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(More customer reviews)Most tv tuners today are either PCI-E or USB. This is one of two models (though they have had a few very similar model numbers) I mean that Asus and Hauppauge are the only two I know of that have a good Dual (1) NTSC & (1) ATSC/Clear QAM tuner on a PCI format.
=======What I liked===========
-Well I found it on sale with rebates at Newegg so at the time it was $30 or more dollars less than the Hauppauge PCI dual tuner card, so that was a plus. The rebate was FAST through Asus (debit card). I see it's at Ewiz, JR, and Amazon w/ a $20 MIR again.
-Finding a card for PCI slot was also a plus in my case as I wanted to use a older Intel C2D + AGP / PCI system as a HTPC (with no PCI-E slots I hoped this would fit the bill). If you have PCI-E slots open by all means save some money and buy one of those after you research. I have enjoyed the ATI (Diamond & Visiontek TV Wonder 650 PCI-E cards very much) they were selling for $30 AR - $40 for the same functionality so definitely a better buy if you have PCI-E slots.
Installation was pretty straight forward. Unplug, Drain power, insert card, power up, install software from the included CD, it went very smoothly. The first time started up the Total Media Software it said to start scan for channels. However it failed the first time (this happened in each of the OS i tried. SO don't worry just re-try the scan again, check the tuner source in the settings if it doesn't work the second time as you must switch it to the ATSC/QAM tuner if it doesn't automatically (MOST of the times it has done this automatically just fine!). (Scanning as with all things digital takes a long time but it found all my Clear QAM channels so that's a positive, however the channel list/lineup (see below) is huge negative.
The CD has the drivers for the card, and Total Media Suite 3.5(from Arc Soft) - it's the most current version ASUS offers - *** EDIT EDIT EDIT *** Received an email with a download link for a newer version from ASUS than the one supplied on the CD - although there is a button in the settings to check for an update it does not appear to be available that way you must contact them - however it did NOT fix the below EPG issues End Edit 8-9-2010 ****** ]]]]
The software also Including a ASUS security software it's kind of a combination between chat software & security camera software. (so you can hook up a net camera or better security type camera and watch & / or record when movement is detected (neat), and the CD software also includes a desktop widget for Vista & W7. The ASUS manual (online)and on the CD in PDF also mentions two other features but they are not existent in this version shipped with my card. (See also below missing DVD feature). You can install just the driver for the card or pick and choose what you want to have on there from the software included.
- For example if you planned to just use it with XP MCE2005, Vista Premium or Ultimate, or W7 Media centers than you could skip the other software after installing the driver. That's nice it's clear you can install all at once or pick and choose. (Some other TV cards throw everything together on the install disk - requiring savvy or un-installing later if not desired).
The card & the Total Media 3.5 software work in all three platforms ( I only checked 32 Bit - so as yet I can't speak to 64bit operation - but it is listed as supported with Vista 64bit & W7 64bit).
I installed every thing software wise under all three platforms (used MCE 2005 for XP, Vista Ultimate, and W7 Ultimate so I could test the cards functioning with not only Total Media 3.5 but also Window's Media Centers too). One BIG benefit for XP users is that this card, with the TM3.5 software (not using MCE 2005) is able to tune in CLEAR QAM - which is QUITE AMAZING for XP. It has to be using the TM3.5 software but still that's something only a few others like SD's HD Homerun are able to do in XP Operating systems. So that really is a BIG PLUS XP-QAM...
You might be saying so what? Well, I believe you can BUY this functionality from say Snapstream Beyond TV ver.4.9 and above, but at a steep $99 price tag. Where here you get workable software (Total Media 3.5 and a few bonuses, the Hardware a dual Tuner Card, A Vista model (works in XP, W7 too) Media Center Remote control about $30 on ebay shipped, etc. all for less than the cost of JUST there software which although better than this cut down version of Total Media (which has NO WORKING EPG) isn't worth $99.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Asus My Cinema-PHC3-150/NAQ/FM/AV/RC/NSW PCI TV Tuner MY CINEMA PHC3-150/NAQ/AV/RC/NSW
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