I get a bit tired of the notion that a brand name can be somehow substituted for the function performed by the device or product, such as Xerox, Hoover -- or TiVo. However, one product name you're going to be hearing a lot over the coming months and years is Windows Media Center Edition, in whatever guise (XP, Vista), which is usually more commonly referred to as MCE.
Microsoft's home media center version of its popular operating system is fast becoming an industry standard for media manipulating, extending, capturing and distribution on the PC-based platform, and more manufacturers are starting to introduce products that support the software.
One such device is the NVidia DualTV, an analog tuner that allows your XP-based machine to act like a PVR.
Digital Trends has provided an in-depth look at this PCI card and everything it has to offer, which seems impressive enough at first glance, but misses an opportunity to offer HD.
The review covers just about every aspect of the device that you might need to know, including setup and software installation, but at $170 for the basic edition or $219 for one with a remote control, you might want to have a look around for other MCE-compatible capture cards.
1. It's difficult to get excited by new "Analog" tuners. when all the action is in digital 480P and HDformats.
I look for tuners which use cableCards or even direct QAM tuners as the future.
Posted at 6:23PM on Jun 20th 2006 by Ian