GotView PCI Hybrid Hybrid TV and FM Tuner - an interesting budget solution with DVB-T support. GotView PCI TV Tuner: What is missing to your computer is the appearance of the board

I think I will not be mistaken if I say that most users interested in computer devices about the GotView brand are not even suspected. Meanwhile, the same name Taiwanese industrial group presented under this brand in the Russian market last year a rather interesting series of multimedia products, among which was our today's hero - the internal TV tuner GotView PCI.

All products supplied by this firm are adapted to the conditions of each country separately, and our experimental exception is not. The manufacturer emphasizes its unique software with which the Russian user will work very comfortably. Well, let's see ...

Equipment

The fact that this product did not accidentally fall into the Russian market, becomes clear after you have picked up a pretty box. Only from the information that I found on the box, the potential buyer consists of "well, a very positive" picture of the capabilities of the board, especially after a loud statement on the box about perfect television.

Inside this cardboard miracle of designer thought, along with the tuner board, a remote control with a pair of AAA form factor was found, a standard T-shaped FM antenna, an audio cable for connecting to linear entrance sound card, remote IR sensor for the remote control, two CDs - one with drivers and work software, the second with a set of programs for capturing and processing video from the company Intervideo (WINDVR and WINDVD Creator) and a small instruction in Russian to install drivers under different versions Microsoft Operations.

Almost standard set except for one very nice thing - disk with full versions Software from InterVideo, largely expanding the capabilities of the board. Of course, I understand perfectly well that in our country to get any software is not a problem, however have at least some useful licensed software - a pleasant cleaning of conscience :)

Design and specifications

Black varnish, high-quality soldering, a golden plate with connectors - these are obvious signs of the brand, and the brand with a loud name. It seems that GotView challenges the eminent brands whose names are all on the lips. But one varnish is not enough. To qualify for leadership, the design must comply with high modern requirements.

And this design is based on the Conexant Fusion 878A chipset.

You can argue about the advantages of a chip, but still more modern chips from the same Conexant or Philips give the best picture quality. However, they, as chips, new, unnecessable, do not have the choice of software and developments in it, how can the 878th boast.

The high-frequency block of an analog receiver TCL2002MB-33F and goes to its roots in the past Philips.

Over the design of the board itself, the engineers clearly worked on fame - everything was made quite compact. As a result, the tuner in length does not get out of the PCI slot.

Even before the chipset, two four-hour audio connections rush to connect the input audio source of the signal and to connect the tuner to the sound card. Such a decision, for some reason, not often you will meet at TV tuners of different, even very prestigious brands. Meanwhile it is very useful, because thanks to these connectors you can free external audio inputs / outputs, as well as impose and mix the sound from other audio sources.

The presence of these connectors is talking about any, but professionalism.

Well, the main connectors, of course, are located on a golden stub. There are located: antenna FM connector, antenna TV connector, an infrared sensor connector, a low-frequency AV video input, Minijack audio input, composite S-Video input, Audio System MINIJACK.

Well, in my opinion, everything is necessary that only happens on TV tuners here is present.

Remote Control and IR Sensor

The 30-button panel of a special curved ergonomic shape is perfect in hand. All rubber buttons are not abubs like, and thoughtful - for the convenience of work. Even the lowest buttons click very simply, since the elongated form of the console makes it easy to keep it.

The console controls and TV, and FM, so that the sofa does not have to get up.

The only complaint that I had about the remote control is the variety of colors on its body. It could be more comprehended to do, but this is my personal opinion, and the taste and color, as you know, like-minded people there are a little.

The length of the wire of the remote IR sensor, as always, is short. I do not understand, manufacturers that, sorry to make it not meter, but two? Well, if I have a computer on the floor under the table, then where will I make sorry, this sensor will withdraw? But it is rather not wines GotView, because Length, apparently, some standard.

Work with attached software

Installation of drivers has passed very quickly and practically automatically. My Windows XP easily identified two new devices in the system.

By the way, in old version GotView added four devices in the system.

After that, I carefully examined the CD and there was an excellent installation instruction and working with TV tuner, where everything was painted in every year. Instructions PDF format, so that it has a folder with AdobeacrobatReader 6.0 to read it on the disk. In addition, there is also a folder with Internexplorer 6.0 and the folder with the main program to work with the GotView Pro tuner, which occupies as much as 1.9MB. But it's not in size, but in quality.

The installation of the program took no longer than the installation of drivers. After starting, it was proposed to edit the settings for a specific work, but we will immediately get acquainted with its interface:

The player interface is rather unusual and does not like the usual elongated control panels from the software of other TV tuners.

Another innovation that entered the manufacturer relates to switching between TV and FM operation modes. Now everything happens in the same panel - you switch the channels and television moving to the radio. So the situation is the case if in the right corner of three possible modes TV / FM / TV + FM you are selected last.

The left lower angle occupy six sliders responsible for brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation, etc. Such characteristics. They are configured separately (!) For each channel. After all, indeed, each channel has its own features of the show, so why limit yourself.

To the right of these settings - Icons of the six items of the main menu Tuner - Capture, Channels, Scheduler, Settings, TV Program and Listing channels. They are located completely incomprehensible, so we will consider them in another sequence.

Channels. The first thing that rushes into the eye at the entrance to this menu item is a huge table with names, frequency and characteristics (system type, volume, color settings) not only TV channels, but also FM stations.

Firstly, the presence of this table immediately in just an improved program, suggests that the manufacturer has taken care of the end user and created a database for all Russian television broadcasts (16 channels) and partial broadcasting in the FM range (6 stations of the Moscow FM Range). A small amount of FM stations is simply explained - in each city they are their own, and to keep up with the change in the frequency of their broadcasting, as well as their new names are simply impossible. Secondly, as you have already noticed, in Table and TV, and FM in one list. It is possible to distinguish them only by the broadcast system (SECAM, PAL, NTSC or FM varieties).

The right side of the "Channels" field is assigned to edit certain characteristics of this table. Here you can not only change the name of the channel, the broadcast system, adjust the volume and brightness, but also assign the icon for the channel or FM station. 16 Icons on the main channels are already sewn into the GotView Pro database. In addition, here you can accurately adjust the channel frequency up to 0.01Gz (!) Or simply set a new one by choosing it from the entire working range of the tuner and writing it manually.

In the upper left corner is the extremely useful button to scan, which you are accurately useful. You can scan both the entire frequency range and the range of standard channel grid. Scan range, like a step (minimal step 0.02 MHz) are selected manually. In addition, the user can decide with which the tuner will work with which search method.

In my opinion - here are the broadest opportunities for finding the right channel. The signal will not remain unnoticed!

Settings. This menu item consists of three fields - "View", "Interface" and "About Program". In the "View" field, configuration of the resolution is organized when viewing, and with the possibility of increasing the image with cutting around the edges, setting the ratio of the sides, etc. The most important thing here is rightfully, you can read the deinterlacing setting that allows you to save your nerves. Let me remind you that the interlaying is a comb that occurs on moving objects and spoiling all the impression of viewing. Usually this feature is implemented in tuners software, but not always well. Here you can set one of five deinterlacing modes, well, or not to use it at all.

The Interface field is responsible for setting up the message displayed on the screen, for choosing a sound source and for other functions with which you can read from the picture.

Capture. Thus, a rare TV tuner boasts a rare TV tuner to capture video, audio and just pictures. Not in vain GotView pays great attention to the possibility of working with recorded video and even put a disk with a software package from InterVideo. Five fields allow you to qualitatively configure everything connected with it - AVI, WMV, sound, snapshot, network.

AVI. Perhaps, even an experienced user at first there will be some concern about proper setting All parameters displayed here. But it is only at first glance, because Everything is done simply, convenient and accessible to any user. All possible settings of the receiving video file are taken into account. For convenience, there are settings such as disk space for a file, recording time limit, setting the frequency of captured frames.

An important feature is the ability to display missed frames when capturing. This is a kind of indicator of the features of your car. If this indicator is different from zero, it would be nice to change the recording parameters to lighter.

In order not to contemplate after recording a comb on moving objects, it is possible to connect the deinterlacing filter when recording.

The video capture permission setting function is equipped with a rather interesting addition, allowing you to cut off the picture on any of the four edges (or all at once) to the width specified in pixels. In general, you can capture the video with a resolution from 80x60 to 768x576.

Naturally, you can configure both video compression parameters and audio streams if necessary. In addition, GotView allows you to set a timer on a single recording by date and time.

The right side of the AVI field is assigned to setting the volume and chroma level. And the lower shows the processor load in real time.

WMV. For this type of settings a bit smaller. For example, there is no disk space backup option, there is no possibility to set the frequency of captured frames, as well as video and audio compression settings.

Sound. The meaning of the settings of this field, I think it is clear to everyone. It is worth noting that the interface compared to the video settings field has not changed. The sound can be recorded, of course, and in mp3 with any settings.

In addition, the sound can be written not only with FM gears, but also with TV. It happens after all the situation when you don't need a picture. Without problems - write only the sound!

By gripping audio and video it is worth adding another thing. Real-time coding, i.e. Directly when capturing, can carry out any of your codec, which seriously expands the capabilities of the tuner.

Snapshot. Even in this field settings at GotView much more than competitors. You can capture individual frames not only with any possible resolution for the tuner, but also in any of the three graphic formats - JPG, BMP, GIF, and the quality of the compression of the JPG file is adjusted manually.

There is an excellent opportunity to set the grip every n seconds during the viewing process.

Net. Well, this is absolutely innovation. The function is experimental, as evidenced by the red warning inscription. The manufacturer offers you to work with a tuner ... on the network, i.e. Capture video over the network. True, the recommended permit is only 320x200, but it is recommended, and not rigidly limited.

Scheduler. Well, it is just a gorgeous thing to compile the schedule of automatic recording not only video, but also audio, as well as removal of screenshots. In addition to the standard actions, you can execute any command both before recording and after. The team naturally is written in the appropriate command line.

TV programm. No less useful thing to load databases with programs for each channel. Well, here, everything seems to be so clear.

Listing channels. The last menu for displaying the grid on 16 channels per page. Full standard function. It is a pity that it is impossible to customize the location and number of channels shown manually.

Summing up software, we can safely say that from the software supplied with tuners - this is the best. True, the manufacturer a little schitril - after all, as a basis, in this case, high-quality alternative software for TV tuners Fly DS is taken. But in this case it is absolutely clear that its deepest recycling has been done. It can be that the possibility of creating the perfect software and caused the choice of the Cenexant Fusion 878A classic chip.

The second disk with the InterVideo software package is not only a full-fledged licensed copy, but also in the best traditions of GotView, the main program for creating a home video WINDVD Creator from the package is completely (including HELP) Russified, which makes it easy to work for an order of magnitude.

Describe all the features of WinDVR and WinDVD Creator most likely meaninglessly, because To do this, you need a whole book dedicated to video creation. It is only worth mentioning that the package serves and for capture, and for subsequent video processing, recognized worldwide and for sure many will have to taste.

Quality of reception

Testing TV and FM channels was carried out in two versions - with an external connection cable television And with the connection of the tuner to the room antenna. Test Computer Configuration: Athlon1200 processor, Soltek 75SL-75DRV2 motherboard, video Card NVIDIA GeForce2 MX400, RAM 256MB, Sound ESS 1969, Windows XP SP1 Operation.

By connecting the cable to Tuner, it was naturally necessary to search the channels anew - the frequency manufacturer, of course, did not coincide. I did the search throughout the working range in increments of 0.1 MHz (well, 0.02 MHz is too cool). This process is not fast, so I managed to drink tea a couple of times during this time. But the result exceeded all expectations. Because of the fine step, a lot of repetitive channels were caught, but 17 channels that my TV takes, the tuner caught with excellent quality. To adjust almost nothing.

Examples of channels

Naturally, I immediately noticed on all the channel combing the interlaying and hurried to get rid of it. Of the five modes of deinterlacing the most pretty, the second method was from the list - Blend. Copying strings gives too rough result, the errors of which are too much noticeable when stretching the picture. The last two TwoFields and Weave modes (especially Weave) are delivered from the interlaying at all. The WEAVE filter gives a good result, but the quality of the picture after it is applied is noticeably worse than when using Blend. The BOB filter gives the average result between high-quality Blend and rough row copying.

Below you can look at the frames of fast moving skaters, made without the use of deinterlacing and using the latter in all five filters. Sequence is this - without filter, copying rows, Blend, Bob, TwoFields, Weave.

Also pay attention to the channel emblem (sequence of filtering the same).

Well, it seems to me that the actual work of filters is evident.

After switching from the cable to a simple room antenna, I did not have to customize anything - the grid of the channels from the manufacturer perfectly coincided with what is really. The quality of reception was somewhat worse, but this is already the errors of my antenna (if you can call it at all). The calf catches it is not better.

The processor load when viewing TV is clearly visible on the screenshots of the capture menu above the text. When writing a video, download the test machine before the failure also failed. Therefore, all trial AVI-shki was recorded without missed frames and other glitches.

Very pleased with the possibility of downloading TV programs from the Internet. You only have to click on the button, because All the necessary sites' addresses are already listed in the tuner database.

Receiving FM at all no complaints causes, because All stations, what I only know in Moscow caught was clearly. Moreover, the reception was clean, even though the antenna was in what position. But in general, it is enough to hang it in any place.

TOTAL

This is a serious application for one of the leading positions in the TV tuners market. The possibilities of the device are simply amazed. In addition, the tuner is perfect for those who have come together often to record TV programs. This tuner software is just impeccable - do not sink. An excellent dessert was a license disk with a package of InterVideo. The minus, of course, is the use of an outdated chipset, but without it, most likely there would be no such almighty software. So I want to wish the actively developing GotView to release a tuner on a modern chipset, but with the same software, because CONEXANT FUSION 878A chip The SECAM standard of the most common standard in Russia is still not the best - the colors are slightly, but walking. So five with a minus! By the way, technical support in ON Line is organized on the company's forum.

Today, our test laboratory will consider the lineup TV tuners of the Taiwanese company GOTVIEW. This manufacturer is notable to the fact that for many years it is engaged exclusively with TV tuners, and all its products, which is not difficult to find in the overwhelming majority of computer stores, is oriented specifically on the Russian user. Interestingly, for many countries of the world, GotView is engaged in mainly OEM supplies to multimedia companies. In Russia, the manufacturer offers fully adapted products under its trademark under the existing specifics of our broadcasting; And this applies not only to Moscow or St. Petersburg, but also all other regions of Russia and neighboring countries.

Models that will be presented in our review are selected by GotView as the most popular products of this brand. It is noteworthy that among them there is both built-in TV tuners for PCI and PCI-E tires and an external model that uses uSB interface. First, let's try to compare them for some common characteristics.

Comparative table TV tuners GotView

* The average estimated cost is taken from www.price.ru at the time of preparation of the material

Note: The complete list of GotView TV tuners features can be viewed on the home page of the manufacturer: www.gotview.ru.

For information: Abbreviation "DVD" in the name of the GOTVIEW TV tuner model indicates the presence of MPEG2 hardware encoder on the board.

Description of GotView models

Virtually the entire range of GotView tuners is supplied in cute and small packaging boxes, executed by the manufacturer's branded template. For the convenience of the buyer, the functional features of the models, equipment, service functions, and others are presented in detail directly on them. Despite small packaging dimensions, there will be many components within a potential buyer. Their set for all GOTVIEW's built-in TV tuners is almost identical, and includes the following:

TV tuner;
Low profile plank for installing a tuner in "thin" housings;
Antenna dipole for the radio (with velcro);
RCA adapter (composite) - S-Video;
PO;
Batteries for remote control;
IR receiver for remote control;
Composite video cable;
S-VIDEO cable;
Stereo audio cable;
CD with software;
InterVideo WindVD CD CD 2;
Installation Guide

All models of the company's built-in TV tuners have a low-profile design of the circuit board, and additional low-profile planks are included in the sets of models, which allows the use of products in specific small system units.

Many GotView TV Tuners are supplied with a multimedia console remote control. With it, you can control not only the functions of the TV tuner itself, but also various applications. When studying the package of supplies, we found that at a model range of GotView TV tuners there may be at least two options for remote controls, whose photos you see below:

GotView remote control patterns



Reprogramming the keys on the remote control is carried out using
branded programmatic shell

The console in the black case is the "ordinary" remote control, and in silver - "multimedia", according to the functionality of the Microsoft Media Center Remote console. This remote control allows you to turn on and off the computer, which is no doubt a very useful feature. Such a remote allows you to manage any programs, including multimedia applications And Windows Media Center, as well as emulate the mouse and keyboard. The multimedia control panel is sold and separately, the receiver connects it to uSB port, not to tyuer. It is convenient that it does not require a driver for his work, and it can be used, due to versatility, in general with any computer TV tuner.

The thin "ordinary" console loses the "multimedia" not only in functionality, but also in convenience - it lies badly in hand, and the same membrane buttons are extremely uncomfortable to work blindly.

GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe

DVD2 Deluxe Packaging for Retail Sale

GOTVIEW PCI DVD2 Deluxe appeared on the computer market in 2006, replacing the outdated GotView PCI DVD model. One of the main advantages of this model is the initial setting of the multimedia remote control, which allows you to turn on and off the computer.

Thanks to the additional low-profile bar, the tuner can be installed not only in system unit Standard size, but also in "thin" computer enclosures, popular among HTPC-systems collectors. By the way, the overwhelming majority (if neither all) of the embedded Tweuners GotView have a low-profile design of printed circuit boards.

Printed circuit board PCI DVD2 Deluxe.



View of the side plank tuner

Tuner GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe is based on the top-end model of the PHILIPS FM 1216ME / I H-5 (MK5), which has long proven itself in business. It allows you to confidently take both television and radio channels, possessing good selectivity and low level noise. On the printed circuit board, the RF unit is highlighted with deaf shielding.

Conexant CX23416.

CONEXANT CX25843 and CX23416 manufactured by CNEXANT made as encoder / decoder. It must be recognized that such a bundle is a long-run solution, and is applied by many manufacturers not only when designing TV tuners, but also video capture cards. Due to the capabilities of the CX26843 decoder chip in the tuner, a three-band equalizer is implemented, as well as support for stereo behavior in A2 and NICAM formats. The CX23416 chip provides video capture in the MPEG2 format in real time with a flow rate of up to 15 Mbps, without loading the central computer processor by such tasks. It also has a hardware filtering of noise with a smooth adjustment of the noise reduction.

In the work of the Tuner showed itself pretty well, demonstrating excellent quality broadcasting of a television picture. GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe has a very good sensitivity, and you can recommend it to purchase those who have no ideal receiving antenna.

GotView PCI Hybrid.

GotView PCI Hybrid Packaging for Retail Sale

GotView PCI Hybrid TV Tuner is a budget model, but the interests of this consumer audience do not seem infringeable. On the contrary, a rich (even excessive rich) set of delivery, in which, to the word, the remote control and the remote control, and all kinds of cables, and the low-profile bar, will have to do with even the sophisticated user.

Tuner printed circuit board



View of the side plank tuner

Perhaps this is such a corporate style - all printed boards of the built-in TV tuners GotView combines purple varnish color (or, more correctly, masks). The high-frequency part of the tuner serves a hybrid chip XC3028 production of XCEIVE INC. (As you can see, the chip and his environment on the printed circuit board, in contrast to the analog receivers, do not need external shielding). The selector allows you to receive transfers to both analog and digital broadcasting. As an analog-to-digital converter, the manufacturer selected for PCI Hybrid a fairly common 10-bit CNEXANT ADC CX23883, which supports all types of video standards.

In the work, this TV tuner showed itself quite well, demonstrating the acceptable quality of the broadcast of the television picture. However initial setting Channels Tuner could not automatically determine the color standard (PAL or SECAM), which had to be installed manually. It should be noted that the GotView PCI Hybrid is the cheapest model of TV tuners of the family, which makes a very good purchase in relation to its rich configuration and quality of work.

GotView PCI DVD3 Hybrid

PCI DVD3 Hybrid Packaging for Retail Sale

This model is a hybrid TV tuner with a hardware compression of MPEG2, with the ability to receive both analog and digital television and radio channels. The tuner comes with a remote control performed in thin housing With membrane buttons. In addition, the rich equipment and adapted software for Russia (characteristic of all GOTVIEW TV tuners characteristic of all models), for sure to taste to many buyers.

PCI DVD3 Hybrid



View of the side plank tuner

The tuner's input device is built on the XCEIVE 3028 chip database and does not require additional metal shielding. To this reason, in hybrid models we do not see inherent in the analog tuners of tin casing protecting high-frequency contours (on digital receivers there are simply not among the mounting elements).

Conexant CX23418.

The highest level of integration falls on the Conexant CX23418 chip, which plays the role of the MPEG2 encoder with built-in audio and video components. For portable solutions, such a selection of the element base would give an advantage in low power consumption and in small dimensions of the product, but the GotView PCI DVD3 Hybrid board is designed for low-profile design (the delivery includes an additional special plank), and in the embedded TV tuners for power supply no There are no restrictions.

The CX23418 hardware encoder is capable of providing high-quality video capture in MPEG2 format in real time with a stream speed up to 15 Mbps, without loading the central computer processor. The chip has a hardware noise noise reduction filter with a smooth adjustment of noise cancellation level (the level is configured in the TV tuner driver).

Evaluating the quality of broadcasting a television picture, we found a very strange behavior of this tuner in dynamic scenes: the frames seemed to be layered on each other, forming a loop mark. This is especially noticeable in cartoons, where the number of frames is significantly less, and the difference between two adjacent, respectively, is great. It is visible on the following screenshots:

In more or less static scenes, the loop is not so noticeable, and the screenshots look at all in all:

However, the reason for such a "splitting" frames, as it turned out, lies in the tuner settings - more precisely, in the installation of an excessive level of noise cancellation. When declining this level, the described effect becomes invisible.

GotView X5 DVD Hybrid PCI-E

X5 DVD Hybrid PCI-E in Packaging for Retail

The GOTVIEW X5 DVD Hybrid TV tuner has become the first model of the company PCI-E interface. Let me remind you that this new interface has increased bandwidth, and the connector has a smaller number of contacts than the standard PCI. In the near future, PCI-E must fully displace the PCI interface, and now the PCI-E device is already relevant - the number of PCI classical connectors on modern motherboards is steadily reduced.

PCB X5 DVD Hybrid PCI-E



Sideways

As a selector of channels in the tuner, the newest development of XCEIVE - Chip XC5000 is used, which allows you to receive both analog and digital (DVB-T) radio and television channels. Compared to the XC2028 and XC3028 chips, the new selector, with just as miniature dimensions, has better selectivity and sensitivity, which provides good quality television pictures even with a low signal level.

Conexant CX23887 decoder

Due to the fact that this TV tuner uses the PCI-E interface, Conexant CX23887 chip was chosen as a decoder. This microcircuit is the newest ADC, which also integrates the bridge of coordination with the PCI-E bus. In addition, the hardware feature of the chip is the integrated 3D Comb Filter, which includes the separation of the brightness and color component of the signal, which allows you to successfully suppress Moir, improving image quality. This dignity is especially noticeable at the boundaries of high-contrast transitions, where light tones alternate with dark.

The GotView X5 DVD Hybrid TV tuner has demonstrated an outstanding quality of a television image broadcast, which you can also make sure to look at the accompanying screenshots. By and large, even to complain about nothing.

GotView X5 3D Hybrid PCI-E

X5 3D Hybrid PCI-E in Packaging for Retail Sale

Immediately after the release of the TV tuner model discussed above, GotView has prepared another novelty for the PCI-E interface. She became the GotView X5 3D Hybrid model, which differs from X5 DVD Hybrid in the lack of hardware MPEG2 encoder. In all the rest, the novelty is fully similar to his older "sister".

Tuner printed circuit board



Sideways

The tuner printed circuit board design has a great similarity with the elevated model, with the only difference that the places for the hardware coding chip and the memory chip concomitant with the power stabilizer remained empty. It can be stated that X5 3D Hybrid is intended for users for which the video signal recording function does not represent much interest.

As a 10-bit ADC in this model, Conexant CX23887 chip is also applied, capable of working with PAL / SECAM / NTSC video standards and with Nicam / AM / BTSC / EIAJ / A2 audio stages, automatically determining them.

The high-frequency part of the tuner is based on the silicon hybrid XC5000 chip. In the photo of the board, this chip is hidden under a metal golden screen, which is done, rather, exclusively for aesthetics (in contrast to the analog RF blocks, digital do not need external shielding). XC5000 provides acceptance of both analog and digital programs.

Having considered the screenshots of the TV channels, it is extremely difficult to coal any large difference in quality with the elevated model. GotView X5 3D Hybrid also displays a television picture as an older model.

GotView USB2.0 DVD2.

USB2.0 DVD2 in retail packaging

In addition to the built-in TV tuners, the GotView line also has external devices connected via USB interface. This is a GotView USB2.0 DVD2, which is an updated model of a TV tuner with hardware compression to MPEG1 and MPEG2 formats, and in which the radio is now turned on. Two USB free ports are required to connect the device: the first USB cable is connected to the second - the additional power cable.

Included there is a stand for vertical tuner installation

The body of the device is aluminum, with plastic inserts on the ends. For the convenience of placement on the table, the package includes a plastic stand that you see along with the tuner in the photo above.

Front panel view

On the front panel of the tuner are connectors for connecting an external multimedia peripheral. This is a composite low-frequency video input, stereo audio input and S-Video input. In addition, there is also a tuner on button (during the device, it is highlighted with a red LED).

Rear panel view

On the rear panel there is a number of "main", if you can say so, connectors. This is an input for USB-power, television and radio antenna sockets, and a USB input.

Tuner printed circuit board



Reverse side of the tuner printed circuit board

The tuner is made on a modern element database: 10-bit ADC Conexant CX25843, Hardware MPEG2-encoder Conexant CX23416 and PHILIPS FM1216ME / I H-5 HF (MK5).

The only problem that arose with me during the acquaintance with this TV tuner was to delay and losing the frame of the television picture. The solution was found in the video card driver, namely, in changing the hardware deinterlace mode on the software. There were no complaints about the quality of broadcasting a television picture.

When preparing screenshots, software deuterleising was used.

Software

Software package is unified for all GOTVIEW TV tuners, so the story of it can be taken out in a separate chapter. So, the performance of TV tuners of this review provides the program GotView Pro 5.0. Its greatest advantage is perhaps excellent functionality along with full Russification. It cannot but rejoice the fact that the manufacturer leads a permanent job on improving the program, and since the availability of updates is checked automatically, the user will receive an update notice almost immediately after the more than fresh version on the manufacturer's website.

The initial installation of software from a CD will not cause problems: after determining the tuner board and the driver's automatic substitution, even the restart of the computer will not be required. The user will meet a completely friendly interface of the GOTVIEW PRO program, and learn to navigate it in it will not take much time. The program has the opportunity to use the so-called "skins" (graphic shells of the main program panel). In the standard supply of them, only a small part, and the rest of the user will be able to easily find on the GotView website.

Initially, the program contains a table of all essential television and radio channels with their frequency values. Thus, in some cases, after installing the program, all television and radio channels will already be configured, only residents of individual regions and subscribers of cable networks will be required to use the channel search function.

Tube Channel Management Settings window

For channels with unsure reception, the automatic search of which did not give desired results, you can use manual searchOr manually set the frequencies of their broadcast. Further, you can specify their name for the found channels, pick up the icon, as well as make sorting in the light of your own preferences.

T-tuner general settings window

The hierarchical structure of the general settings window allows the user to quickly find the desired section to make any changes to the operation of the TV tuner. Each group of parameters corresponds to its icon, which allows you to quickly find the necessary.

The work of the noise reduction filter is interesting, whose level can be adjusted smoothly and even separately for each channel. This filter allows you to significantly improve the image, both when recording and when viewing. It is only necessary to consider that for the operation of the filter in the program mode, additional resources of the central processor will be required. If the computer resources are not enough, it will be preferable to use a hardware compression tuner: only in this case the filtering will be done hardware, without loading the CPU. Let me remind you that the COVVIEW PCI HYBRID GotView PCI filter includes the program work, and with a hardware - GotView PCI DVD, GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe, GotView PCI DVD3 Hybrid and GotView USB 2.0 DVD (as applied to models of TV tuners of this review).

TV show timetable ("Telendel")

For GotView TV tuners, there is the possibility of receiving a weekly timetable TV broadcast over the Internet. Loading the database can be done either manually or automatically. It is convenient that if there is a fresh TV program when switching channels, information about the current transmission is displayed on the screen, as well as its start and end time. Visually displays the "degree of completion" of the transmission as a percentage in the form of a status strip.

Video capture settings window

GOTVIEW software allows video capture with the most different recording parameters. Implemented the ability to automatically break the record of the files of the specified size, which is sometimes necessary (especially when forming a large volume video).

Blighte-type information window

For information on the current video card, the manufacturer has provided a "window of graphic observations". Here, relying on the graphically presented data on the picture, independently set the levels of white and black, as well as get information about the signal-to-noise ratio. By schedules you can quickly determine whether the video is cross or too dark, and it is more accurate to adjust the picture on this basis.

Branded software has very high functionality. We looked at only a small tolik from its basic functions. The rest of the information is interested in the reader will turn off the manufacturer's website, where, among other things, there is a "hotline", and the forum, and the answers to frequently asked questions.

Conclusion

In general, the model range of modern GotView TV tuners made a good impression. Given the complete and high-quality localization of software, as well as the adaptation of models for the Russian conditions, any GotView model can make a worthy competition recognized by the Grand Markets. A large selection of models, designed for various categories of users, makes it possible to easily choose a TV tuner on its requests, and the high quality of the television image broadcast will not allow to doubt the correctness of the stopping selection. I also note the modern element base that the manufacturer uses when designing models.

Personally, I liked the X5 DVD Hybrid models most of all for the PCI-E tire, DVD2 Deluxe for the PCI bus, as well as an external USB model. The only thing I can not guarantee that on your television antenna, the picture quality will be not worse than mine.

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TV tuners GotView PCI 7135 and GOTVIEW PCI DVD

Maxim Babenkov

aivan company GotView specializes in the development and production of multimedia products and periphery for stationary and portable computers. The company's multimedia product line includes devices for receiving television and radio signals on a computer - TV-FM tuners, as well as TV tuners with additional features To capture and digitize the image.

In the Russian market, the company is present for two years, but for such a short time already quite well proven itself, since its products are distinguished by high quality, good complete set, functional software and full adaptation under the conditions of Russian television.

In this article we will focus on the entire two internal models of GOTVIEW TV tuners with the PCI interface: GotView PCI 7135 and GotView PCI DVD.

The first model of the TV tuner - GotView PCI 7135 - is made on a purple textolite and has a gilded bar. This style is traditional for all company TV tuners.

The GotView PCI 7135 model is built on the Philips SAA7135HL decoder. The bulk of the radio elements of the chip strapping is located in close proximity to it. The board has several large and small capacitance capacitors (LC filters), which serve to eliminate interference arising from other elements inside the computer, as well as from nutrition interference.

The video / Philips SAA7135HL audio set is processing PAL / SECAM / NTSC signals and has support for stereo-formats for broadcasting A2 and NICAM. The decoder also provides advanced sound processing and allows digitizing sound with a sampling frequency up to 48 kHz. In addition, the decoder supports various effects such as Virtual Dolby Surround and Dolby Surround Prologic.

As a high-frequency block in GotView PCI 7135, the PHILIPS FM1216ME / I H-3 unit is used, which supports PAL / SECAM / NTSC formats signals in the frequency range from 48.25 to 855.25 MHz. A similar high-frequency unit is equipped with most modern TV tuners.

The device allows you to implement traditional functions, such as capturing video with sound, as well as take FM radio stations in stereo gear.

On the back of the GotView PCI 7135, the following connectors are located: two antenna inputs (one for connecting television antenna, and the other - for radio antenna), 2-mm connector for connecting an IR receiver, composite and S-Video-video input, audio input and audio output. Plank with connectors, as in many other models of the company, has a golden color.

In addition to traditional audio connections on the rear plate, GotView PCI 7135 is additionally equipped with internal audio output and audio output connectors. These connectors are useful primarily when connecting a TV tuner to a sound card, which allows you to leave the free external line input of the audio card. There are audio output and audio output connectors on the outside of the printed circuit board, which simplifies the switching of devices. We emphasize that in some cases there is no need to connect through these connectors, since the GOTVIEW PCI 7135 TV tuner transmits sound and PCI bus.

The GOTVIEW PCI 7135 TV tuner is completed with a remote control, which in addition to working with the TV tuner itself allows control in various multimedine applications. The submitted remote is different from the remote control, which is included in the previously released TV tuners. Thus, the new remote has an increased number of buttons and more thoughtful placement, and in addition, the PD buttons can be programmed using the utility supplied in the kit.

The package of GotView PCI 7135 includes a remote control with power elements, an IR receiver for remote control, FM antenna, an Audio Cabel MINI-JACK-MINI-Jack and an audio cable, which serves to connect the audio output of the tuner to the external line input motherboard or audio card, user manual in Russian and two CDs with video editor Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 in Russian and GOTVIEW PRO software.

GotView PCI 7135 is today one of the best TV tuners among the similar models presented in the market. A well-designed board using high-quality components provides excellent image quality and sound, and also allows you to carry out confident reception of various video signals.

The second of the TV tuner models under consideration - GotView PCI DVD is different from the first not only functionally, but also externally. The printed circuit board, as emphasized above, is also performed in purple color, but in terms of size it is much inferior to the GotView PCI 7135 card, especially in width.

The GotView PCI DVD TV tuner is based on Philips SAA7174HL and Conexant SK23416 chips, which allows you to capture video and compression into a MPEG format with a flow rate of up to 15 Mbps and the sound sampling frequency up to 48kHz. PAL / SECAM / NTSC standards and A2 and NICAM broadcast stereo formats are supported. The main difference between the Philips SAA7174 decoder from Philips SAA7135 consists in the absence of a PCI interface, the function of which in the TV tuner performs another chip - Conexant SH23416. This microcircuit serves as a hardware MPEG1 / 2-codec for video and audio streams. In addition, CX23416 has a noise cancelination filter that provides removal of interference from the video and an increase in the MPEG compression coefficient. On the back side PCB is a single HY57V643220CT-6 chip production of HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR, which serves as a buffer for MPEG-flux. Specification of this chip Next: Voltage - 3.3 V, operation rate - 166 MHz, four banks 512 kbps

for MPEG stream

As a high-frequency block in GotView PCI DVD, a Philips PHILIPS block was used, which supports PAL / SECAM / NTSC formats in the frequency range from 48.25 to 855.25 MHz. Unlike the above-described model, a high-frequency unit without a FM receiver is applied to the GotView PCI DVD TV tuner - Philips MK3 1216.

The main possibilities of the device include support for the essential and cable television, wide range of channel search and setup, the ability to produce real-time video capture in MPEG-2 format with a resolution to 720-480, capture frames in various graphic formats, etc. From other features of the GOTVIEW PCI DVD model, let's call high-quality image treatment with noise reduction filters and deinterlacing with conventional and twice frequency. Especially I would like to note that the program uses the hardware capabilities of modern video cards for processing the image by deinterlace filters, which makes it possible to significantly reduce the loading of the central processor.

On the back plank GotView PCI DVD there are a composite video input, a socket of the IR receiver remote control, antenna TV entry,

S-video input and audio input.

The traditional analog audio output in this model is not fully implemented at all, which, however, is not surprising. Sound transmission is carried out only by PCI bus, as a result of which there is no need to complete the device with an audio cable for connecting a tuner with a sound card. However, the GotView PCI DVD kit includes another audio cable, designed to connect external signal sources, on one side of which there is a MINI-JACK plug, and on the other there are two RCA plug. Such a cable is convenient when connected to tyuer of various camcorders and a video recorder.

The remote control GotView PCI DVD is radically different from the first model console. First of all, the remote is very flat and supplied with a large number of buttons - their number reaches 37 pieces. In addition, the buttons are sensory, which prevents dirt and dust entering. Tactile sensations when pressing the buttons allow you to accurately estimate whether the key was triggered. In general, we can say that the console is compact, and in addition, it is easy and functional. On the remote, the frequently used buttons are very successfully located - the volume changes and switching channels. Powing is powered by a lithium element of 3 V.

In our opinion, the GotView PCI DVD TV tuner may today be considered the easiest solution for digitizing both television channels and video signals from a home video camera and a video recorder. The advantages of a TV tuner should also be attributed to the fact that a noise reduction filter will be used in the digitization process, which will reduce the quality of the digitized signal.

Additional plus It is that the GotView PCI DVD can work running Windows MCE 2005 than just a few tuners manufacturers currently boast. If you have two or three tuners of GotView PCI DVD in this OS, you can schedule a record of several channels simultaneously.

The DVD GotView PCI package includes a remote control with a power element, an IR receiver for remote control, FM antenna, an audio cable, which serves to connect various sources of the audio signal (Mini-Jack-RCA), the user's manual in Russian and two CDs -Disc with the Intervideo WindVD Creator 2 video editor and GOTVIEW PRO software.

Now briefly tell about the software, which are equipped with both GOTVIEW TV tuners, and its functionality. The GotView Pro 4.0.0.475 program has a number of interesting and unique features, including, for example, PIP (picture in the picture), allowing the second tuner when there is a second tuner, watch two channels at the same time. The possibility of separate recording of audio and video streams is significantly easier and speeds up video editing, and also helps to avoid the use of additional software. A unique feature of the program is to support third-party filters Direct Show (DS) and DirectX Media Objects (DMO) intended for additional image processing and sound.

The motion detector feature allows you to use the device as a video surveillance system. To do this, it is enough to connect to the Tuners a video camera that will record the controlled area. Thanks to the support of an unlimited number of skins, the appearance of the program is fairly easily changed.

Installing device and software drivers does not cause any difficulties, especially if you follow the installation sequence, as well as the recommendations specified in the User Guide.

The main window of the GotView Pro program contains the switching buttons, the reception frequency buttons, the display button of all channels in a separately open window, the video capture button, the scheduler button, the button that serves to update the TV program via the Internet, as well as the settings button. A display is also provided that displays various information, such as the channel number, channel name, current time, audioorers, television standard and much more. In the main window, the common sound settings sliders are also located and separately - the sound of the channel, brightness, contrast and saturation.

The software allows you to capture frames in BMP, JPEG and GIF formats with a resolution up to 768x576, recording sound and video stream with the ability to compress (for this, the system must be installed audio and video encodes). Various functions are also supported, such as the preview of the channels and TIME SHIFT, the latter allows you to simultaneously record and play the video signal.

Of all other program features, we note the functions that serve to configure the interface, video and audio signals, the remote control buttons, the menu display and indicators in the window and full-screen modes, as well as to control the program using the hot keyboard keys.

In general, we can say that the software shell has very rich functionality and is currently one of the best, perfectly complementing and implementing all the capabilities of the hardware of the devices.

The editors expresses GotView's appreciation (http://www.gotview.ru. ) For the GOTVIEW PCI 7135 and GotView PCI DVD provided by TV tuners.

IN lately It is very nice to observe the tendency to adapt IT companies of its products under Russian-speaking users. Today, no one will not surprise the Russian interface in the software, the Russian menu in monitors, Russian inscriptions on the boxes of various components and user manuals on the "great and mighty".

But if you look at this class of products like TV tuners, it becomes clear that some of them came in this very noble business. For example, the well-known Avermedia company has long produced specially adapted products for the Russian market, which, however, is also well optimized for many other countries of the former union union.

Another manufacturer, producing TV tuners with the inscription on the boxes "adapted to Russian TV broadcast," is GotView. Its solutions also enjoy wide demand. It is worth noting that this contributes not a low price (it is just at the level of competitors), but high quality performance and excellent software.

Today, the GotView PCI 7135 TV tuner came to our hands. Judging by numerous reviews, it represents a very good product. Nevertheless, it is always better to make sure of something yourself to be sure for sure. That we are going to make further. So, proceed.

GotView PCI 7135.

GOTVIEW PCI 7135 is a newer version of the previously represented PCI 7134 model. There are not so many differences between them. In particular, you can select the other RF unit Philips MK3, which came to the TCL change. In addition, the PCI 7135 uses a new chip from Philips, the model of which has entered the name of the tuner under consideration. It has advanced sound processing capabilities, but about it in more detail below.

Contents of delivery

The PCI 7135 comes in a small box, in which there is a very good equipment. In particular, the following components can be distinguished:

• directly the TV tuner itself;
• remote control;
• batteries to the remote control of AAA format;
• infrared port for the remote control;
• radio antenna;
• cable for external connection to sound card;
• cable for internal connection to sound card;
• cD with branded software;
• cD with WinDVD Creator 2;
• user's manual in Russian.

The equipment is very and quite good. It is especially worth noting the presence of two cables to connect to the sound card, as well as the presence of a second CD, on which the WINDVD Creator program is located 2. GotView is equipped with all its TV tuners, and this has not exceeded. This application serves for video editing and setting up DVDs. For example, it can be used to create the appropriate content from the material recorded from the tuner.

The remaining elements of the supplies set do not deserve special attention - they are standard for most TV tuners.

Specifications and design

GotView PCI 7135 has standard devices for this class. The printed circuit board will play for a PCI slot only a few millimeters.

Directly on the PCB is the PCB PHILIPS MK3, ADC Philips SAA7135HL, as well as two internal audio connector. And now more about each.

The PHILIPS MK3 RF block was set to improve the quality of the reception in comparison with the model 7134, which was present at the TCL2002MB-33F unit.

PHILIPS SAA7135HL ADC, which company decided to use in this decision, has some features in comparison with other similar chips. In particular, it supports the decoding of all modern stereo sound standards:

Support Dolby Prologic;

• Virtual Dolby Surround (imitation of 4 channel audio);
• Philips Incredible Mono (pseudo-stereo for mono channels, the effect of "sound around");
• Philips Incredible Stereo (Improving Stereo Sound).

This can be written in its advantages.

It is especially worth noting the presence of internal audio connectors. Today it is very rare to meet a similar solution on the market. Their presence allows not to use a linear audio card input to transmit sound, which can sometimes be very useful. In addition, as clear from the part of the article, where the configuration says, the TV tuner is equipped with a special cable for internal connection. Also, GotView PCI 7135 is able to transmit a beep over the PCI bus, thanks to which the need for a direct connection to the sound card disappears, besides, it is eliminated by the synchronization of sound and video when recording the ether and digitization of the video.

As for the front panel, the following connectors are displayed on it (from left to right):

• fM antenna connector;
• connector for connecting a television antenna;
• connector for connecting an infrared port;
• four-pin S-Video input;
• audio input;
• composite video input;
• audio output.

Now briefly give the basic Specifications of GotView PCI 7135:

• support for resolution up to 768x576;
• advanced Radio Range from 66 MHz;
• support for PAL / SECAM / NTSC television standards, VHF channels, DM and cable bands are accepted;
• fine adjustment mode with minimally possible step, as well as the input of a specific value of the wavelength of a given television or radio program;
• customized settings for each channel;
• ability to adjust up to 255 TV and radio channels;
• capture TV window frames in BMP format, GIF, JPG by timer or by pressing the button (with a resolution from 80x60 to 768x576);
• disposable task manager for recording video at a specified time;
• capture and encoding sound with any codec installed in the system;
• tIMESHIFT function;
• loading the program TV shows and various ways to display on the screen (if there is an Internet)
• function "picture-in-picture" (PIP) if there are two or more video capture devices in the system;
• broadcast on the network;
• security features (motion detector in frame, recording video or capturing frames).

Well, I must say - quite well. GotView once again shows that its products are really good. But how do they behave in practice? We will try to answer this question.

Software

Installing drivers and software runs quickly and without any problems. If some questions may arise, it is very likely that the answers to them will be found in the detailed documentation in Russian, which comes with a TV tuner on a CD.

When you first start the GotView Pro, which comes with GOTVIEW tuners, the control panel with the appearance of the "A la Winamp" appears on the screen. As it turned out, the branded software supports the shift shift and the default one was called Tvamp. But we run forward.

Returning to the control panel, it is worth noting that it allows you to set some parameters, thereby removing the need to go to their search on the decay of the settings. For example, you can adjust the channel frequency, switch the signal reception system, switch the video input, as well as configure the brightness, contrast, the "heat" of the color, the volume of sound sources and other parameters.

Channel settings can be carried out by selecting the "TV channels" items from context menuwhich appears when you press the right mouse button on some of the windows, or by clicking the "Channels" button on the main control panel. TV tuner can save information about 255 channels. In addition, not only their frequency, but also sound parameters, images, setting effects for each of them. Moreover, each channel can be assigned your own icon for better recognition.

It is necessary to add that it is initially present 18 pre-configured channels. Frequencies are given for the ether television of Moscow. For other cities, as well as for cable TV, there may not be anything at these frequencies. In this case, you will have to automatically search or configure everything manually, if you know their frequencies.

To automatically search, click on the button with the black binoculars depicted on it, which is in the upper left corner of the program. As a result, a window will appear on the screen where you can select the search parameters. In particular, you can scan both the specified frequency range and all entirely. As an option, you can scan only the standard broadcast grid of Russia. But even if you are a resident of this endless country, then if you have any cable or satellite television, you should not use it. Next, click on Scan and wait until the tuner goes along the selected range.

The main window with settings consists of seven bookmarks. The first, as it is not hard to guess by its name, serves to adjust the quality and parameters of the received image. Settings are given a lot, which immediately introduces the user to some stupor. However, over time you get used to and start navigating what. As for the video signal settings directly, you can choose its resolution:

In addition, there is an opportunity to comply with screen proportions, a selection of rendor, a color scheme, deinterlace, noise cancellation, full-screen resolution, and so on.

The Sound tab serves to configure the beep. All the features provided by the program you can read in the screenshot, and we only note again the presence of sound output function via PCI bus (enabled by default), as well as the ability to set the sound source

The Interface tab serves to configure the main toolbar of the branded software and the behavior of the image output window during operation. Here you can configure the display of the mouse cursor during full-screen viewing, the button on the taskbar, skin, shutdown timer and much more.

In the image output window, it is possible to output information about the current channel and settings. It is for the fact that and how to withdraw on it and corresponds to the OSD tab.

It is very pleased with the ability to adjust the hot keys to quickly call the TV channels and other features of the TV tuner. And in fact - not always use the remote control to control!

On the Motion Detector tab, you can configure the feature of the same name. It works as follows: during receiving the signal, any changes in the frame are tracked, which can be defined as the movement of objects. In this case, software can produce some given actions. In particular, you can record video and audio at this time (or something one of two) information.

Such an opportunity can be useful if you connect to Tuneru, such as an outdoor observation chamber. Thus, when the movement is determined, the appropriate fragment of time will be recorded on the hard disk until it continues. Well, another plus in the PCI 7135 piggy bank.

Image quality

Before proceeding to the description of the image quality, we note that pre-installed channels were not correctly found. Only a few coincided. Other channels were different or nothing turned out to be different, although then the pre-installed channels were discovered among the tuner automation found. This suggests that we have a broadcast not directly, but relayed through the cable.

As can be seen by the pictures, the PHILIPS MK3 RF block and the Philips SAA7135HL ADC make their job well: the image has high quality. True, some foreign mesh are noticeable on some channels:

However, such an effect was discovered only on one thing that it looks marizer among the available 100. In addition, if you do not watch this channel constantly, then this problem will not touch you at all.

The sound quality also did not cause complaints. It is worth noting that in some cases, when the tuner tried to decline the stereo signal, the latter had not the highest quality. As a result, switched to mono. However, it may be a consequence weak Signal, and when taking a quality stereo signal, such a problem should not occur.

Other features

The capture function is practically no different from similar realization of competitors. Yes, each it has its own characteristics, but in general, it always happens about the same action - recording the received signal on the hard disk.

In our case, you can specify the permission of the received signal and the resolution of the file received at the output, cutting the edges, codec (may be anyone that is present in the system), apply its filters when encoding. In addition, there is the ability to record on a schedule. By the way, it is worth noting that for the correct operation of the function TimeShift and the scheduled recording, you must install the WindVD program, which was mentioned above. Together with it, the necessary MPEG2 codecs are set, which are used when activating these possibilities.

Setting the parameters to capture the sound is also very simple: you only need to set the compression parameters, the path to the output file and other parameters, if necessary.

The seizure of a single frame can occur both with a certain specified frequency and one manually. Pleases the ability to select a file saving (BMP, JPEG, GIF), as well as permissions of the captured frame. By the way, when writing a picture in JPEG, you can even specify the compression ratio.

I really liked the possibility of receiving the program from the Internet for pre-installed channels. The thing must be said simply amazing. You just need to click on the download button automatically and voila - after 30 seconds (depending on the speed of the Internet connection) you have a television program schedule. You can press the ENTER button to display the program on the current channel, across all channels, and when the channels switching the transmission, starting and ending time there, and in the form of a strip, the percentage of its completion will be displayed.

When clicking right-click Mice on the program toolbar and select TV Channels from the drop-down context menu. The entire list of available channels appears, where for channels, with the program loaded from the Internet, the percentage of its completion is displayed! The function, however, is quite easy to implement from the programming point of view (you just need to calculate the time difference, translate into interest and withdraw the result) and, in our opinion, is very pleasant to the user.

FM tuner

All settings and control FM tuner occurs in the same way as for TV. Channel search is carried out in the same window (there are also pre-installed stations):

And control and switching channels can be performed on a standard control panel of branded software. It does not change completely when switching to the radio.

Remote control

The remote control that comes in the kit has 34 low-size buttons and separated far enough from each other. The latter allows you to not press the wrong button.

I would like to note the possibility of programming any From the buttons. Each of them can assign an arbitrary function.

conclusions

If you read the entire article carefully, it will be easy to guess that the conclusions will be the most rainbow, because the GotView product turned out very good. Let's start with the software. Its possibilities are very wide, which allows you to achieve great flexibility in using a TV tuner. What is only worth tracking the motion tracking function. True, there are so many settings that at first I will immediately run away and, honestly, it just disappears the desire to read what each check box means and switch :-). But on the other hand, the program implements a context certificate, called by pressing the F1 button, in which each menu item in which you are available are available. So it is possible to understand without difficulty, and the abundance of settings is significantly expanding the functionality of the program.

Especially I would like to mark the program for downloading the program. It will undoubtedly be very useful if you constantly watch TV. Also, I also liked the ability to adjust each button remote control.

As for the quality of the image and sound, they are at the height. Of course, some drawbacks are (the grid on some channels, the high quality of the incoming signal is necessary for correct decoding stereo), but we do not see anything bad in them. Yes, and ideal things does not happen.

Nevertheless, we give GotView PCI 7135 our highest award "Our Choice" for a very wide range of software functions and high quality of the received signal and strongly recommend this product to the acquisition.

Express the gratitude to the Russian office of GotView for the GotView PCI 7135 TV Tuner testing

Introduction

Have you ever wondered about the question of what is missing your computer? Each time I get to the computer market or in any store, I am visited by one and that Maja thought: what else to buy this to your computer? At the moment, my computer has a good configuration, an original housing, an excellent monitor, a comfortable keyboard and a mouse, the only thing that I miss, this is something multimedia, turning my EZ-Buddie in a real home entertainment center. To solve this task, I used one, very interesting solution provided to me for testing GotView -oned internal PCI TV tuner.

At first sight...

Honestly, while I knew about this tuner only in words, and very in general featuresMy attitude to it was as pessimistic, as well as another tuners tested by me.

The fact is that, in most, the quality of the picture, obtained by most tuners, is not so good to make me give up the TV.

So, having received this small, superbly decorated box, I, on the way to the editor, studied in detail, what is written on it. On the box I discovered everything that made me with great interest to start for a more detailed study of GotView PCI.

In general, about carefulness of the preparation of the box, you can speak no less than about the device itself. The most important thing is that on the way home each of you fully familiarize yourself with the possibilities of the device, as well as with the features of using and connecting.

The board itself does not have any bright features, with the exception of the pain of different connectors on the rear side, and a large Russian-speaking sticker on the radio module.

In addition to the board in the box, we found a very brief guide to installing software and a little about installing and connecting the board itself, the CD, which records all the necessary software, including 70 page instructions for installing the program and its operation in PDF format. L. izenzion disc Software from the company InterVideo, which allows you to engage in video editing. The disk contains two programs: WINDVR (for video capture) and WinDVD Creator in Russian (for editing video image).

Also in the box there is a cable for transmitting audio accompaniment to a zoom card, a remote control, miniature IR receiver and FM-antenna.

InstallationGotView. PCI

The GotView PCI TV Tuner Installation Process is a bit more complicated to install a sound card PCI or modem. First of all, you need to install the fee in the free PCI slot. In our case, the board was installed in Barebone EZ-BUDDIE case, having a single PCI slot.

It is no secret that due to the restriction of the internal space of Barebone platforms, there may be problems when installing various boards. In our case, there were no problems, but located near the FX5600 video card with a sufficiently powerful cooler, will allow us to assess the effect of direct flow of warm air onto a TV tuner, as well as the installation of an additional PCI card by our video card.

After installing the tuner, something similar is obtained on the computer on the back side.

Before we continue the installation process, let's look at what connectors are available on a TV tuner. On the right there is connectors for connecting FM and TV-antenna, then a small connector for connecting an IR port, a regular video / audio and SVIDEO inputs required to connect external audio / video signal sources, and finally audio output.

Continuing the installation process, you must connect a small adapter cable from the audio tuner output to the linear audio card input. This is necessary to transfer the audio signal to the computer while maintaining high quality.

By connecting all the necessary cables, you can start installing software, thanks to which it is possible to implement all those capabilities that will not make you regret the purchase of this tuner.

The software installation process starts with the installation in the automatic mode of the required drivers and programs. During the installation, I ran into a strange problem. After setting the tuner refused to play TV and FM programs. The problem was in an incomplete climbing drivers for all the utensils required for the work of GotView PCI.

To solve the problem, I took advantage of a very simple and familiar way - simply deleted all unknown utensils in the Ustrevytv dispatcher. After windows reboots XP automatically discovered the missing firmney and alternately installed them. As a result, everything earned and four new devices serve the various functions of the tuner appeared in the system.

The program serving the tuner itself, despite the fairly simple host, has really enormous opportunities. Before, I will consider in detail them in detail, I would like to draw your importance to the Russified Program Interface, facilitating the work with the program, and the readiness of settings to work in Russian Effig Networks. The program interface consists of two windows: the main control window and the TV screen itself.

The main work window of the program includes all the necessary functions that allow you to control the tuner.

As you can see the upper part of the floor, the GotView logo is placed the frequency ruler, which allows you to make an accurate set of frequency with an increment of 0.01 MHz. On the right of the frequency are two arrows that heaven to move between the preset frequencies (stations), but for more displacement, it is best to use the wheel on the mouse or just up and down the keyboard. Next to these button is a description of the selected mode and the signal source (TV / AV / SVIDEO). Finally, the right side is a loudness regulator. By the way, it is possible to change the volume with the help of the buttons to the right and left on the keyboard.

Now go to the bottom of the main window. Here in the left side there are brightness controllers, contrast, saturation and chromaticity, which allow "on the fly" to change these parameters when watching TV or video. Next, four functional buttons follow. Here I would like to stay in more detail. The first button is responsible for "capture" data. The GotView PCI TV tuner allows you to make video capture (AVI), audio (WAV / MP3 and other formats) and "snapshot" that allows you to take a snapshot / video screen.

The capture function is built in such a way that not only professional users will be able to use it, but also beginners. For example, capture video (AVI / MPEG1 / 2). This window has everything that may be needed during the recording process.

The user can change the various settings for recording video and audio, as well as specify the time and date of the start / end of the recording and the duration of the recording. For example, when using the DivX5 codec, we managed to write a videos of 30 seconds and 5.7MB.

The capture mode of audio includes significantly less opportunities, in principle, it is enough to write from your favorite radio stations.

And, the latch, the "snapshot" mode allows you to record the contents of the screen in the graphic file (BMP, JPEG and GIF) with a resolution to 768x576. The user can set the capture mode every N-SEND (defaults are installed every 3 seconds).

Moving on. With the right from the "Capture" button, there is a station search button. As you can see the search function is implemented as convenient as possible for the user, allowing you to specify not only the name of the station or channel, which is displayed the header of the main window and the TV window, but also individually set the system, volume, contrast, heat and chromaticity.

By default, the program comes with pre-installed channels, however, in our case, not all channels coincided, so I had to search for channels.

The search process itself was much easier than on the usual TV. You just need to set the scan range, step and system. In principle, you may not install anything, so everything knows everything.

For additional convenience and solving some specific tasks, the program has a built-in scheduler, which allows planning viewing and record the programs you need. For example, you can automate the news recording process in automatic mode. Either knowing the project to establish a sequence of viewing and writing channels. In addition, from the bottom of the planner window there is a function of automatic exit from the computer and turn off the computer.

Finally, the last button is setting up tuner. There is a number of useful functions that allow you to additionally configure some tuner parameters.

Among the most useful, I want to note the master's permission. This feature may be needed when you first start the tuner. So, for example, at my first start, such a picture appeared.

After changing the permission, more precisely, the coding scheme on yuy2 everything worked fine.

In addition, we want to mention the "Sound System" option, where you can set to which sound card connector is connected to the sound output of the tuner.

In the work ...

Unlike previously tested exterior tuners, this inner, believing has a mass of use and allows you to solve really very different tasks. For example, it was very useful for me. It was possible to watch TV in the window in parallel with the work in the application you need, for example MS Word or IE, and when you want to watch TV normally, I dreamed the window to the full screen (double click on TV screen). Another example for those who want to have a documentary confirmation of the events shown, for example, people studying or prepare reports on current events. Using the snapshot function, you can get a good selection of photos for the current news release.

And the last example is associated with the possibility of "on the fly" to record video and audio content. For example, in TV channel Show the film you would like to have in your collection of films. You simply choose the desired format, provide the desired volume on the hard disk and write down. The same can be said about the song on the radio.

Finishing the conversation about the work of the tuner, I would like to remember about stability. I remind you that in my Barebone housing, the tuner is very close to the video card. This on the one hand marked noticeably the card, on the other, limits the flow of the visa to the graphics card, which, theoritically, can lead to problems, but during use, I did not notice any problems when watching TV, nor in complex 3D games.

About quality ...

The reception quality depends primarily from the codes used by the receiving antenna. When receiving FM stations, we did not notice any problems at all, but our TV is somewhat. Although the picture quality was quite comparable to the usual TV, to get the digital quality of satellite television, I did not succeed

Conclusion ...

In conclusion, I would like to once again note the unique features of the new tuner, such as the actually high quality of reception of both TV and FM channels, the possibility of viewing in the window and on the full screen and impressive service functions that allow you to create video, audio and graphic content. If all this is correlated with the recommended price of ~ 70 $, it turns out that the GotView PCI can really replace several important managers for quite reasonable money.

P.S. I almost forgot to recall the software once again, which is optimized for Russian broadcast, and allows you to work both a professional and novice user without any problems.

We thank the coordination office of GotView, www.gotview.ru. For advice issues, please contact Moscow: 284-1053, 287-9648