Review:

The UltraTV USB 300 was the second of three AVerMedia products that debuted at CES 2004 and won an Innovations award. The first was the AVerMedia TVBox 9 which I've had the pleasure to review, and the third is the DVD EZMAker Pro USB 2.0 Video Capture Device, which I'm waiting to review.

The UltraTV USB 300 was fun. It's also a PVR and a video capture device and authoring system.

It's small, and doesn't require a power source. A cool looking silver square object that's thin. So small, I can almost hide it in my hand.

Installation on the computer was easy. Download the USB driver software, then plug in the Ultra TV. The only cable connections will be a supplied USB cable between the computer and the Ultra TV. and an audio cable between the PC sound card and the cool little silver box.

The left side of the box has the inputs. Composite/RCA jacks for audio and video, an S-Video jack, and a coaxial adapter cable connection(supplied). The right side has the USB and audio out to PC, plus a neat blue LED to show that the UltraTV is working.

I was very impressed with the picture quality while watching television. You don't need cable TV. It works well with an antenna. The UltraTV will scan and lock in the active channels with signals. The tuner that pops up on the screen also looks cool. This can also be made invisible so that it will not interfere with the picture if one wishes to fill the screen with the program being watch. The user can also shrink the picture down to 1/9 so that they can work on a project on their computer too. One also make the TV display wallpaper while doing other tasks on the PC.

The PVR function was fun and cool! Want to pause, rewind or do an instant replay while the program your watching is being recorded to the hard drive? Go for it. UltraTV also has a program recording scheduler. So you could take a laptop PC on vacation or a business trip, and using the UltraTV, use the PC as a PVR in your hotel room, and watch those programs on your flight back home. The recording scheduler can be setup for one month at a time.

One can also preview 16 channels at once. This is done by creating thumbnail images of the channels, and will rotate 16 channels. Just double click on the thumbnail you want, and your there.

The capture device side of the UltraTV. This was fun. Want to download old VHS tapes in real time? It does it. Very nice not having to wait for a conversion delay. The capture resolution is 720 x 480 in the MPEG-2 format. So what you see while downloading is what you will see when burned to DVD, which will be the same file format.

Don't have a DVD burner, but want to do VCD's? No problem. It will download the video in realtime, and allow for MPEG-1 file format. Ulead DVD MovieFactory and Ulead VideoStudio 7 SE DVD software are included with UltraTV.

Besides converting VHS, 8 mm and Hi8 tapes, one can also directly burn to DVD the program they are watching, or connect their camcorder, and record their "live" video feed of a family event to the hard drive. It was neat to go direct to DVD without having to pre-render.

Want to play with a GameCube or XBox on the computer? Ultra TV allows that too. UltraTV also comes with a neat carrying case.

The specs. For DVD recording, the minimum requirement is a Pentium 3, 1ghz. For the best quality, Pentium 4, and 2ghz or higher. VCD burning, the minimum requirement is Pentium 3, 800mhz. You will also need 128 RAM or higher, Windows XP operating system, an open USB 2.0 port, a sound card, a PCI VGA card with DirectX 8.1 or higher, and of course a CD (for VCD's) or a DVD burner already installed.

The MSRP for the UltraTV USB 300 is $129.99

So how small is this little silver box? 3.6" x 3.48" x .69" It's weight, well that's just over half a pound.

The summary: I found UltraTV to be a fun product. It's an excellent portable external TV tuner. An excellent PVR that doesn't require a monthly fee. Most impressive is it being a high speed capture device when converting old analogue tapes. Especially when compared to other capture devices that took time having to convert, and cost more. UltraTV is also compatible with any Mini DV, DV and Digital 8 camcorders.

AVerMedia has done well with the UltraTV USB 300. After using, it's Innovations award at CES was well deserved. I liked this product so much, I bought the eval/review unit. It's a five paw product.

Features:

• Input Signal:
• 75 Ohm Coaxial TV Antenna
• Composite Video
• S-Video
• Audio Input
  
  
• Output Signal:
• Audio Output (Direct to Speaker or Loop to Sound Card)
  
  
• Dimensions: 3.6" x 3.48" x 0.69"
• Weight: 0.62 lb
• Warranty: 1 year limited parts & labor