DVR Adaptor in Your Pocket?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/archives/000490.php' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/archives/000490.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"MSI, a Taiwanese electronics manufacture, has started selling a slick, new USB 2.0 TV Tuner adapter the size of a deck of cards for less than $80. The Vox USB 2.0 TV Box appears to have all the power of its larger sized competitors and comes bundled with a re-skinned InterVideo WinDVR called MSI PVS, TV@nywhere for TV program browsing/scheduling, and InterVideo WinDVD for taking the content you've recorded and burning onto VCD, SVCD, mini-DVD &amp; DVD."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/msi_vox.jpg" /><br /><br />I'm not sure how important it is to have a TV tuner that you can carry in your pocket, but hey, you never know when it might come in handy. What would make these even more useful would be to allow it to install software off a Flash ROM chip. That way you could take it to any computer, connect it, install the drivers and software needed for PVR functionality, then when you disconnect it the software would uninstall. :way to go:

[dean_shan]

Looks like you'd need to get a USB cable extender to get it to work. The coax plug is really close to the USB plug.

[ctmagnus]

8)

I feel the same way about the driver install/uninstall thing.

But, mini-DVD? Is this a 3.5" DVD, simlilar to 3.5" CDs?

[ctmagnus]

Looks like you'd need to get a USB cable extender to get it to work. The coax plug is really close to the USB plug.

The article states that it comes with a USB extension cable, as imo all devices of this type should.

[mcsouth]

Okay, I'll play the part of a newbie, and ask the question? With this item running about $80, why would I want to swap out my Radeon 9500 AGP card with an AIW item, when, for a lot less money, I can get the same features in a compact little box?

According to MSI's site, this does TV tuning and video capture, so it should work just fine as a hub for PVR functions, right? Would software like Snapstream's support this device, or would it be necessary?

Would be nice to see a review of this device, to get a feel for how good a solution it is.....(hint, hint.... :wink: )

[Jason Dunn]

With this item running about $80, why would I want to swap out my Radeon 9500 AGP card with an AIW item, when, for a lot less money, I can get the same features in a compact little box?

Difficult to say, but pure speculation would lead me to believe that the hardware in a $500 card is of a higher quality than the hardware in an $80 box. That might not be the case, but the ATI card probably has hardware-accelerated MPEG encoding, etc. Then again, the MSI might have that too. Who knows? :lol:

According to MSI's site, this does TV tuning and video capture, so it should work just fine as a hub for PVR functions, right? Would software like Snapstream's support this device, or would it be necessary?

Yes, it should do all the basic PVR functions. I don't know if Snapsteam would support this device...I'm a little unclear on how their software interfaces with the hardware.

Would be nice to see a review of this device, to get a feel for how good a solution it is.....(hint, hint.... :wink: )

I'll see what we can do - we're just starting to get the review teaming going.