Nebula Electronics DigiTV PCI review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 19 Sep 2007

Price when reviewed: £73

Supplier: http://www.nebula-electronics.com

Reviewed By: Seth Barton

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Despite only having a single tuner, the DigiTV PCI costs more than any of the twin TV tuners in the group.

It provides excellent software, though, with a features list that outdoes even Microsoft's Media Center. The PCI card has a composite video input, so you can capture analogue video to MPEG2. The remote is big and clearly labelled, so it's easy to find the controls you need.

You have to install the drivers using Windows's Add Hardware wizard, which is a pain. The software doesn't fully support Vista, and only a beta version is available. Once the software is installed, it scans for channels and divides them into TV and radio broadcasts. Unlike the other tuners here, it sorts them into the traditional order of BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and so on. It's also the only tuner here to work with DVB-T teletext channels.

The software is very easy to use. You can have a simple TV window with drop-down text lists of channels and options. Alternatively, you can opt for a full-screen Media Center style interface that's optimised to work with the remote control. With this, you get an easy-to-browse timeline EPG. Scheduled programmes are marked on the EPG in red and there's even the option to record whole series with a single selection.

There's a conditional access module available should you want to receive subscription channels such as Setanta Sports, plus you can multi-cast programmes across a network to other PCs. This is an excellent choice for TV enthusiasts, or those who love to tinker with technology.

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