getting a bit of a work out. For comparison purposes, under serious CPU benchmarking the processor temperature rises about 5-6 degrees Celsius!
|
|
