The Leadtek's WinFastTV
2000 XP TV tuner is based on the famous CONEXANT fusion 878A chip also
known as Brooktree 878A. As it's impossible to squeeze anything new from
this chip the developers further improve software and add user functions,
which are sometimes useful and sometimes useless.
This
model supports the following functions:
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TV & FM tuner
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reception of 181 TV channels in PAL, SECAM, NTSC standards
-
Video recording and playback
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MPEG-4 compression format supported
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Picture-in-Picture (PIP)
-
Remote control
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operation in Windows XP
The advertising booklet places the emphasis on the Windows XP support,
though I didn't find anything special about it. The tuner worked excellently
in all systems I tested it in: Win98SE, Windows 2000 pro 2195 + SP2,
Windows XP PRO.
Testbed:
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processor: P4-1800
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mainboard: ASUS P4T-F (chip i850)
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memory: RIMM 512 MB from Samsung
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video card: Matrox G450 DualHead
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system disc: IBM IC35L040
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disc array for video: FastTrak 100 TX 2 + 4 IBM IC35L040 discs of 40 GB
and 7200 rpm
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sound card: Creative SB Audigy.
Here is how the tuner is connected:
Remote Control
The
remote control works in an infrared channel. Its design is very flat, that
is why it doesn't fit your hand ideally. The most frequently used keys
are grouped in its lower part to be easily pressed with a thumb. There
are too few buttons, and management of additional functions is not provided.
Installation
Installation of the drivers and software was flawless. But when you start
the program a first time a traditional window of channel settings doesn't
not pop up. You have to open it manually. The settings are quite scarce.
You can choose just a country, a frequency grid ("antenna" or "cable")
and "Auto Fine Tune".
We chose "Russia SECAM" and "Antenna". It took less than a minute to
scan, and the tuner found only two channels: TV6 and PTP-2. And while the
former had normal sound, the latter had only a typical FM noise. They were
oddly found on the 69 and 70 channels. The auto search found nothing in
the cable grid. The "Auto Fine Tune" turned out to be useless, even harmful.
When we enabled PTP-2 was lost. Just for comparison, my old AverMedia TVphone
98 found all 13 channels that lived in my antenna. It means that this is
the tuner to blame as it has crippled frequency arrays. Unfortunately,
the software doesn't allow for manual search of channel or direct input
of frequencies. I tried some other countries and other settings and found
out that with "Poland SECAM" the tuner finds 8 channels in the antenna.
In the cable it finds 6 channels out of those 8, but no new.
Capabilities
The appearance of the TV tuner looks traditional. The only new thing is
small animated colorful indicators in the right part of the main window
and on edges of the other windows. But they have a decorative character
and loads the processor uselessly. The number of functional buttons is
minimal:
Quality of the overlay is adjusted with the VideoQuality parameter. It
defines a real resolution in the screen area displayed and has three values:
320x240, 640x240 and 640x480. The overlay window can be adjusted to the
full screen, but the Windows control panel remains visible. Such a popular
function as live wallpaper is not provided.
The SnapShot function converts separate frames into raster files
like *.bmp. The name of a file contains a date and time when it
was saved. You can't use this program for browsing files recorded. Depending
on the VideoQuality parameter files can be saved in 320x240, 640x240 or
640x480.
The program lacks for such typical capabilities as PreView, TimeShifting,
teletext etc.
Basic color parameters can be adjusted. Here you can also choose a signal
type for S-Video and Composite inputs (one for both). There is also "Color
Scheme" tab, but there is nothing to choose here:
The Schedule function is meant for recording TV events according to a timetable.
There is nothing new or different from other similar programs:
The program can record images in a video file and play them. The control
panel has thefollowing view in the playback mode:
Here is how the screen looks like in the same mode:
The tuner supports the PIP function. In the first case a recorded fragment
can be viewed on the background of the broadcast TV program. A position
of the internal window can be changed but its size can't. In the other
case it's possible to view a recorded file in the main window and a broadcast
program in a small one. Sound is produced only for the main window.
The PIP window can't be disabled - you just can drag it away from the
main one and it will become an independent window. Here you can change
its size but you can't close it. Well, the way these functions are realized
is somewhat confused and inconsistent.
The window of sampling parameters is clearer:
All record formats are based on the modified profile principle. There are
MPEG-2 and DivX 4.11 codecs among them. As for the DivX, it compresses
well up to 352x288, though some frames can be lost. And at 720x576 it refuses
to compress, or rather, it creates an empty file.
The MPEG-2 behaves similarly. In resolutions up to 352x288 it compresses
without problems with any stream. But a file created at 720x576 could be
opened with no means, though it has a normal size.
Quality
Quality of a TV signal is not bad. Other tuners had it sometimes worse,
sometimes better in the same conditions.
And now let's take a look at quality on the Composite and S-Video inputs:
| Composite |
S-Video |
|
|
As expected, this model can receive FM signals. Let's see how the tuner
handles it...
FM tuner
The auto scanning with the default settings brought in 11 channels out
of 16 existing in the tuner's antenna. However, I must notice that settings
of the FM tuner are much richer as compared with its TV brother. You can
set a threshold of sensitivity and adjust a frequency in 0.05MHz steps
of the found channels. The threshold of sensitivity has 4 values. The second
one contains all necessary frequencies, as well as a lot of false ones
- actually they can be removed manually, but it takes much time - we got
over 150 such channels. Well, half an hour later we managed to adjust all
channels the right way and enjoyed quite pleasant sound. Surely, it's not
Hi-End quality, but the most channels got clear sound, without FM noises
and pickups.
Frequencies can be entered manually, for which you must click on the
main menu with the right button.
Choose an audio device and its channel for the tuner's audio-out in
the main settings of the FM tuner. There are all necessary settings for
recording as well. The program records uncompressed *.wav files,
Windows Media Audio (*.wma), and compresses into mp3, but only into
*.wav
files. While without compression the sound can be sampled
at 44.1 KHz 16 bit stereo, quality for mp3 is limited at 22 KHz 56 Kbit/s
stereo:
In the last tab in the settings window you can set recording according
to a time-table. It looks traditional:
The sound recording functions work well and have all necessary capabilities
for further listening.
The remote control handles all main capabilities of the receiving part
of the tuner. However, it's impossible to record, play and change FavoritesGroup.
On the whole, the FM tuner leaves a pleasant impression of a user-friendly
and finished program.
Conclusion
The card is a good solution for home use for any average multimedia computer.
In its hardware capabilities the tuner is similar to other models based
on this chip, though the TV quality is a bit better and the number of channels
received is smaller. The software disappointed me much. Instead of proper
realization of all necessary functions the developers worked on decoration
of the interface.
Remember that the manufacturer tries to distinguish this tuner placing
emphasis on its operation under the Windows XP and on the picture-in-picture
function. But if the former is actually obligatory, such realization of
the PIP raises doubts in its necessity.
Highs
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FM tuner provided, works well
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good quality of channel reception of the TV & FM tuners
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MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 supported
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Picture-in-Picture (PIP) supported
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Windows XP supported
Lows
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unhandy remote control with too few functions
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imperfect algorithm of TV channel adjusting
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scarce capabilities of the SnapShot
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no PreView, TimeShifting, teletext etc.
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inconvenient handling of the PIP function
Mihail Androsov (
nle@ixbt.com)
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