Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Product Description
Thanks to the support of Digital TV (ATSC) or Unencrypted Digital Cable (ClearQAM*) reception;the AVerTV Hybrid Volar MAX is the ideal travel mate for viewing High Definition TV on the go.With Microsoft Windows Media Center, users will enjoy breathtaking and glorious TV viewing. Add this TV tuner to Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate) to turn your PC into a powerful Digital Video Recorder. Watch Analog and Digital TV channels plus radio and record your favorite programs.
Technical Details:
Supported TV Signals: Analog (NTSC) & Digital (ATSC / ClearQAM);
Input signal: 75 ohm TV/FM Antenna ; Using Dongle Cable (S-video, composite, and L/R stereo audio).
NOTE: This product was designed for Windows Media Center and will not work with AVer MediaCenter application.
Windows 7/Vista MCE/XP MCE. Windows 7 Premium logo Certificated. Windows Media Center is required. 32/64-bit driver support
Technical Details:
Supported TV Signals: Analog (NTSC) & Digital (ATSC / ClearQAM);
Input signal: 75 ohm TV/FM Antenna ; Using Dongle Cable (S-video, composite, and L/R stereo audio).
NOTE: This product was designed for Windows Media Center and will not work with AVer MediaCenter application.
Windows 7/Vista MCE/XP MCE. Windows 7 Premium logo Certificated. Windows Media Center is required. 32/64-bit driver support
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
243 of 253 people found the following review helpful
By L. Russo
Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been using Media Center on a WinXP tower since 2004. My HP unit came with a built in tuner which could only receive analog channels and the 2004 version of MC that came with it only supported standard def TV. As the years passed, I was eagerly anticipating for a release of Media center that supported HD programming. Once that happened on Windows 7 (and perhaps Vista), I needed to find a tuner card that would work with it.
Over the years I would check release info on new products and read about one sad experience after another regarding the failure of available HD tuner cards on the market and issues regarding firmware, drivers, configuration settings, etc.
Knowing that most new technology needs a few years to get the bugs out, I didn't buy and waited. The last few months had me itching to try and finally set up a HTPC (Home Theater PC) system. When it comes to video quality, my assumption was that I'd get better performance from a PCI internal tuner card in a tower. Thing is, I don't have a new Windows tower but I do have an inexpensive netbook running Windows 7 Home Premium. As there's no way to install an internal tuner card I'm limited to using an external USB tuner. After reading the reviews on Amazon, I decided the Volar Max was my best bet (and at $55 I figured I could only go so wrong).
I remember going through error and configuration issues with Vista and XP in the past, the idea that this little flashdrive-sized gizmo was going to allow me to tune in analog channels, digital channels as well as actual hi res HD seemed suspect at the very least. I was dreading the thought of experiencing the usual whole night investment of getting a new peripheral up and running on Windows only to have it not work well.
I plugged the Avertv in the USB slot and it found & installed its driver automatically and quickly. It then gave me the option of installing it's own tuner/viewer software. I declined in favor of Media Center.
Now I can't say how this thing works with any other OS's but, with Windows 7 Home Premium, the Avertv Volar Max blew my mind. My laptop is connected to an LCDTV- I fired up Media Center, which found the Avertv right away. I selected it, went through the channel scan (like any tv) and was watching great quality analog & digital HD tv within minutes. It WORKED! And not only that, it worked without my having to do any manual installations or configurations. Windows media center rocks (and IMHO blows away Apple in this particular area). The picture and sound seems as good as any HDTV tuner I've seen built into HD televisions. I hooked up my HP Media Center IR remote and can now flip through channels, set DVR recordings, play music, etc. from my couch.
Maybe this shows my age, but I thought any kind of decent resolution tuner hardware needed to be relatively big in size. That this tiny unit does so much, so well and so easily is immensely impressive.
The age of HTPC's is definitely here.
**Update 12/26/2012**
Recently I've discovered Windows Media Center no longer picks up a lot of stations it used to- even if they are not scrambled or encrypted. Plus many stations in the TV guide listings come off as misidentified (Media Center says its CBS but it shows up as NBC). There are stations that my tv tuner can pick up but that Media Center cannot, I'm not sure if this is a function of the Volar Max or Media Center. It's possible that with software other than Media Center the Volar Max can still tune in all unscrambled stations. I noticed Media Center asking a new question during setup regarding protection of "premium" content. Not sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion this might have something to do with it. Right now, I only get about a third of the channels I used to with the Volar Max/Media Center combo as opposed to my TV tuner that still manages to tune in all my unencrypted channels. The TV signals are there, I just can't seem to have them show up in Media Center any longer.
Over the years I would check release info on new products and read about one sad experience after another regarding the failure of available HD tuner cards on the market and issues regarding firmware, drivers, configuration settings, etc.
Knowing that most new technology needs a few years to get the bugs out, I didn't buy and waited. The last few months had me itching to try and finally set up a HTPC (Home Theater PC) system. When it comes to video quality, my assumption was that I'd get better performance from a PCI internal tuner card in a tower. Thing is, I don't have a new Windows tower but I do have an inexpensive netbook running Windows 7 Home Premium. As there's no way to install an internal tuner card I'm limited to using an external USB tuner. After reading the reviews on Amazon, I decided the Volar Max was my best bet (and at $55 I figured I could only go so wrong).
I remember going through error and configuration issues with Vista and XP in the past, the idea that this little flashdrive-sized gizmo was going to allow me to tune in analog channels, digital channels as well as actual hi res HD seemed suspect at the very least. I was dreading the thought of experiencing the usual whole night investment of getting a new peripheral up and running on Windows only to have it not work well.
I plugged the Avertv in the USB slot and it found & installed its driver automatically and quickly. It then gave me the option of installing it's own tuner/viewer software. I declined in favor of Media Center.
Now I can't say how this thing works with any other OS's but, with Windows 7 Home Premium, the Avertv Volar Max blew my mind. My laptop is connected to an LCDTV- I fired up Media Center, which found the Avertv right away. I selected it, went through the channel scan (like any tv) and was watching great quality analog & digital HD tv within minutes. It WORKED! And not only that, it worked without my having to do any manual installations or configurations. Windows media center rocks (and IMHO blows away Apple in this particular area). The picture and sound seems as good as any HDTV tuner I've seen built into HD televisions. I hooked up my HP Media Center IR remote and can now flip through channels, set DVR recordings, play music, etc. from my couch.
Maybe this shows my age, but I thought any kind of decent resolution tuner hardware needed to be relatively big in size. That this tiny unit does so much, so well and so easily is immensely impressive.
The age of HTPC's is definitely here.
**Update 12/26/2012**
Recently I've discovered Windows Media Center no longer picks up a lot of stations it used to- even if they are not scrambled or encrypted. Plus many stations in the TV guide listings come off as misidentified (Media Center says its CBS but it shows up as NBC). There are stations that my tv tuner can pick up but that Media Center cannot, I'm not sure if this is a function of the Volar Max or Media Center. It's possible that with software other than Media Center the Volar Max can still tune in all unscrambled stations. I noticed Media Center asking a new question during setup regarding protection of "premium" content. Not sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion this might have something to do with it. Right now, I only get about a third of the channels I used to with the Volar Max/Media Center combo as opposed to my TV tuner that still manages to tune in all my unencrypted channels. The TV signals are there, I just can't seem to have them show up in Media Center any longer.
62 of 65 people found the following review helpful
By K. Tryon
Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this as a 2nd TV tuner for my Win7 media center computer, because some TV shows I watch regularly have time conflicts. And I wanted a tuner that could receive ClearQAM channels, which my built-in tuner doesn't do. This was perfect. I bought an Avermedia tuner for my parent's computer and they've been very happy with it, so I chose this over some other brands.
The install with Win7 was pretty effortless. Plug into a USB port, plug my TV cable into it, and Win7 installed the driver (no software comes with it, and it's not needed). I opened Windows Media Center, it saw the 2nd tuner, I set up my channel guide listings, and now I can record 2 shows at the same time, with one of them in hi-def. It's fantastic. I rarely watch a TV show when it's actually on, and have gotten used to shows recorded in SD...it's such a treat to watch things in HD now!
I was a little irritated when I saw the recent price drop, but dug around and found that a rebate was available if you look on the list of sellers, and go down to Amazon.com being the seller. So now I'm only a buck behind. Now I'm very happy with the price, the product, and the ease of the install!
The install with Win7 was pretty effortless. Plug into a USB port, plug my TV cable into it, and Win7 installed the driver (no software comes with it, and it's not needed). I opened Windows Media Center, it saw the 2nd tuner, I set up my channel guide listings, and now I can record 2 shows at the same time, with one of them in hi-def. It's fantastic. I rarely watch a TV show when it's actually on, and have gotten used to shows recorded in SD...it's such a treat to watch things in HD now!
I was a little irritated when I saw the recent price drop, but dug around and found that a rebate was available if you look on the list of sellers, and go down to Amazon.com being the seller. So now I'm only a buck behind. Now I'm very happy with the price, the product, and the ease of the install!
57 of 60 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I purchased this product expecting it to be something I would use to avoid arguments over the TV. I figured the picture would be just OK. I was wrong. I don't even bother with the television anymore. I have 2 displays on my PC, so I can watch TV on one while doing stuff on the other. I can record shows when I'm away or too busy with life. It's great. The quality of the picture is incredible. I think I'm going to buy another, so I can have true DVR functionality on my PC! When it arrived all I had to do was attach the cable feed and plug it into a USB port. Windows 7 installed the drivers and when I opened media center, media center walked me through the rest. media center took about 15 minutes to scan through all the stations I get and setup, but then it was done (and that includes downloading a 2 week program guide for my cable provider.) I was actually impressed, even amazed at the simplicity and quality of this product. Highly recommended!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Plug & Play at its finest
This works as advertised. I plugged it in, fired up Windows Media Center and after a minute of scanning for channels I was good to go. Read more
Published 5 hours ago by Kevin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Only Partial channels
First I did not like that all the interfase was only with windows media center. The directions are not very clear on the set up since the manual is small and very dark with little... Read more
Published 8 days ago by Red
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Happy with this
I can watch tv on my pc while I walk on my treadmill now. And it records as well for later watching. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Jobean
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy To Watch
Just plug into my computer through USB and attach coaxial cable to it and I can watch and record TV in media center. Nothing easier than that. Read more
Published 11 days ago by soughtseven1035
5.0 out of 5 stars
PC TV Tuner
I use this tuner on my PC to enable me to watch TV while I do Email or surf the web. I have it connected to an outside antenna so I get good over the air digital TV. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Gar
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's kind of buggy and only works with media center
Sometimes if an application is running in the background it plain stops working. I used to have a tv card but went to this because I only have Windows 7 on my laptop. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Paul J. Morris II
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good as a travel unit.
I bought this unit to use when traveling. It does a good job of finding the local channels wherever I go.
Published 17 days ago by Ed
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent tuner!
I'm too cheap to get cable for the house, but we still wanted a DVR to record over the air shows. I found out that Windows Media Center can record shows and I can play them back... Read more
Published 1 month ago by C. Laymon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worked as described..
This PC Tuner Kit worked as described with my Windows7. I hooked an antenna to it and had no trouble getting a TV program and channel listing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Leroy A. Jones
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works great
The tuner works great and was shipped very quickly to me. My only negative was that the adapter to record from analog sources is not included in the package and this was not stated... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bill H.
