Customer Reviews

Mygica USB QAM HDTV Tuner, Clear QAM and ATSC with Bonus Antenna

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I am using this on Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

You may hit one website where this is documented and where you can download the latest drivers, meritline...Here are some helpful hints and what I was able to get to work and what you may not want to try because it doesn't work. The only reason I am giving this one less star is because I had to compile information from everywhere and the remote is useless i.e. they should just send this product without remote, it doesn't work, DOA, bad design, well known problem. Of course don't expect tech support, well written manuals. If I am rating this as a novice user, I would give it 3 stars.

Connected the tuner to my usb port, driver failed to install. As suggested, do not use the enclosed DVD for anything except the Remote IR driver. If you can't find it, wait till you install the new Win7 driver from meritline. Do not use the driver from the DVD else it will default to antenna, no cable, and therefore no QAM.

Note, if you mess up, you will have to go into settings (tasks) in media center to further configure TV. Regardless, Media center will complain that signal or something could not determine (don't remember the exact message). Ignore it and choose configure manually; cable or antenna manually (in my case, comcast so I chose Cable). Wait a long time, could be 2-20 minutes while it scans the channels. If you find no channels, you may have a driver issue or bad cable.

You can install the drivers manually or extract the zipped file from meritline and run setup (32 or 64 bit depending on your os). In my case, the driver release date is 11/17/2009, version 11.20220.176.201. In device manager you should see HDTV Stick Digital Capture under Sould controllers. If any of this doesn't match your conviguration, deinstall all drivers associated with this and start over (maybe use the system restore so create a restore point as an option before you continue for the first time).

Just use the right driver and the rest is a breeze; expect 10-20 min the first time you scan. I am in Chicago and getting about 50 channels. Unfortunately, Comcast here just went encrypted so for all practical purposes, I am only getting OTA channels but they come in Dolby and clear with no stutter. As I said before the IR and remote are useless so time to get another remote or use the wireless mouse. I needed cheap to test, my next one will be a cablecard setup so to me this was money well spent.

I also tried to use the NTSC driver to see if I could setup ch. 3 or 4 and use the comcast box (which works on my ntsc tv and I get all channels because it's a digital set top box). For some reason, I couldn't get it to work. I have always wondered so now I know it's a no go unless I write the driver myself, ain't happening.

I also played with the ATSC driver for OTA digital channels. The included antenna is a joke. I tried the outdoor antenna and the picture was decent and I could get all local ota channels.

Summary, only good for the tuner, the rest is frivolous. For $25, why not. I'll wait for Ceton to come down a bit.

When I first received the HDTV MyGica USB Tuner I first tried it in my DELL laptop which was a Core 2 Duo laptop running Windows XP, which I first purchased in February 2008! I experienced CONSTANT choppiness in the picture and it was NEVER consistently showing a clear moving-picture of the TV station (though the audio was always in-sync).

I was getting ready to contact the company to request an RMA and a refund but something told me to wait on that.

Three to four months later, I purchased a NEW laptop which is a Core I-7 laptop (with Windows 7 installed) which has a blazing fast processor! Guess what? I installed it the same way I did in my old DELL laptop AND THERE WAS NO CHOPPINESS in the picture whatsoever!

LESSON LEARNED: Make SURE you have a strong enough processor to use ANY USB tuner on your computer/laptop, for this product will not work if you are using an old computer or old laptop. Well it will, but it will be unbearable to watch.

On my Core I-7 laptop, the picture, is clear, and beautiful with in-sync video and audio with NO ISSUES!

The only thing you have to do is adjust the mini-antenna (just moving it on your desk a centimeter or two until you get more "green bars" of reception). But that's something you have to do with ALL OTA stations any way!

So to conclude, please don't think this product is defective if you get choppiness in your TV signal. It's probably that your computer processor can't support it!!!

I'm very glad I kept it and didn't return it. It works like a charm on my new laptop.

BTW, the small mini-antenna that came with it IS VERY POWERFUL. It picked up 9 stations; I couldn't believe that teeny-tiny antenna was JUST as good as a larger antenna I temporarily hooked up to it. As a matter of fact, the mini-antenna did a better job than my Radioshack antenna!

Have fun.

For $24, it is a nice piece of equipment. Maybe the digital signal make design much easier, this small dongle is quite solid built comparing to an analog USB I used a few years back.

My systems are WinXP, WinVista, Win7 Pro 32b, all work perfectly. The enclosed player is actually better than Media Center on Vista or Win7! MC is kind of slow when playing full screen on my 3 years old laptops, but the enclosed player runs on full screen without issue.

As for the sensitivity, it is better than a 3 years old PCI card! Again, digital signal processing makes the day.

I gave it 4 stars because the recording pull down my system performance and gives only mpg file. The MC can record in HD but it asks for much more video card power hence not practical on older machines.

Overall, I am watching only ATSC, but I assume clear QAM should work just as good. Very satisfied.

Final words, as for all HDTV these days, get a decent signal is more important than working with analog before. I am using rabbit ear with good amps about 10dB. No amp, no signal.

when this product came in the mail i was very exited that i would be able to record tv. i turned on my win xp pc and ran the software to get it going. all the drivers installed and seemed to be fine but when the arcsoft recording softare came up, it asked for a cd key, which i could not find anywhere enclosed in the package or on the dongle. basically i punched in every number i saw enclosed in the package and none worked. after that i realized i could get 3rd party software and it wouldent be a problem. i plugged in the device and it installed as a digital audio device. when i went to device manager it appeard as a speaker even though it says also supports video. ignoring all of that i went to download.com and found some free trial for digital recording software and when the time came to configure the video device it was listed AS an audio device therefore no video at all. this is the worst product ive ever purchased from amazon and im so ashamed that companies can package somthing with no website with drivers,no telephone numbers, no manual and no product key for the packaged software. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

When I bought this I hesitated because of two reasons. One, the price. Inexpensive sometimes means cheap. Second, several people had complaints. But I bought it anyway. I am so glad I did.

I use Windows 7 64-bit. Maybe that makes a difference. The software is well written and designed, works exactly as I would expect it to, and even better. Despite the fact that I have a top quality video card, most video content at full screen is not clear... except this. The picture at full screen is clearer than my hi-def tv, which is also 1080p. The set-up couldn't be much easier, and even with the little antenna, I could reach stations 50 miles away (maybe there is a repeater somewhere). I did eventually hook it up to my rooftop.

Simply put, this is one of the few items I have ever purchased that I got as much or more than I expected.

I can't get this to work with Windows XP. Repeated attempts to get help from the vendor have failed. I updated drivers and software, but nothing works. The software searches for channels, finds six of them, and then it craps out with a Windows error.
For me, this was a waste of time and money.

After finally getting the manufacturer to give me a digital download for programming and driver because the CD was blank I still couldn't get a signal. The cable signal comes in clear on my television but the device doesn't pick up a single bar a signal. The support kept telling me to it was because there was no signal on the cable and to check that. They didn't seem to understand that I was unhooking my TV, which worked, and using the same cable.

If you have Windows 7, the driver does not work, but it worked beautifully with Windows Media Center for TWO WHOLE Months!

I purchased it from a link from Amazon (not from Amazon) called Meritline. They offered me store credit, so I guess I rented it for $12.50 a month. They only have this one brand. Next time, I'll order from Amazon directly, but not this brand!

This product is terrible. The software collapsed every time I searched the channels. Even though I saved a partial list of the channels (around 30), only 2 of them could watch. My cable program provides more than 100 channels, and I only can watch two using this product. The manual was poorly written and customer service had no response. The company seems not produce and support this product any more. So don't waste your money and time.

I am experienced with computers and could never could get this device to work. I tried different software and all. It would not detect my cable channels. It would detect about 2 of the 10 local broadcast digital channels regardless of if I checked to scan for cable. The seller responded promptly and I had no issues with obtaining a refund. I will buy from them again if the opportunity arises.