The first tuner from Leadtek that I tested was Leadtek WinFast Cinema, and
it left a very pleasant impression. That is why when I got Leadtek's latest solution
WinFast TV 2000 Expert I anticipated getting pleased with it as well. Let's see
if the expectations come true.
Accessory pack
The box is noticeably lower than usual
The box contains the stuff traditional for Leadtek:
-
Tuner
-
Remote Control
-
External IR sensor of the remote control
-
MiniDIN 9-pin - S-Video+3RCA (composite video and stereo audio) connector
-
AUX-in cable
-
FM antenna
-
Tuner installation guide
-
Software manual
-
4 software CDs
Beside Leadtek's WinFast PVR and WinFast FM the CDs contain:
Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2SE
for creation of your own VCD, SVCD or DVD
Ulead VideoStudio 7SE
for video capture and editing
and Ulead Cool 3D 3.0 editor
which seems to be a strange supplement for a TV tuner. Well, never too
much of a good thing.
I didn't expect to find the 3.1 version of the WinFast DVD here.
While we blame the companies for using pre-latest versions, Leadtek supplies
a very outdated one, which is deprived of even such functions as DVD playback
from hard drive. :(
Design and specification
Now it's clear why the box is so narrow - the card has a low-profile
design!
This is not just a step toward manufacturers of such PC cases; such approach
has some technical advantages, in particular, components generating electrical
noise are distant from the radio unit. But because of the low-profile design the
tuner has only one 9-pin connector with a respective audio/video adapter. A similar
solution was used in the Leadtek WinFast Cinema, but that time the reason was
different. The line-in is removed, and it's possible to get the audio signal only
through sound card's AUX-in. On one hand, having such possibility one would hardly
use the line-in connection, but on the other hand users are deprived of choice.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information about the radio unit,
but I think that it's based on a good circuit design from Philips like
in other company's products.
Instead of the dated Conexant Fusion 878A the TV 2000 Expert tuner is
built on Conexant's latest solution - CX23881 10-bit ADC.
Here's a brief comparison table
For more detailed information see the description
in pdf.
Just note that the Macrovision is unfortunately supported.
That's good that the developers keep up to date, but SECAM was always a weak
point of Conexant's chips compared to Philips' solutions (in this case they are
9-bit Philips 7134 chips also used in ECS EZ-TV
and Compro VideoMate TV Gold Plus).
The specs are standard. Let's look at the distinguishing features.
First of all, it is a consistent operation of Leadtek's software with
MPEG4, though it's not mentioned anywhere. Secondly, the NetMeeting
allows remote users watch TV (in case of good connection).
Testbed
-
Athlon 2800XP CPU (Barton)
-
Gigabyte 7VAX mainboard (KT400 chipset)
-
Inno3D GeForce FX 5900 video card
-
1GB RAM (Samsung 512 MB PC3200 + Kingmax 512 MB PC3200)
-
Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 sound card
-
IBM DTLA 305020 hard drive
-
Windows XP Professional (SP1) ENG and Windows XP Professional (SP1) RUS
Connection
The connection is not standard,
but is more convenient as there's only one connector beside the antenna-ins.
There's no mini-jack, that is why you may need a mini-jack-2 RCA adapter.
On the other hand, in case of the standard layout (minijack) you will need
an adapter much more as RCA connectors are much wider used on home consumer
equipment.
Configuring
The configuration menu is a bit complicated at first sight
because the driver for internal tuners is installed together with programs
and in the Winfast Entertainment Center section. The logic is interesting.
You will be offered to install Microsoft's MPEG4 codecs, which are far
from the DivX but can be used as a substitute for beginners for a while.
Here's the list of devices after the installation
and here's how the WinFast Wizard icon for fast access to all programs
in the tray
The WinFast PVR and WinFast FM were discussed in the Leadtek
WinFast Cinema review, and we will only check them for interesting features.
We scanned the frequency range with the WinFast PVR having selected
Russia
(SECAM) (I wonder what is Russia (PAL)), - several channels
were lacking and those which were found got numbers +1, i.e. 2 instead
of 1, 4 instead of 3 etc.
The Adaptive Channel Scanning didn't help. When we started it we
got the following warning:
Like in the MSI-8918 I selected POLAND
(SECAM), and the problem was solved.
The engineers at Leadtek seem to have problems with our TV network.
All the stations were found, that is why the tuner has good sensitivity.
Quality
Let's see what the new heart is capable of
The
visual quality is good and superior to the Fusion 878A, the replacement
of the chip is justified. But I personally prefer the image on the Philips
7134 based tuners.
Look at the default brightness and hue
Isn't it curious?
Besides, in the full-screen mode you can notice that the image is grainy
(Philips has no signs of it).
But most users won't notice such subtle nuances.
Unfortunately, the sound doesn't have high frequencies. It's not the fault
of my sound card or AUX-in as the Compro VideoMate TV Gold Plus had excellent
quality. We didn't get highs in the FM mode either.
Capture and additional features
Timeshifting, the peculiar way of realization of Picture-In-Picture
and capture profile editing were discussed last time. I'd like to thank Leadtek
once again for the support of codecs including all types of DivX in the WinFast
PVR. Microsoft's MPEG4 codec is also included into the pack.
Snapshot is realized differently. No galleries or preview, you just
press the space bar or the respective interface button and the program
saves the frame into a file in the program directory. It's not that convenient
without previewing. On the other hand, you can capture files in jpeg at
768x576.
Also, I couldn't find any signs of the Channel Surf function.
One more fly in the ointment.
Together with scheduled recording you are offered scheduled playback,
you can set this function both for TV programs and external sources.
When you capture frames you'd better set the audio stream as master, otherwise
it can result in audio/video mistiming.
After recording you can get only to the Standby mode, which doesn't look
pleasing, especially after the Compro tuner.
One of the pleasantries is a notice displayed right before the task
is initiated
One more advantage is the support of tuner's signal translation on the
Netmeeting
network
FM tuner
Since the Leadtek WinFast Cinema review the interface and features of the WinFast
FM didn't get any changes.
Well, the WinFast FM was almost an ideal solution for a tuner
in the FM mode.
Besides, all necessary functions are available from the basic interface
that reveals developers' smartness considering the control panel size.
The one who can find "Open files" button can be considered a very observant
person :-) .
The channel scanning is different. Thus, the channels found coincided
best of all at Sensitivity equal to 2.
Sensitivity can be broadly changed.
If it's still not enough, you can enter a channel frequency manually.
MP3 encoding is carried out with a standard codec at 22 KHz, 56 Kbit/s like
in the Compro VideoMate TV Gold Plus.
You can schedule both recording and playback
Apart from displaying the task parameters
before proceeding to the Standby mode you can cancel it (like in the scheduler
in the TV mode)
Remote Control
The same remote control was supplied with the Leadtek WinFast Cinema.
The only thing I should draw your attention to is the Power button that
turns on/off PC and which is lacking on the Compro's remote control. According
to your letters I underestimated this function.
The RC is multifunctional though if you take the WinFast DVD version...
well, we talked about it already.
Conclusion
This solution has both weak and strong points, and I don't know what outweighs.
It's for you to decide, see the highs and lows.
Highs
-
10-bit ADC
-
Good sensitivity in TV and FM modes (remember that correct channel scanning
can depend on the country you select in the menu)
-
No noise and pickups
-
Deinterlacing
-
Time Shifting
-
Picture-In-Picture
-
Connection to sound card's AUX-in
-
Convenient connection of external devices
-
Original handy software for the tuner management
-
MPEG4 support
-
Rich software suite
-
Multifunctional remote control
-
Low-profile design
Lows
-
Audio quality problems (no highs)
-
No full mp3 support
-
Dated DVD player version
-
No previewing for Snapshot function
-
No Channel Surf function
-
Line-in connection unsupported
In closing I should say that the heart transplantation carried out by the
guys at Leadtek was successful. The tuner has no operational problems on
our local area, unlike Conexant CX23881 based tuners from other companies.
Taking into account the company's reputation, I do not doubt that it won't
have problems in funding buyers for the Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert.
|
 |
59 CPU Roundup
Summarizing results obtained with CPU Test Method v4.0.
|
|
ShareThis
