Conclusion:
Of the three tuners I reviewed from AVerMedia, I am most pleased with the interface of the AVerTVHD MCE A180. It has a modern look, with well laid out controls that makes operation in Windows XP Pro easy and enjoyable. As compared to the interface of tuners from other manufacturers, I'd have to say the AVerTVHD MCE A180's ranks at or near the top, as well. Having used cards from Transcend, ATI, and Leadtek in recent years, this software stands out.
As far as testing the capabilities of the tuner card, that was another matter. Considering that the package didn't include an antenna (and that I do not have an aerial antenna for ATSC tuning), my only course of action was to use the antenna that came with the ATI HDTV Wonder tuner. Taking turns sharing the antenna, and testing side-by-side with the ATI HDTV Wonder, showed that audio/video results were fairly comparable. The one issue being that while the ATI card pulled down a whopping four channels, the AVerTVHD MCE A180 only pulled down three.
Tuning in channels on this sort of device is a good mix of art and science, and requires the antenna to be situated just right. Although user error could be partly to blame, best efforts were made to get both tuners to receive all the channels. In my opinion, over-the-air tuning of HDTV signals is more work than it may be worth on this kind of setup. But if you are in a locale with a strong signal, and you have a strong antenna that can be repositioned with ease, getting "free" HDTV may be well worth it on a tuner such as this.
Along the lines of making "free" HDTV well worth it, a search of PriceGrabber shows that the AVerTVHD MCE A180 is available from many e-tailers in a range from $74 to $97 (US), making it quite budget conscious. This page at PriceGrabber shows that the AVerTVHD MCE A180 is actually the cheapest HDTV tuner available (the first listing on that page is an add-on card for another tuner). Considering the bare-bones offering, the price may be one of the strongest points to be made for this tuner. If you aren't interested in having the full compliment of accessories that may accompany other more expensive cards, this card from AVerMedia will help you get set up for HDTV tuning at the lowest possible price.
Experience will vary with this, or any other tuner, and I am well aware that others have had much more success tuning in a variety of channels with the proper accessories. So, I can't hold many of my issues against the card, without perhaps travelling around the country with it, perhaps connected to a nice, big, automated antenna. Given the fact that the AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 is your cheapest way to HDTV on your Windows XP system (with or without Media Center Edition), I award a final score of 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Final Rating (3.5 out of 5 stars):  
Pros:
» Allows HDTV on a budget
» Attractive interface
» Intuitive controls
» Produced good quality audio/video on the channels I could tune in
» Designed for Windows XP MCE, but works with 'standard' XP, too
Cons:
» Requires some fairly serious system horsepower
» Spartan OEM bundle: no remote control, antenna, manual, or software included
» ATSC only (others include NTSC and ATSC on one card)
» Tuner not as sensitive as others
Special thanks to AVerMedia for providing the AVerTVHD MCE A180 HDTV PCI TV Tuner to Bigbruin.com for review!
Please drop by the Bigbruin.com Forum and feel free to post any comments or questions.
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