When you work with computer hardware virtually everyday for years on end, it's easy to become desensitized as to how much technology really has changed. Take my history here at Hothardware.com as an example. It was October of 2000 when I submitted my first article and since that day, my artilce tally has reach triple digit status. Back then, Intel was getting ready for a November release of their Pentium 4 , ATI rolled out their first Radeon , and NVIDIA was pushing the GeForce 2 . Microsoft's Windows ME and 2000 were the Operating Systems of the day and when it came to TV on the PC, choices were limited with ATI's All-In-Wonder Pro 128 being the hottest hardware of it's kind.
Back then, there were no Multimedia Center PCs or Digital Video Recorders and HDTV was still in its infancy. Fortunately for us, times have surely changed. Today, PCs can be the centerpiece of our digital media experience, DVRs are common offerings from cable companies and TV tuners for PCs have been delivering terrific image quality as of late, as seen with NVIDIA's DualTV and ATI's Theater 650 Pro . When it comes to HDTV, however, both offerings from the big two graphics giants are lacking. With NVIDIA's DualTV, HDTV is not an option and the Theater 650 Pro only supports OTA signals, leaving those in remote areas, where it's nearly impossible to pick up a signal, out in the cold. Factor in laptop users and the idea of TV on the PC gets even more limited.
Today, we're going to review a TV-Tuner that addresses several areas where options have historically been limited. The OnAir USB HDTV Creator is a USB 2.0 based TV-Tuner solution from AutumnWave that supports analog and digital TV signals and is one of the few model available that can deliver HDTV over a cable connection rather that just OTA sources. As USB based product, the unit is compatible with any PC available, from the smallest laptop to a full-fledged gaming PC or workstation. Matched with an LG tuner and NVIDIA's PureVideo Silver decoder, the OnAir USB HDTV Creator brings a host of features that look impressive from the outset.
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