Monday, November 13, 2006
Quick Look: ADS Tech MiniTV USB
Posted by Chris Gohlke in "HARDWARE" @ 08:00 AM
The ADS MiniTV USB is a combination hardware and software solution the is composed of a USB TV tuner and software that allows your PC to record broadcasts and act as a DVR. According to the product specs, you can also burn recorded shows to DVD as well as format them for playback on iPod or PSP. For purposes of this quick look, I am going to attempt to record a TV show and then try to put it on my PSP as well as burn it to a DVD.
To start with, lets look at what comes in the box. The USB tuner is a bit larger than even a large USB memory key. You can plug the key directly into a USB 2.0 port or use the included dongle. There is an additional dongle to allow you to connect to cable or an antenna via a coax connection. A software/driver CD, manuals for the MediaTV and MediaConverter applications, quick start guide, and product registration card round out the package.
Overall, installation went pretty smoothly. The one caveat is that you do get pop-ups from Windows warning you that the driver has not passed Windows Logo Testing. I'd set a restore point just prior to starting installation, so I was not worried; but ADS might want to take care of this as it could be a show stopper for novice users.
Next, I fired up the MediaTV application. At this point, the application wanted to set up an Active Sync connection, even though I don't have any Active Sync devices. I could not find anything in the manuals about this, so I just hit cancel. Unfortunately it seems to pop up every time you go into the application, so this might get annoying fast. I've got a pending tech support question out on this issue, so I'll post an update if it gets fixed. Next, I was presented a picture with mostly static and no sound. Luckily, a bit of jiggling with the coax dongle rectified this problem (but the connection is a bit loose where the dongle connects to the tuner and any bumping could cause a problem). I was then presented with a picture that far exceeded my expectations for this device.
The above picture has been scaled down for this article, but if you want to see the full 720 x 540 image, click here.
As you can see, the interface is very MCE-like and gives you the ability to do some other functions such as browse pictures or listen to your music collection.
I next went to check out the Schedule function. It is your basic scheduler. You can pick the times and channel. There is no guide function. I went ahead and set it to record an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Spike TV at the highest quality level. The episode recorded just as it should have and was equal in quality to the actual broadcast. The file size for a little over an hour of recording was 2.9 GB. The application includes a basic editing function that allows you to cut the commercials from your file. I was also able to burn the episode to a DVD that worked in a standard DVD player.
I also converted the video for my PSP. This is done with a separate application provided on the installation CD. The converter application is full featured but has enough defaults to make it easy to use. You can simply select the file to convert and indicate what you want to convert it to. For PSP, there are 3 presets for different quality levels (High, Medium, and Low) which took between 22 and 28 minutes to perform the conversion and resulted in files of 393 MB, 236 MB, and 75 MB. I honestly could not tell a difference between the High and Medium levels and when scaled down to the PSP screen, I felt both were equivalent to the quality of DVD's that I had converted for my PSP. The Low level was noticeably lower in quality, but still very watchable. If space were no object, I'd convert at Medium, but would have no problem with Low. One feature I would like to see would be integration with the recorder application. I'd like to be able to set up a show to be recorded and then have it automatically converted. Below is a picture showing the same video running on the computer, from a burned DVD, and from a video converted for PSP.
An additional feature of this device is that it comes with plug ins to work with MCE. This would be useful if you had an MCE box that did not have a TV tuner. But, since I don't have an MCE box, I could not test this functionality.
I really liked this device. It allows my computer to do everything my set-top Panasonic DVR does and more at a bargain basement price. A quick online search found this product available in many places on-line for $54.99 to $72 USD.
Chris Gohlke is a Contributing Editor for Digital Media Thoughts. He loves Sci-Fi and loves to get his hands on real-life tech gadgets. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, USA with his wife and three cats.
To start with, lets look at what comes in the box. The USB tuner is a bit larger than even a large USB memory key. You can plug the key directly into a USB 2.0 port or use the included dongle. There is an additional dongle to allow you to connect to cable or an antenna via a coax connection. A software/driver CD, manuals for the MediaTV and MediaConverter applications, quick start guide, and product registration card round out the package.
Overall, installation went pretty smoothly. The one caveat is that you do get pop-ups from Windows warning you that the driver has not passed Windows Logo Testing. I'd set a restore point just prior to starting installation, so I was not worried; but ADS might want to take care of this as it could be a show stopper for novice users.
Next, I fired up the MediaTV application. At this point, the application wanted to set up an Active Sync connection, even though I don't have any Active Sync devices. I could not find anything in the manuals about this, so I just hit cancel. Unfortunately it seems to pop up every time you go into the application, so this might get annoying fast. I've got a pending tech support question out on this issue, so I'll post an update if it gets fixed. Next, I was presented a picture with mostly static and no sound. Luckily, a bit of jiggling with the coax dongle rectified this problem (but the connection is a bit loose where the dongle connects to the tuner and any bumping could cause a problem). I was then presented with a picture that far exceeded my expectations for this device.
The above picture has been scaled down for this article, but if you want to see the full 720 x 540 image, click here.
As you can see, the interface is very MCE-like and gives you the ability to do some other functions such as browse pictures or listen to your music collection.
I next went to check out the Schedule function. It is your basic scheduler. You can pick the times and channel. There is no guide function. I went ahead and set it to record an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Spike TV at the highest quality level. The episode recorded just as it should have and was equal in quality to the actual broadcast. The file size for a little over an hour of recording was 2.9 GB. The application includes a basic editing function that allows you to cut the commercials from your file. I was also able to burn the episode to a DVD that worked in a standard DVD player.
I also converted the video for my PSP. This is done with a separate application provided on the installation CD. The converter application is full featured but has enough defaults to make it easy to use. You can simply select the file to convert and indicate what you want to convert it to. For PSP, there are 3 presets for different quality levels (High, Medium, and Low) which took between 22 and 28 minutes to perform the conversion and resulted in files of 393 MB, 236 MB, and 75 MB. I honestly could not tell a difference between the High and Medium levels and when scaled down to the PSP screen, I felt both were equivalent to the quality of DVD's that I had converted for my PSP. The Low level was noticeably lower in quality, but still very watchable. If space were no object, I'd convert at Medium, but would have no problem with Low. One feature I would like to see would be integration with the recorder application. I'd like to be able to set up a show to be recorded and then have it automatically converted. Below is a picture showing the same video running on the computer, from a burned DVD, and from a video converted for PSP.
An additional feature of this device is that it comes with plug ins to work with MCE. This would be useful if you had an MCE box that did not have a TV tuner. But, since I don't have an MCE box, I could not test this functionality.
I really liked this device. It allows my computer to do everything my set-top Panasonic DVR does and more at a bargain basement price. A quick online search found this product available in many places on-line for $54.99 to $72 USD.
Chris Gohlke is a Contributing Editor for Digital Media Thoughts. He loves Sci-Fi and loves to get his hands on real-life tech gadgets. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, USA with his wife and three cats.
