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Compro VideoMate Live USB2.0 External TV Tuner |
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Internals, Software, Installation, Usage
On the PCB we find 2 memory chips with 16 MB each, rated at 6ns. Their purpose is obviously buffering encoded image signals before they are transferred via the USB 2.0 controller for viewing. Compro has gone an extra mile with the cooling: The USB 2.0 controller is hidden under an aluminum heatsink.
 
Furthermore, the MPEG-2 CODEC chip from Cirrus Logic is cooled by a 40mm fan providing airflow of 1.5 CFM at 7,500 rpm. The fan is produced by the Taiwanese company SUNON and is based on magnetic levitation technology which is said to reduce noise and prolong the fan’s life. The principle of this innovative technology is explained here. The fan is guided by a temperature sensor. Under the cooler sits the MPEG-2 CODEC CS92288 chipset from Cirrus Logic.
 
BUNDLED SOFTWARE
Watching, recording, and editing with a TV tuner card requires software. The bundled software is therefore an essential part of any TV tuner package and not just a give-away like bundled games for video cards. The VideoMateLiveUSB comes with the same software bundle as the Compro’s PCI based VideoMate TV Gold. The package includes 4 CDs with the required drivers and the following applications:- Compro’s propriety “PVR” for TV reception
- “Compro DVD” for DVD playback
- “Ulead VideoStudio 7” for video capturing and editing
- “Ulead DVD MovieFactory” for CD/DVD burning
Most important for watching and recording live TV or video stream from other sources like a VHS recorder is Compro’s propriety “ComproPVR”. It features:- Watching antenna and CATV programs on up to 125 channels
- Changing aspect ratio: from 4:3 (default) to 16:9 wide-screen or custom ratios
- Multi-channel preview mode with up to 16 channels in one window
- Still frame capture (snapshot)
- Channel surfing
- Auto scanning for available TV channels
- Video smoothing to reduce the “jaggies” on screen
- Picture purifier: remove video noise and ghost from both original signals and files
- MPEG encoding processing
- “Time-shifting”
“ComproDVD” provides DVD playback, still image capture and book-marking. With “Ulead DVD MovieFactory” the user can capture video directly from camcorder to DVD or CD, edit +RW and -RW DVDs, burn videos onto CDs or DVDs and play on TV or computers, and create CD labels and case covers. “Ulead VideoStudio 7” is a well-known video capturing and editing software. Both Ulead applications are stripped down “special editions” with less function than the retail versions.
Unlike our previously tested internal Compro’s VideoMate TV the VideoMateLiveUSB does not provide FM reception. That will be a minus for quite a few users. We also missed the capability to power up the PC from ACPI S5 soft-off and ACPI S3 stand-by states for scheduled TV recording in the absence of the user. That’s a very convenient function we experienced with Compro’s VideoMate TV Gold (review here.)
INSTALLATION AND USAGE
Being a USB device, the installation of VideoMateUSB could not be easier. As usual with USB devices the drivers have to be installed before the USB device is connected to the PC. Another prerequisite is that DirextX 9 is installed prior to installing drivers and ComproPVR. After rebooting the system and connecting the AV adaptor, the USB cable has to be connected to a USB 2.0 capable USB port. Window’s “Found New Hardware” wizard is doing the rest. The entire process takes less than 10 minutes. We installed the VideoMate USB on several of our test systems with VIA, Intel, and nVidia chipsets and did not experience any problem. The less experienced user finds help in the sufficiently detailed hardware and software manuals. Further help can be found on Compro’s website where a detailed FAQ is available. We also found that Compro is regularly upgrading drivers and software.
The first step to get live TV broadcast after hardware and software installation is a “Program Auto Scan” to identify the available antenna and cable channels. The desired channel is then selected for watching, either directly by hitting the PVR program number or by the PVR multi-channel preview with 16 thumbnails of running programs. TV programs can be watched with a scalable display window. It can be set “always on top” and watched when working with other applications or to “full screen”. All functions like TV watching channel selection, video TV selection, snapshots, capturing, and replaying of captured scenes can be selected via mouse click using the PVR control panel or by the 37-key remote control unit.
 
Left: Channel Scan - Right: Time Shift Settings
PVR provides a handy function called “time shifting”. What is this? Here is an easy to understand explanation from one of our previous TV tuner card tests: I am watching a great TV program but am expecting an urgent phone call. The phone call arrives during the best bit of the program. I press the “pause/timeshift” button on the remote which freezes the program, but the software continues receiving the program and diverting to hard disk. When I return, I can simply press “pause/timeshift” button again to play back from the hard disk buffer (whilst the software continues to receive the program to this buffer). I then have the option to watch the program delayed, fast forward (through the ads!) and rewind at my leisure through the buffer, or return to the live stream by pressing “play”.
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