Sabrent USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Video Capture Box with Remote Control - TV-USB20

by Sabrent

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches ; 7.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007LBMR2
• Item model number: TV-USB20
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,420 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Sabrent TV-USB20 USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Video Capture Box with Remote Control can receive TV and capture video when installed on your notebook or PC.

In its compact and stylishly designed box, you can bring the device with you and have a mobile TV station wherever you are. Television is captured at 704x480 (NTSC) resolutions, creating video that can be stored on a hard disk and can be played back later. Videos can be saved in MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or MPEG-4 format. You can use Personal Video Recorder functions such as time-shifting and pausing live TV.

The device also captures stereo audio at 16 bits with either a 24 Khz or 48 Khz sampling rate. With the A/V sync feature, video and audio can be captured at the same time. An additional feature lets you capture 704x480 still images from a video source.

The Sabrent TV-USB20 features a USB 2.0 interface that provides high bandwidth for video and, for convenience, requires no external power source. S-VHS and composite inputs let you connect DVD players and VCRs.

System Requirements
Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows XP SP2, Pentium III 800 MHz, 64 MB, DirectX 9.0C, USB 2.0 port, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, 500 MB of available hard disk space.

What's in the Box
TV-USB20 USB 2.0 TV tuner/video capture box, remote control, driver CD-ROM, and batteries.

Product Description

SABRENT TV-USB20 USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Video Capture Box with Remote Control Watch/record TV your Desktop or Laptop, No external power required! The SABRENT USB2.0 TV Box is the newest TV receiving and video capturing device designed for notebooks and PCs. Capture 704 x 480 (NTSC) resolutions, creating high quality video that can be stored on a PC hard disk via USB 2.0. Users can watch video on the PC, while also capturing video to the hard disk drive of their PC. It also captures stereo audio at 16bits, and at a 24KHz or 48KHz sampling rate. With its A/V synchronization feature, this captures video and audio at the same time. A professional "snap shot" function is also provided. Captured bit stream can be transferred very easily to standard formats, such as MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4 video, for editing and CD burning. This USB 2.0 TV capture box also features a TV/Video Scheduled Recording Function. Specifications Interface: USB 2.0 Only ? Power Consumption: By USB Power (No external power required) ? Hardware Input/Output - Video Input: TV, S-Video, Composite - Coaxial TV Antenna or Cable Input - S-VHS Input - Composite Input - Video Capture Rate: 25 frames/second (PAL), 30 frames/second (NTSC) - TV Standards: NTSC_M, PAL_I/D/B - Video Resolution: 720*576 (PAL), 720*480 (NTSC) - Audio Input: Stereo audio (L) (R) - Stereo/Mono - Dimensions: 13.5cm*8.0cm*3.2cm - Weight: 204g ? Video Adjustable Saturation/Contrast/Hue/Brightness. ? Bandwidth Adaptive Automatically Control. ? Audio Capture & A/V Sync. Function. ? Full channel (supplementary channel contained) scanning, up to 125 TV channels receivable ? Support multi-national languages ? Time-shifting ? Scheduled recording ? Remote control

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth The Price, March 8, 2007

By 

Marco Ayala "DarkLink" (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sabrent USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Video Capture Box with Remote Control - TV-USB20 (Personal Computers)

I was overall pretty sattisfied with the product. It came with the tuner, all neccessary drives, remote control (which I never used), and WinDVR to capture footage with.

It did pretty much what it promised, allows you to capture from any analog device such as a VCR or anything with Compostite Out jacks. Only problem is that the actuall tuner itself does not have an audio in left and audio in right, therefore forcing you to buy a audio composite to stereo 3.5mm jack. Another problem was the ability to only capture in the resolution of 720x480(unless you buy other expensive capturing programs). I recommend getting the free program Virtualdub and compressing to divx after you capture as many codecs drop frames when trying to compress while capturing(at least on my computer[2.2gHz proccessor])

Overall, I'm satisfied with the purchase and do recommend it IF you can't or won't afford anything better. Now, I leave you with a list of Pros and Cons.

Pros:
1. Captures decent-to-good looking quality video if configure right.
2. Great for getting all that old VCR footage on the computer and on to a DVD
3. Very simple to install, and comes with capturing program. Though VirtualDub is highly recommended.
4. Three video inputs - RF signal, Compostie, and S-video!
5. External device, so you don't have to open your PC.

Cons:
1. Composite audio to stereo 3.5 mm jack needed for sound.
2. Extremely large files unless compressed with VirtualDub afterwards.
3. Can only capture in 720x480 resolution. Unless expensive programs are bought.
4. I guess you get what you pay for but quality could be a bit better.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Well.... But Not So Good, June 18, 2006

By 

Fredy Castillo "fredyesc128" (Guate - Guatemala, C.A.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sabrent USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Video Capture Box with Remote Control - TV-USB20 (Personal Computers)

In my opinnion this product it's pretty well by the price but depends a lot of the configuration of the computer and the signal that you get.

A regular "USER" will have a lot of problems, the computer reboots and a Blue Screen (clasic blue screen of windows due to memory problems) appears when i unplugged the tv box.

I test it also in Win2000 SP4 and i can't put the tv box working in that OS.

After many test i found the way to work properly, i always see if the pc have SP2 and DirectX 9.0c and then i use the wizard of New Hardware Found to install the driver and then install the remote control and the application. in that way the box function properly but DEPENDS A LOT OF THE SIGNAL because i use an internal antenna and is very difficult to get a good sign.

Whit RCA (composed) an S-Video works fine but somethimes the image blinks also the audio so... it is a good product for the price but you can find a better ones.

When you are using the remote control and press OFF the entire PC is shut down not only the application so....

But i can't complain... To watch the World Cup on your work is a very good option. The box function, after many try's works fine.

I bought 15 tv boxes and all function well. no one was broke. !!!

(sorry for my not so good english)

Español:
Es un buen producto, tiene clavos al momento de instalarlo y a veces saca pantallazo azul ademas se resetea la computadora cuando se desconecta el TV BOX pero cuando se logra configurar, se ve bastante bien, aunque depende mucho de la señal de la antena que se utilice.
A veces con cable brinca la pantalla y el audio, pero si se ve...
La recomiendo por que es barata y si se instala como debe ser y la computadora cumple con los requisitos minimos pues si funciona es decir cumple lo que promete, pero para un usuario comun no va a ser tan facil hacer que funcione al 100%.
Depende mucho de la configuracion de la computadora yo compre 15 y la mayoria me dio problemas al momento de instalarlas pero finalmente se vio bien en todas y ninguna me salio dañada.
Respecto al Control Remoto pues si uno le da apagar, la computadora entera se apaga y no solo la aplicacion :S.
En fin si buscan mas y gastan mas tal vez consigan algo mejor pero esta es bastante buena es practica ya que no pesa u es super chiquita y bonita. la ventaja es que le entra RCA S-Video y Coaxial y se puede capturar claro los archivos son enormes pero es una ventaja.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good enough, yet not a nice buy., June 1, 2006

By 

J. Hernandez - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sabrent USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Video Capture Box with Remote Control - TV-USB20 (Personal Computers)

It works pretty well with S-video and composed, but TV capture is bad, the good thing is the price, is really cheap, but if you want to capture with nice quality don't bother with this one.