Cheap Luxury
Written: Feb 10 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable TV-tuner card with a wealth of capture options
Cons: Channel list hard to fix down to your preference.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for an all singing and dancing up-to-date AND affordable TV capture card this is the one to go for.
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| isvikthere's Full Review: Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP Deluxe Video Capture Car... |
Introduction
Two and a half years ago (original review date : Oct 17 '03)I was forced to enter a review on this card in the wrong subcategory. The Advisors did punish me for this in their rating. Since a correct entry now exists and at the recent suggestion of a fellow reviewer I now finally place it under the right heading. I have removed the original review entry.
Leadtek, which this millenium was a relative newcomer in the world of standalone TV-cards has to compete with well known and well established major brands like Hauppage and Pinnacle. Those two alone cover almost the bulk of the market in TV-tuner cards. and I did have a Hauppage WinTV Primio FM card before this Leadtek card, but I sold it off to a friend, not because it didn't work well, but because it lacked some of the features this Leadtek card does have.
Of course there are also combocards that combine the functions of both the videocard and TV-capture card. Ati with its All-in-Wonder has a established a great tradition there.
The Deluxe edition
There are some elaborate reviews of this Leadtek card available on the net, but I'll try and make this as concise as possible, although this internal PCI TV-tuner card is packed with numerous features, and this at a very affordable price. But the most important feature the "real" reviewers weren't very clear about is the fact that this Deluxe card has stereo TV reception.
The Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP Deluxe is almost top of the range in Leadtek's current TV-card range, it comes just behind the Winfast TV2000 XP Expert and therefore it covers most of what everyone can look for in a TV-tuner card. it has (like most other brands by the way) a Philips TV-tuner and it outputs TV-signals of very good quality to your computer monitor. Of course this depends on how you capture your signals (via cable or antenna) and the card can't make up for dodgy reception.
The minimum system requirements for correct TV-playback are according to Leadtek's specification : a Pentium II 300 Mhz PC with of 64 Megabytes of memory. You also need MS-Windows, its version 98SE, Millenium, 2000 and XP are supported. DirectX in its version 8.1 or higher are also required together coupled with at least a 16bit 'Soundblaster' type of soundcard. Of course if you go for the higher compression formats you need a much more performing computer than that.
This Deluxe version distinguishes itself from the other, entry level Leadtek TV capture cards because it has both, as said, stereo sound and a remote control. Let me give you a quick overview of the package:
- The card itself, which is to be installed in a free PCI (the white ones) slot in your PC.
- The remote control with two AAA-size batteries.
- The remote receiver
- An SVGA to VGA adaptor cable
- Three CDs : one with the installation software and two extra's namely Ulead's Cool 3D (se version) : a tool to create 3D graphics, and Ulead's VideoStudio 6 (also the se DVD-version) : a movie making tool which basically allows you to edit and remaster recordings e.g. the removal of commercials in films you recorded.
These SE-versions of the software are basically the slimline versions of the full software, so with less bells and whistles. The full versions of these software packages would cost you an arm and a leg (and more than this TV-card) if you purchase them seperately.
Like most TV-cards the Deluxe allows you to take snapshots of movies (e.g. pictures of your favourite actor/actress in action ), and to record complete films or TV-shows.
And here is where this card really shines, it gives you a wealth of formats you can use for your recordings. On my computer system it gives me no less than 12 options for recording ranging from MPEG1 (normal/good/optimal) quality over MPEG2 (normal/good/optimal) quality to DVD PAL, with Windows Media Video and uncompressed avi thrown in.
If I would've had a DVD-writer it would allow me to record directly onto DVD in DVD PAL format. For sound also there is a wealth of options on the format you can use.
Both these settings are of course vital if you want to make recordings because each setting, for image and/or sound compression, decides how much space your recordings will take on your harddisk. However the most demanding formats (compressionwise) require a powerful PC system, let's say at least a 1Ghz processor with 256 megabytes of ram.
As an example, I recorded a 5min videoclip in the mpeg2 good quality setting with mp3-stereosound which took 151 megabytes of diskspace so a 90min movie would take up some 2700 megabytes. This recording looked and sounded quite excellent both on the PC monitor as on my TV.
One other feature not all other TV-cards have is the Picture in Picture (PiP) function which basically allows you to view a live TV channel and a recording simultaneously. Obviously you can't view two live channels next to or into one another as this would require two TV-tuners on the card.
Also the Deluxe allows you to capture images from a wealth of external sources, like a videorecorder or a videocamera.
The FM-radiotuner interface is very similar to what I had on my Hauppage Win TV primio FM ; it's basically the computer representation of a car radio dial.
At the rear my card has five connectors, Cable/Antenna in, Video in, Sound in, Sound out and Remote control in. With a provided cable you connect the TV-card's sound out to your soundcard's line-in (not the microphone port !) this sound setup is identical to the Hauppage cards.
To round this review off a quick comparison between the Haupage Primio FM and this Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP Deluxe. Both have remote control, with the receiver plugged into the TV card itself and not in a COM-port (like some Pinnacle cards), and in their PAL/NTSC version both have FM Radiotuners. Both have snapshot and movie recording possibilities but here the Leadtek outshines the Hauppage through the wealth of possible formats offered to people having a powerful PC. While the Hauppage was strictly mono TV-reception this Deluxe is stereo (can't repeat it enough). Also the Leadtek comes with the aforementionned supplementary Ulead software for editing movies and creating 3D animation.
The Leadtek winfast software is called the Winfast Wizard and sits as a direct access button next to your clock and sound in the lower righthand corner of your screen. When clicked upon it gives you access to WinFast PVR (personal video recorder = the whole TV and movie viewing and capture suite) the Winfast FM (the radio tuner), Netmeeting and an Unload option.
As for all new computer hardware it is strongly recommended to visit the manufacturer's website to see if updated drivers are available for your operating system, this can sort out bugs that may still be present in the version sold with the card.
As I went to Leadtek's site immediately after my purchase, here's the address :
http://www.leadtek.com.tw/multimedia.shtml
I downloaded the drivers I found there and haven't encountered a single bug to date on my Windows2000 system. The channel list however is a bit akward ; you can determine favorite channels but the tool doesn't seem to take them too much into account. Especially the channel you want to place at number one is hard to pin down.
Cheers,
Vik
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
isvikthere
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Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
Amongst other things, a computer hardware enthusiast who writes only about things I know/own.
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