GOTVIEW PCI DVD2 Lite and Deluxe: TV-tuners with hardware video compression
Connection features
The boards have somehow different connector panels. The
GoTView PCI DVD2 Lite has a jack to plug in a TV aerial (interestingly,
connected via an adapter from a regular RCA "tulip" plug), an
extraordinarily miniature jack to plug in an FM-aerial, a stereo input
in the form of a 3.5 mm minijack connector, an S-Video input, and a
jack to plug in an external IR receiver.
The GoTView PCI DVD2 Deluxe has jacks (traditional for its
form factor) to plug in TV and FM aerials, an S-Video input, and a
connector to plug in an external IR receiver.
Using the tuners
Once the drivers were installed, we usually had no problems,
and the system detected a new hardware: the tuner GoTView PCI DVD2 Lite
and the tuner GoTView PCI DVD2 Deluxe.
As was found out later, both TV-tuners came bundled with
software of version 4.0.0.478. The latest software version tested in
our test lab was detected also with GoTView USB 2.0 DVD Deluxe (which
is by the way very similar to GoTView PCI DVD2 Deluxe at its wiring)
and was indexed as 4.0.0.473. Since that time, many new features have
been added to the program, and some of them merit a special
consideration. These are hardware de-interlacing, writing audio and
video streams into separate files, and new methods for sorting channels
on a rating basis. The remaining features of version 4.0.0.473 were
described in a respective review on the full version of the programs,
so we are not dwelling at the operation specifics so as not to repeat.
It suffices to say that the manufacture has done a great job
and perhaps implemented in the software suite everything GoTView are
capable of. For instance, there have been implemented customized
settings for each channel - all settings for audio, image, encoding
type, noise suppression; there is a possibility to scan any specified
frequency range in a selected increment; there is also the
full-featured PIP tool - "picture in picture", the visualized pattern
of program schedule updateable via Internet and a scheduler have been
meticulously polished to perfection; there have also been implemented
such features like networked broadcast and a motion detector. That is,
the proprietary software has virtually "inspired a soul" into the
hardware "rig" by GoTView - the "soul" most TV-tuners on the Russian
market to date lack, and even some analogs with world's renowned brand
names. But let's not dwell on the description of this software product
(those who read about it know everything about it now, and those who
didn't and are interested now can resort to respective reviews). Let's
better turn to the quality of received image and other features of
these new tuners.
The tuners were tested on a computer of the following hardware
configuration: CPU - Athlon 1200, MoBo - Albatron KX600S Pro, video -
GeForce4 MX440, memory - 256 MB DDR333, ÎS - Windows XP Pro Rus SP2. A
shared public area was connected to the cards.
The first thing to note is that there was absolutely no
difference seen to the naked eye in the received signal between the
semiconductor RF-unit of PCI DVD2 Lite and the analogous MK5 in PCI
DVD2 Deluxe.
Screenshots for GoTView PCI DVD2 Lite
Screenshots for GoTView PCI DVD2 Deluxe
Anyway, it's still half work to achieve a stable operation at
a strong signal. Russia's reality is such that many have a too weak
signal level. The analogous RF unit did its job well enough, albeit
with some noise on the screen, but it did. But how will a semiconductor
selector switch will behave in such a difficult situation? As the tests
have shown, no difference is seen even under a poor signal. The noise
level on images provided by the cards is almost identical. The
conclusion is evident then - semiconductor selectors will have the
future since they have attained a high reception quality, and the cost
of their batch production is essentially lower.
Both the cards stand out with a high level of hardware-powered
noise suppression. Of course, we shouldn't expect that filtration will
save against any noise. The noise won't disappear under a very low
signal level. But these TV tuners will certainly help eliminate some
"snow" noise against the background of summer views.
The deinterlacing filters of both the cards provide the user
the opportunity to select the suitable operation mode depending on the
image dynamics. At the same time, there is the possibility to plug in
both software-driven and hardware filters. Of the software-driven
filters, there are Bob and Blend, of the hardware filters - Bob, Weave,
and the automatic filtration mode. As the tests have shown, in most
cases the automatic mode is enough. At the same time, there are some
jagged lines of image, but the noise is not really significant.
On the whole, the reception quality of both video cards is
comparable enough, even indistinguishable to the eye, and deserves a
top mark. The same applies to recording from external sources. For the
MPEG-2 hardware recording, the manufacturer has implemented a unique
feature for cropping the work area of the image in the bottom part of
the screen. The user can adjust the number of cropped lines at own
discretion. Besides, it is nice to see that video content can be
captured to files of a manually selected size. Once one file is full,
the recording goes on continuously into the next file. This feature is
quite useful when files are generated for delayed recording on disks.
Some image parameters like brightness can be adjusted while recording a
TV program.
During operation, the cards use up the CPU in equal extent -
by 40-50% depending on the number of filters connected (provided that
TV tuners are installed on a test platform of the above hardware
configuration). That is really not bad at all even for such a middling
and weak computer. The MPEG-2 recording using hardware compression does
not result in the rise of load at all. But to record in MPEG-4, you
would need a different processor - in the test configuration the usage
was not lower than 100%, so correct recording was impossible. It should
be noted that the software for the tuners "understands" the
software-driven compression codecs installed in the system while
recording is done with these codecs. The situation is the same when
recording audio - it is possible with any codec installed in the system.
Final words
In our test lab, we've seen many TV tuners by varied
manufacturers, but among all the integrated tuners having the PCI
interface only the two novelties by GOTVIEW deserve the title of the
best product. Just see for yourself - the manufacturer has integrated
into both devices six wishes of the manufacturer at a time: good
quality of reception, FM-radio, good quality of hardware compression,
proprietary design of the tuner, acknowledgement of errors and their
correction (through an active online user forum), a full-featured
software suite with flexible settings and a full implementation of the
board's capabilities. That is the most important thing which makes a
tuner a tuner, however hard some eminent brands are trying to mislead
us. Now, add to the above listed a stylish design of the board, a good
package bundle, excellent "price/quality" ratio (the model GoTView PCI
DVD2 Lite in Moscow can be made available at 85 $, whereas GoTView PCI
DVD2 Deluxe - at 110 $) and you get something like an ideal tuner. On
the Russian market, these models are beyond competition to date.
In conclusion, let me note that the model GoTView PCI DVD2
Lite is more suitable to economic users as well as those concerned
about the CPU unit ventilation as well as issues of free space inside.
The model GoTView PCI DVD2 Deluxe is more likely aimed at those who are
fanciers of time-proven analogous electronics, as well as those who
prefer controlling not only the TV-tuner but the PC itself with a
remote control.
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