AVermedia Key Micro (1280) PC/Mac to TV Scan Converter

by AVerMedia

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.5 x 2.9 inches ; 12.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006B7F7
• Item model number: DKEYIMID2
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 21, 2002

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Affordable PC/Mac-to-TV conversion at less than $100. Thanks to the AVerKey iMicro, you can easily project any computer application on to a big screen TV or save it into a VCR. Start a business presentation, create training tapes, display animations, play games or surf the Internet on a big TV screen in seconds.

AVerMedia AVerKey iMicro supports resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 for both PC and Mac. It comes with touch-button control panel, zoom and pan, picture positioning and much more.

Major features:

• Plug-n-Play, no software drivers required
• Compatible with IBM PC, MAC, iMac DV, Power Macintosh G3, G4, and laptops
• Touch-button control panel
• Supports resolutions up to 1,280 x 1,024 (PC/Mac) with 16.7 million colors
• Up to 3-levels flicker-filter selection for sharpness control
• Simultaneous display on computer and TV monitors (supports all VGA monitors and Mac monitors up to 1,280 x 1,024)
• Zoom and pan
• Zoom sharpness control
• Underscan/overscan (underscan up to 1,280 x 1,024)
• Horizontal/vertical picture positioning
• Horizontal/vertical screen panning
• Supports composite/S-video/SCART RGB video outputs

What's in the Box
AVerKey iMicro unit, an S-video cable, a stereo analog audio/composite-video cable, a VGA cable, a Mac VGA adapter, a Mac monitor adapter, an AC power adapter, and a user's manual.

Product Description

Affordable PC/Mac-to-TV conversion at less than $100. Thanks to the AVerKey iMicro, you can easily project any computer application on to a big screen TV or save it into a VCR. Start a business presentation, create training tapes, display animations, play games or surf the Internet on a big TV screen in seconds.

AVerMedia AVerKey iMicro supports resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 for both PC and Mac. It comes with touch-button control panel, zoom and pan, picture positioning and much more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get it if nothing else works for you, October 29, 2009

By 

Ramkumar Balaraman (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: AVermedia Key Micro (1280) PC/Mac to TV Scan Converter (Personal Computers)

I got this to hook up an old laptop to my TV, so I could stream from Netflix/Hulu and watch the movies on my portable hard drive. For this purpose, this turned out to be just an OK option. I might have been happier with it if I was getting it primarily for viewing presentations or YouTube-like (i.e. poorer quality) videos.

Pros:
1. It works. It should work for any computer/laptop that has a working VGA-port (which is almost all of them). If it doesn't seem to work, try going to display properties (on your computer) and enable the second display in the settings tab.
2. Good response time for movies. If there was any reduction in the frame rate, I surely didn't notice it.
3. Your computer doesn't need to do any additional processing (unless you choose to extend your desktop rather than clone it), so it doesn't matter how old/slow your system is. Anything you can view on your system, you should be able to view on yours TV too.
4. VGA is the default video output mode for desktops, so if you're trying to use your TV as the only monitor for your desktop PC, hook up your TV using this and you're all set. You don't need another monitor to set up your TV to work with your computer.
5. Has zoom and pan functions, though I can't think of a good use for them. Has an overscan option that has the same effect as slightly zooming in.
6. Provides an extra VGA port so you can keep your desktop PC hooked up to both a TV and a monitor at the same time (with the same image).
7. Supports both s-video out and composite(Y) out. Almost all TVs support the latter, though you should use the former if your TV has it (most newer TVs do). I only used s-video, so I cannot comment on the quality of the component-out.

Cons:
1. The main reason I ended up returning this was the poor color depth. Videos would look fine on my laptop in both 16-bit and 32-bit color depths, but would show noticeably poor color depth on my TV. I'm not buying the claim of 24-bit color depth this converter makes. Real characters in videos start looking a bit like animations - with visible bands of color on faces and other objects instead of smooth gradients.
2. The second reason for returning this is the inaccurate scanning area. In normal scan mode, a 1.5-inch border appeared around the picture on my TV, thus converting my 32-inch tv into a 29-inch. The overscan mode didn't quite fix this as I would be missing a strip of the picture on all the sides.
3. Does not include a 3.5mm stereo to composite audio cable that you need to purchase separately if you want to hear your computer audio on your TV (look for 3.5mm to composite or 3.5mm to RCA). This is a video product and, strictly speaking, doesn't have to include this cable, but the description mentions a composite stereo/video cable, which is misleading, since it refers to the single RCA(Y) cable.
4. With the converter box, power supply, VGA connector, s-video connector and audio-RCA connector that make up this solution, this is not something you would enjoy hooking up every now and then on a whim. Its more suitable as a permanent/occasional hookup solution.
5. This unit supports a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. My laptop has a 1400x1050 native resolution and I had to switch to 1280x1024 prior to hooking up the box each time. Since laptop screens (all LCD screens) suck at displaying non-native resolutions, I wasn't very happy doing this.
6. I personally find this too expensive for what it does, i.e. hooking up a computer to a TV. But this is the typical price for any TV hook-up solution that goes the VGA route.

I ended up spending a few hours experimenting with a large number of display drivers until I got my laptop's s-video port to work, and using that instead. The picture quality is now incomparably good.

If you're just starting to look for ways to hook up your computer to a TV, try these in order first before you buy this converter:
1. If you have a desktop and a TV with a HDMI port, just get a graphics card with a HDMI port. You can snag a decent one for much cheaper than this converter, and the video quality will be phenomenal. Its not very difficult to do either. Read this beginner's guide to get you started:
[...]
2. If you have a desktop and an analog TV, get a graphics card with a s-video/component port. You can get them for less than half the price of this converter and the video quality will be as good as it can ever be on your TV. Again, read the guide above if you're clueless about shopping for or installing or a graphics card. Its pretty easy to do. If your TV has no s-video but you can only find s-video graphics cards, get a s-video to RCA (also referred to as composite) cable. Most TVs have RCA (yellow, red & white) connectors. You will also need a 3.5mm to RCA cable for audio.
3. If you have a newer laptop with a HDMI port, you're already all set. Just hook it up to your TV. But if you have an older analog TV, tough luck - read on.
4. If you have a laptop with an s-video out (some manufacturers refer to it as TV-out), get an s-video cable (if your TV supports s-video) or a s-video to RCA cable. You will also need the 3.5mm to RCA cable. This is how I'm set up, and I'm loving the quality. Some Dell laptops (like mine) have TV-out ports but need some research before they work. Look at the advanced properties on your display properties screen to determine your graphics chip-set, and then search for the latest drivers online. Also try to reduce the resolution of the second display in the settings tab of your display properties to 1024x768 or smaller before enabling the second display.
5. If you have a laptop with no s-video out or tv-out, but if your laptop came with a graphics card (not on-board), you could theoretically upgrade to a laptop graphics card that supports tv-out. But this is easier said than done. Most laptop rear ports are placed in slots cut into the overall casing. This option works for very few people.
6. If none of the above work for you and you are content with lower color depth, you should consider the reviewed product. Avermedia also makes higher quality converters, but they cost about 3 times as much (also check out SewellDirect - they have tons of similar products). Consider these options too:
a. Buy a cheap low-end PC tower (even used) and add a graphics card to it.
b. Get a SlingCatcher to stream video from your PC to a TV through your home network
c. If you have a PS3, XBOX360, Wii, a DLNA TV, WD TV Live, etc. you can buy a PlayOn lifetime license and install it on your computer. It lets you play a wide range of online streaming content including Netflix and Hulu on your TV through your home network.
d. Get a WD TV Live and PlayOn; you can play almost any video source on your TV that you can play on your computer, for about [...]
e. If you were already on the market for a blu-ray player, get the LG 390. Plays most of the video formats you might have on a portable hard-drive/flash stick, as well as Netflix and 3 other online streaming sources.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars simple to use but picture quality is average, November 23, 2006

By 

VK (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AVermedia Key Micro (1280) PC/Mac to TV Scan Converter (Personal Computers)

Pros: works right away, picture fits TV screen
Cons: shaprness & picture quality are average.
I returned it and bought Grandtec USA GXP-2000
which gives more options and a bit better picture.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed!, November 23, 2008

By 

Lawrence - See all my reviews

This review is from: AVermedia Key Micro (1280) PC/Mac to TV Scan Converter (Personal Computers)

Just what I needed and did exactly what I wanted it to. I work for a NBC Sports and I need to export an Excel worksheet to others in our compound. I turned this on out of the box, connected the cable to my VGA port and I was good to go. It's nice when something works right out of the box. My previous one died on a show (NOT the same make), and I HAD to have this that week. I made my purchase with Amazon.com and it was shipped to my Hotel the very next day. Thank you Amazon.com and thank you AVerMedia.