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SO I was ready to plunk down the money on the MSI TVAnywhere Master when the stores Mastercard unit was not working so I'm taking the extra time to get peoples opinions...
www.dvdrhelp.com has so-so reviews from peoples experience with this card.
What it's primary purpose is for, taking my 8mm home movies and trasferring them to digital and eventually burning to DVD.
The secondary function will be to do TIVO on the cheap.
The good:
=======
10 bit ADC's from Conexant (well regarded by avs and dvdrhelp members)
stero tuner
fm??? Not sure why I would care about that, but it's there.
Price
The Bad:
======
Bundled Software is this things downside....but you can change software.
pretty crappy remote that will have to be learned into my main remote.
Some people had trouble with this card initally, and XP with SP1 screwed up the tuner software (but patches have been released...)
I've played with the video-in on my old GeForce 7700 Pro and it did a pretty good job (I believe it's 8 bit on that card but don't quote me) but 10 bit ADC's and a tuner for $80 CDN fa-ged-aboud-it
I know ATI now offers 12-bit ADC's but the reports are that the picture comes out a little soft. The jury seems out right now on how much better 12-bit is over 10 but it's fairly clear about 8-bit versus 10.
There is that 9 bit card from Flyvideo using the Phillips chip. I've heard some pretty good things about that hardware (again apparently hampered by bundled software).
Leadtek offers a competing card with the same chip/feature set but it's more expensive and not available in Canada yet. (Their Deluxe model is based on 8 bit BT chip but are well regarded...but still pricier than what I can get the MSI for)
So tell me your experience with other cards and what you think...
Jon you HTPC guru you, what do you think?
My mastercards warming up and I'll probably go with MSI in the next week but I would be interested to hear other peoples experience
Hardware Features
◊ Invincible video quality supported by Silicon Tuner & Conexant CX23881(PAL)/23883(NTSC) audio/video decoder
◊ Enable to perform excellent adjustable IF output
◊ Offers global video standards support, including NTSC-M/N, PAL-B/G/D/K/H/I
◊ Supports 10-bits video Analog to Digital converter
◊ Adaptive 2-D Comb Filter
◊ FM Radio Tuner built-in
Software Features
◊ MSI PVS-with MSI unique TV@nywhere function • Free Scan
• Time-Shifting
• Scheduled Recording(MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4)
• Channel Preview
• Screen Capture
• Parent Control
• Special! MSI unparallel TV@nywhere solutions
- MPEG4 link (Support Internet TV Programs Browsing)
- Distance-less adjust server site upload bit-rate
- Distance-less adjust all settings (channels, profiles)
- Scheduled Recording (MPEG4)
◊ MSI Radio
• Real-time Recording & Playback
• Foreign Language Learning Machine
• Radio Station SearchˇXadjustable sensitivity
• Visual Effect
• Changeable Personalized Skin
• Minimizable and Always On Top
• Radio Station Memory
◊ InterVideo WinProducer/Coder
• Full version, professional Video Editing Utility.
• Full version, powerful Video Format Transferring Utility
• Multi-language Support (13 Languages)
• Special Offer! MPEG4 Video Format Transferring Support!
• Total Solution! Authoring & Burning to VCD support!
• Capturing>Editing>Authoring>Burning + Unparallel MPEG4 engine
◊ Invincible video quality supported by Silicon Tuner & Conexant CX23881(PAL)/23883(NTSC) audio/video decoder
◊ Enable to perform excellent adjustable IF output
◊ Offers global video standards support, including NTSC-M/N, PAL-B/G/D/K/H/I
◊ Supports 10-bits video Analog to Digital converter
◊ Adaptive 2-D Comb Filter
◊ FM Radio Tuner built-in
Software Features
◊ MSI PVS-with MSI unique TV@nywhere function • Free Scan
• Time-Shifting
• Scheduled Recording(MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4)
• Channel Preview
• Screen Capture
• Parent Control
• Special! MSI unparallel TV@nywhere solutions
- MPEG4 link (Support Internet TV Programs Browsing)
- Distance-less adjust server site upload bit-rate
- Distance-less adjust all settings (channels, profiles)
- Scheduled Recording (MPEG4)
◊ MSI Radio
• Real-time Recording & Playback
• Foreign Language Learning Machine
• Radio Station SearchˇXadjustable sensitivity
• Visual Effect
• Changeable Personalized Skin
• Minimizable and Always On Top
• Radio Station Memory
◊ InterVideo WinProducer/Coder
• Full version, professional Video Editing Utility.
• Full version, powerful Video Format Transferring Utility
• Multi-language Support (13 Languages)
• Special Offer! MPEG4 Video Format Transferring Support!
• Total Solution! Authoring & Burning to VCD support!
• Capturing>Editing>Authoring>Burning + Unparallel MPEG4 engine
www.dvdrhelp.com has so-so reviews from peoples experience with this card.
What it's primary purpose is for, taking my 8mm home movies and trasferring them to digital and eventually burning to DVD.
The secondary function will be to do TIVO on the cheap.
The good:
=======
10 bit ADC's from Conexant (well regarded by avs and dvdrhelp members)
stero tuner
fm??? Not sure why I would care about that, but it's there.
Price
The Bad:
======
Bundled Software is this things downside....but you can change software.
pretty crappy remote that will have to be learned into my main remote.
Some people had trouble with this card initally, and XP with SP1 screwed up the tuner software (but patches have been released...)
I've played with the video-in on my old GeForce 7700 Pro and it did a pretty good job (I believe it's 8 bit on that card but don't quote me) but 10 bit ADC's and a tuner for $80 CDN fa-ged-aboud-it
I know ATI now offers 12-bit ADC's but the reports are that the picture comes out a little soft. The jury seems out right now on how much better 12-bit is over 10 but it's fairly clear about 8-bit versus 10.
There is that 9 bit card from Flyvideo using the Phillips chip. I've heard some pretty good things about that hardware (again apparently hampered by bundled software).
Leadtek offers a competing card with the same chip/feature set but it's more expensive and not available in Canada yet. (Their Deluxe model is based on 8 bit BT chip but are well regarded...but still pricier than what I can get the MSI for)
So tell me your experience with other cards and what you think...
Jon you HTPC guru you, what do you think?
My mastercards warming up and I'll probably go with MSI in the next week but I would be interested to hear other peoples experience