When I was buying my desktop PC, I thought I might as well buy an external TV tuner card with it. I am environment friendly person and I didn’t see why I should power on the PC when I have to watch TV. So an external TV tuner card which doesn’t require you to switch on the PC seemed the best choice for me. Of course one setback with this is that you can’t record live TV on your PC.
This particular model is perhaps the most popular among external TV tuner cards in India. It was very inexpensive at that time and has various cables to suit the kind of TV or set-top box one uses.
Let me explain what an external TV-tuner card is for those who aren’t aware of it. This is a box that helps tune your monitor to receive TV signals. It is particularly useful for single people who need to move often because by just buying this small piece of equipment, you can use your computer to watch TV. There is no need of detaching or reattaching the monitor from the PC to watch TV. The VGA cable from the PC (Indians call the PC unit as a CPU) attaches to the TV tuner box.
Then the cable from the monitor is plugged into the VGA port of the TV tuner. The Audio-out port can be used to plug in external 2.1 or 5.1 multimedia speaker system. However, if the speakers need to be used for the PC, then the box comes with an audio cable, one end of which plugs into the TV tuner and the other end plugs into the PC. There are ports to which you can either attach an RF cable from or MMI cables depending upon the type of set-top box you are using. Power on the TV tuner and your monitor receives signals from the set-top box.
If you power it off (with the remote), you can switch the PC on and the display would show your PC. To explain it in a simpler fashion, the audio and video from your computer as well as from the set-top box converge into the TV tuner box so that a single monitor and speaker system can be used to operate both your PC as well as work as a television.
Let me come to the various components and elaborate upon their performances:
In-built speakers: The box has in-built speakers but the sound quality is extremely poor. It is better to attach external speakers for watching TV or using the computer.
Video: The picture quality is as good as watching a regular television. Of course, the box is not HD compatible and you won’t get HD quality pictures.
Ease of use: Setting up the connection is very simple and once it is set, all you need is a remote and there is never a need to unplug or re-plug cables between the PC and the TV tuner. Every aspect of your PC can function as normally as usual. The only time when you might need to attach the monitor directly to the PC is when you are running DOS based activities on the computer. For example, things like viewing system BIOS information, running a Windows repair etc. In such scenarios, the video drivers of the computer don’t get loaded and the screen would keep flickering and interrupting your work.
Other than this, once set up, you can watch movies, browse the internet or even play games that don’t need ultra-high resolution or high graphics memory. One however will have to directly attach the monitor to the PC if high-end games are being played because they conflict with the refresh rates of the monitor and the TV-tuner. I was initially using the normal set-top box given by Tata Sky which uses coaxial cables. The setup worked excellently for three years after which Tata Sky gave me an MPEG4 box as an upgrade. I got worried because this box needs RCA jacks. I rummaged through the packing in which this TV tuner had come and found a suitable cable that can make the TV tuner box support RCA cables as well. Almost five years later, the box is still compatible with upgraded technology.
I have a nice cozy set up in my bed room with the PC right in front of my bed and with a TV tuner card installed, I can choose to lay down on the bed in luxury and watch movies either on the PC or instantly hop to watching TV without disturbing the set up right from where I am.
As for LCD monitors, I have heard that the supported resolution of the TV tuner creates a conflict and it doesn’t work. Though I have not tried it personally, I think fiddling with the refresh rates and resolution of the monitor should fix it.
Service and support: It was only once that I used a wrong AC adapter on this TV tuner and that perhaps burnt the IC in it. I had taken it to an Intex service center in Delhi and they fixed it in a matter of hours at a very reasonable price. Ever since, it has worked without giving me any issues for the last four years.
The remote for this unit is made of good quality plastic. I have only had to use it for switching between TV and PC though because I always use DTH services whose channel adjustments are controlled by the remote given by the provider.
I am so happy to have gotten this TV tuner box which has given me way more than the value I paid for it. In compact space, I have a full fledged multimedia entertainment system which I have been using for playing DVDs on my PC, watching movies on PC, playing games on computer and watching television lying in the comfort of my bedroom – all on one monitor and speaker system.
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.
