GoTView PCI DVD tuner: TV plus MPEG2 hardware encoding. Hybrid TV and FM tuner GOTVIEW PCI Hybrid - an interesting budget solution with DVB-T support Design and technical characteristics

One is gray, the other is white.
folk song

Despite the fact that the spread of digital terrestrial television in Russia recently does not give much reason for optimism, the domestic market for computer TV tuners is developing at a much faster pace. To date, such models have been presented by almost all major market participants. The price difference with analog tuners is usually small. In addition, in light of recent government initiatives to switch to H.264/AVC broadcasting, computer tuners only require software support for the corresponding decoders compared to some DVB-T-enabled consumer devices designed to receive MPEG2.

Over the course of several years, the company has persistently built up a reputation as a prophet of hardware MPEG2 compression in its homeland. In particular, the first tuner from GOTVIEW with support for DVB-T PCI DVD3 Hybrid had a hardware encoder, which at the time of the start of sales provided this model with functional leadership. However, such an approach inevitably affects the final cost, so the place of an affordable hybrid solution in the lineup remained vacant. Obtaining a junior model from a senior one by cutting off unnecessary circuitry could not work in this case due to the lack of a PCI bridge in the ADC used, so the consequence of simplification was a change in the element base. Note that the tuner discussed in this review was the first device under the GOTVIEW brand since the PCI 7135 that does not have a hardware compressor.

In order for our readers to better understand the positioning of GOTVIEW PCI Hybrid, here is a list of materials on potential competitors of this model:

• Compro VideoMate DVB-T300 - a hybrid TV tuner without significant drawbacks
• Leadtek WinFast DTV2000 H - hybrid TV and FM tuner with a classic receiver and original antenna connections
• TV and FM tuner AVerTV Hybrid+FM PCI - a hybrid option for a common interface from AVerMedia Technologies
• Compro VideoMate E650 - hybrid TV and FM tuner with PCI-Express interface

Contents of delivery

The white and purple color scheme has already been used by GOTVIEW in the design, but none of the boxes with the latest models have this color combination.

Despite the modest dimensions of the box, you can find quite a few items inside:

• Tuner
• Remote control
• Remote sensor for remote control
• Portable DVB-T antenna
• FM antenna
• S-Video to RCA adapter for connecting composite video sources
• Adapter 2 RCA - mini-jack for connecting audio sources
• S-Video to S-Video cable
• RCA to RCA cable
• Mounting bar for low profile enclosures
• Tuner Installation Guide
• 2 CDs with drivers and software

The package package is completely identical to that of the PCI DVD3 Hybrid, so the manufacturer's attention to this aspect is once again worthy of praise.

Additional software is traditionally presented WinDVD Creator 2 from , designed for creating VCD, SVCD or DVD. The serial number is located on the disc sleeve.

The codecs installed with this program also provide software recording in MPEG2 and the functioning of the Timeshift delayed viewing mode.

Design and specifications

PCI Hybrid illustrates the company's traditional concern for the latest products for owners of compact cases and barebone systems; the board has a standard length with a low-profile design. In the GOTVIEW tradition, the combination of purple PCB and gold-plated strip (oddly enough, unlike the PCI DVD3 Hybrid kit, the additional strip for installation in low-profile cases does not have a coating).

Reception of digital and analog signals lies on the silicon shoulders of the XC3028ACQ semiconductor hybrid RF block from the Californian company, currently the leader in the production of receivers of this type.

According to the specifications, the microcircuit is protected against interference and does not require additional shielding. However, it should be borne in mind that achieving maximum reception quality when using the XC3028 and its analog brother XC2028 requires compliance with certain wiring requirements. You don’t have to look far for examples; PCI DVD2 Lite is noticeably inferior to PCI DVD3 Hybrid in this indicator.

The ADC is somewhat surprising. While most competing PCI models use analog-to-digital converters from Philips (the semiconductor division is now a separate company with corresponding changes in the labeling of new batches), the PCI Hybrid carries a 10-bit CX23883-39 with support for all existing video - and audio standards from Conexant Systems, Inc. . However, the image quality provided by this chip is in no way inferior to the popular SAA713x, as for potentially interesting differences in the additional capabilities of different ADCs, we will talk about them later in the text.

Digital mode support is implemented using the COFDM (Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) demodulator Intel CE 6353, which was named ZL10353 before being transferred in November 2005, along with other solutions developed by .

Unlike PCI DVD3 Hybrid, the PCI Hybrid board layout does not provide for the installation of additional chips.

As with the older model, the specifications include power stabilization to reduce interference from other devices. The absence of a hardware encoder and buffer memory made it possible to reduce the number of integrated stabilizers that help reduce possible voltage ripples from 5 to 3. An additional benefit from installing several stabilizers is the increased efficiency of thermal load distribution; when the tuner is operating, there is no noticeable difference in the heating of individual areas.

With the exception of support for hardware compression, PCI Hybrid is not much different from the older model in its capabilities, the list of which includes the following:

• Broadcast and cable TV support
• Supports all analogue television standards PAL/SECAM/NTSC
• Support for digital television and radio broadcasting in DVB-T format
• Scan channels in any specified range, with any specified step
• Deinterlace filters, including double frame rate
• Individual settings for each channel: volume, brightness, warmth, color, sharpness, encoding type
• Assigning an icon for each channel
• Motion Detector
• Function "Picture-in-Picture"(PIP) if there are two or more video capture devices in the system
• Optional mute when starting a program, searching or switching channels
• Eliminating edge defects in an image (scaling and cropping edges)
• Software support for recording in AVI/DV/WMV/MPEG4 formats with any codec installed in the system
• Supports all modern containers (AVI, WMV, ASF, MPEG-1.2, fvASFDirect, Matroska, etc.) when recording
• Capture TV window frames in BMP, TIFF, PNG, TGA, PCX, GIF (including animated), JPG formats by timer or by pressing a button
• Possibility to automatically change the file name.
• Full information about the capture
• Processing the recorded image with filters
• Delayed viewing mode Timeshift
• Ability to temporarily pause recording
• Ability to adjust settings (change brightness, contrast, etc.) during recording
• Video over desktop
• Ability to turn off image and sound if there is no signal for a long time
• Broadcast over the network (HTTP/UDP)
• Support for a weekly TV program with the ability to download updates
• Displays the name of the current TV program, as well as the start and end time of this program, indicating the length of time that has passed since the beginning
• Ability to reserve disk space for recording a fragment
• Fully Russified interface

Test computer configuration

• Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6420
• Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard (Intel P965 + Intel ICH8)
• RAM 4 GB (4x1024 DDR2 PC6400 KingMax)
• Video cards HIS ATI RADEON X1900XT/NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX
• Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS
• Hitachi 250 GB HDD (HDT722525DLA380)
• Hard drive 120 GB Maxtor Plus9-6Y120M0
• DVD ReWriter BENQ DW1640
• DVD ReWriter NEC ND-3500A
• Power supply Thermaltake Purepower 680APD (W0049 rev. 2, 680 W)
• Operating systems Windows XP Professional (SP2) ENG and Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit version) RUS

List of broadcast channels during testing

The source of the DVB-T signal was a transmitter broadcasting in test mode on television channel 34. The antennas are installed on a mast located in the Khoroshevo - Mnevniki area of ​​Moscow at the address: st. Demyan Bednogo, 24. Testing was carried out on the street. General Glagolev (near the Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station). Reception was carried out using the compact antenna included in the package.

Connection

The layout of the connectors on the bracket completely copies the layout used in the PCI DVD3 Hybrid. The TV antenna is connected to a standard IEC connector, the FM antenna is connected to a 2.5 mm mini-jack connector. Note that the identical connectors located nearby for connecting the IR sensor of the remote control and the FM antenna require some care when installing the tuner. The composite signal is fully removed from the S-Video connector; the corresponding adapter is included in the kit.

Despite the fact that GOTVIEW PCI Hybrid is one of the few CX23883-based tuners with the ability to transmit audio over PCI, the board has a connector for connecting to an additional sound card input.

Installation and configuration

The single-level menu of the installation disk provides access only to the software; the driver is installed using standard operating system tools.

To remove the driver, use the utility available on the same CD and on the manufacturer’s website. DriverTool, which can also help with installing/removing other devices (the program’s capabilities are expanded by launching with an arbitrary key up to “/” without additional parameters).

As usual, let us remind you that the CD contains detailed documentation in HTML format, which can reduce the entry barrier for inexperienced users, and help, called up by a textbook button F1 when working with a standard program.

During testing, driver versions were used 3.0.2.2 and program GoTView PRO 5.0.0.506 beta 2.

After installing the driver in the section Sound, video and game controllers Device Manager can be found GOTVIEW Audio AVStream Device, GOTVIEW Hybrid TV Tuner Card And GOTVIEW TS Capture Device.

An icon for the remote control program appears in the system tray, also acting as a resident scheduler program.

The program supports various design options, some of which are included in the distribution, others are available on the manufacturer's website.

The manufacturer is not lying at all, promising “wide possibilities for searching and setting up channels.” The available options are not limited to standard search options by frequency (range and step are set by the user) and channel list, offering automatic frequency correction to the nearest standard values, accelerated search, saving time in the absence of channels with poor reception, and skipping encrypted digital channels. A special feature of the program is a general list of analogue, DVB-T channels and FM radio stations.

This approach involves a general search menu with the ability to select a format and set default video parameters for analog channels.

Inherent to digital channels VPID(Video Program Identification) and APID(Audio Program Identification) are viewable only, but editing the cnls.ini file allows you to change these settings. The inconvenience of this approach is compensated by the lack of need to adjust these values ​​under normal conditions; moreover, some manufacturers do not provide access to such settings at all. Individual adjustment of video parameters (brightness, contrast, warmth, color, sharpness, gamma, software noise reduction) for digital channels requires outputting the image using Video Mixing Renderer9. However, this mode is supported by almost all video cards on the market.

The CX23883 does not have a built-in equalizer, so the corresponding settings are not available. The lack of a full-fledged system for automatically determining the color system compared to ADCs from Philips/NXP and Conexant of the next generation could be considered a disadvantage if not for the ability to manually set the standard for each channel individually.

In the latest versions of the program, the place of several tabs with large And m number of parameters on each was taken up by a tree-like structure of the settings interface, simplifying navigation through the sections.

Chapter Video contains scaling settings (common for all channels), aspect ratios (4:3, 14:9, 16:9, 16:10), deinterlacing filter settings (hardware and several types of software, including doubling the frame rate). In the conditions of our broadcasting, the ability to swap fields or move a frame by a line may be in demand.

In the subsection Options you can find the video stream output settings in viewing mode - selecting the resolution and renderer (VMR7 and VMR9 are supported). The architecture of the tuner allows you to do without additional color conversion, so owners of weak configurations do not have to worry about increasing the CPU load. The ADC works with standard formats, so the corresponding setting is not available.

There are also checkboxes responsible for switching the video standard and displaying the image on the desktop.

When working with digital channels, only scaling settings, selection of video renderer and parameters of the selected decoder are available.

The decoder is selected by editing the file decoders.ini. If the values ​​described there do not match (you can check them using the program), you can edit the file or add a new decoder manually. In accordance with the selected decoder, the item is edited Preferences, For example,

Video=8
Audio=8

means that an NVIDIA decoder with parameters is used And . In the case of digital broadcasting in H.264/AVC, it is also enough to add the appropriate decoder; depending on the type of compression, the program will automatically select the appropriate option.

Button Charts calls an interface built into the program for measuring and displaying such parameters of an arbitrary visible line of a television frame as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the distribution levels of color components.

Subsection Effects is responsible for selecting video effects when switching channels (not available in digital mode).

In chapter Sound For this model, only the selection of playback and recording lines is available.

A separate subsection is allocated for volume control, in which, in particular, the volume control interface (system mixer or DirectSound) is selected.

A unique feature of the program is the connection of third-party Direct Show (DS) filters and DirectX Media Objects (DMO) both during viewing and recording, for which there is a corresponding section.

The section dedicated to interface settings contains a lot of settings - from choosing a design to displaying a television program in the menu.

In the subsection Control There are two new settings. If the indicator blinks ScrollLock on the keyboard when recording and in delayed viewing mode is one of the pleasant little things, then the checkbox that activates the mode Master/Slave, deserves further explanation. Mode support "picture-in-picture"(Picture-In-Picture, PIP) if there is a second video capture device (selection is made in the section Devices) was implemented in the program FlyDS, the developments of which formed the basis GoTView PRO. Master/Slave provides full-fledged work of two copies one programs with two devices without the previously required physical installing a second instance and then making changes to the configuration files. Regardless of the exit sequence, on subsequent launches the program works with the main device. The only limitation is the lack of support for third-party tuners.

Experienced users may find the checkbox for showing additional settings useful, which is responsible for accessing hidden parameters. This subsection also contains a shutdown timer and forced region setting, which can help with non-standard operating system settings.

Traditionally, access to setting up keyboard hot keys is provided, implemented in a separate subsection.

The OSD (On Screen Display) section is responsible for the on-screen menu settings. You can change almost all parameters that affect the visual design.

We have already talked about the appearance of the weather display function (an Internet connection is required) in the PCI DVD3 Hybrid review, but let’s focus on one of the new features - displaying signal strength in both digital and analogue modes, implemented for all the company’s tuners equipped with receivers from Xceive . Despite the fact that when working with analogue broadcasting, the result is given in the form of two values ​​with a step of 10 dB (“40-50 dB”, “50-60 dB”, etc.), even in this form it can significantly facilitate the search possible reasons for image deterioration. To display additional information on the screen, use the button "WITH".

The deferred viewing mode settings (autostart viewing, deleting a buffer file, blocking channel switching, launching at program startup) are covered in the section Timeshift. Stream settings are also available in the recording menu.

When using VMR9 in this mode, it is possible to adjust the video image parameters in real time.

In additional settings (remember that for display it is activated in the subsection Control) there are options such as accelerated launch of the program, operation on one processor/processor core, recording the operation log to a file (can be useful when contacting the manufacturer’s support service) and launching the program without enabling viewing.

The recording interface with the ability to save and edit profiles has not undergone significant changes. Let us note, perhaps, support for recording Transport Stream when working with DVB-T.

Since the first acquaintance with the motion detector in the GOTVIEW PCI DVD review, this part remains without significant changes. However, the ability that has appeared in the program to upload screenshots to an FTP server with optional HTML page generation (!) significantly expands the functionality of the tuner as a component of the security system.

Scheduler supports Timeshift as a task and turn off the computer/switch to energy saving mode after completing the task.

In the TV program settings (available on the manufacturer’s website, both manual and automatic updating is possible) export in HTML or text format has been added.

Quality

When working with digital channels, the signal strength display is also functional. Unlike analog mode, DVB-T broadcasting provides higher accuracy in determining this parameter (in our case, about 69 dB). No MPEG compression artifacts or image stuttering, characteristic of unstable reception, were noted during testing.

The image quality when working with DVB-T is determined by the provider and can vary in the range from low resolutions with low bitrates to HDTV.

There was no desynchronization of image and sound in digital mode during testing.

PCI Hybrid did not follow in the footsteps of PCI DVD2 Lite, demonstrating good reception quality of analog channels. We can only be glad that in the absence of hardware noise reduction, there would be nothing to correct the shortcomings of the receiving part.

The tuner provides good image quality. When preparing screenshots, hardware deinterlacing was used.

The default filter in the driver with a cutoff frequency of 1.5 MHz for SECAM, which reduces image clarity in most CX23881/2/3 tuners, is disabled in PCI Hybrid, which also has a positive effect on quality.

Alas, it was not without its shortcomings. Under certain conditions (to be fair, let us clarify that quite rare ones, the effect may not appear even once during the entire time the tuner is used), there is a possibility of artifacts characteristic of ADCs of this series in the form of small green spots on saturated colors.

Strange behavior of the program in full-screen mode on widescreen displays with software deinterlacing also does not belong to the category of problems that significantly complicate life, but it is also impossible to remain silent about this.

Six months ago, we expressed hope that subtitle support would appear when working with DVB-T channels, but this feature has not yet appeared in the program.

FM tuner

The program has a common interface for TV and FM modes. As we said above, the list of FM stations is combined with television (in our case, analogue and digital) channels, and the search is also carried out in a similar way.

A pleasant surprise was the almost complete coincidence of the radio stations detected during the automatic search with the actually existing ones. Interestingly, neither PCI DVD2 Lite nor PCI DVD3 Hybrid could boast of such a result. And the reception quality allows us to classify PCI Hybrid as one of the best TV tuners for this parameter.

The sound quality deserves a good rating (download test fragment, 471 KB, MP3, 192 Kbps, 48 ​​kHz).

There was no delay when switching radio stations, as well as the deterioration in image quality noted in the PCI DVD2 Lite review after switching TV-FM-TV in analog mode.

Remote control

The tuner comes with the same remote control as the PCI DVD3 Hybrid/PCI DVD2 Lite, which is a classic example of slim design. Standard sizes and distribution of buttons among functional areas provide good ergonomics, and membrane technology guarantees the absence of internal contamination. The remote control is powered by the included CR2025 3V battery.

Self-configuration of buttons is supported, up to turning off the computer when you press the button for a long time Power.

Emulation of multimedia keyboards allows you to use the remote control in some third-party applications, which include MS MediaPlayer, Zoom Player, BSPlayer, Winamp, etc. To prevent potential conflicts, this function can be disabled in the settings.

conclusions

pros

• DVB-T format support
• Supports all used analogue video and audio standards
• Stereo Decoding
• Low profile design
• Good reception quality in digital and analogue modes
• Good picture and sound quality
• Software support for third-party codecs
• Individual adjustment of the color system for each channel
• Individual video and audio settings for each channel
• Hardware deinterlacing support
• Ability to connect third-party Direct Show and DirectX Media Objects filters both during viewing and recording
• Full function "Picture-in-Picture"(if there is a second video capture device)
• Mode Master/Slave(if you have a second tuner from GOTVIEW)
• Multi-channel preview
• Play video over desktop
• Motion detector with the ability to post captured frames on an ftp server
• TV program support
• Broadcast over the network (HTTP/UDP)
• Possibility to turn off the computer after finishing recording
• Ability to use the remote control to work with other applications
• Russian-language interface
• Support Windows 2000/XP/2003/MCE 2005/Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Availability of additional software included in the package

Minuses

• Lack of automatic detection of the color standard in the case of PAL/SECAM
• Possible image artifacts under certain conditions
• Lack of subtitle support when working with digital channels (current at the time of publication of the review)

GOTVIEW PCI Hybrid is somewhat different from the company's other current products. Unlike them, this model does not pretend to carry out various kinds of local revolutions, being, so to speak, a workhorse. On the other hand, the quality of reception and the capabilities of the standard software significantly distinguish the tuner from its closest competitors, and its reasonable price allows us to add PCI Hybrid to the list of the most likely candidates for purchase among hybrid devices without hardware compression support.

GOTVIEW PCI Hybrid in Moscow retail: N/A(0)

Introduction

I think no one will argue with me that today the Russian market is saturated with TV tuners for personal computers. For any computer and for every taste - internal, external, standalone - they all have similar functionality, often common advantages and disadvantages. We can talk endlessly about bad TV tuners. After all, when buying such a device from an unknown manufacturer, the user risks encountering not only low-quality software, but also the lack of support for the SECAM format, which is used to broadcast most television channels in Russia today. As a result, you will have to enjoy only black and white images. No matter how strange it may seem, this is a very common situation. And we can talk about non-working drivers and inconvenient software for days on end.

When talking about good TV tuners, you immediately think of reputable manufacturers Aver, Pinnacle and Prolink (PixelView). During their presence on the Russian market, these companies have done everything to ensure that their products become the standard of quality. But today these three will have to make room, because a new company is claiming their place, a new name in the TV tuner industry - GoTView, whose tuners were specially developed taking into account the specifics of the Russian user and Russian broadcasting. We welcome the first TV tuners for Russian roads from GoTView! Today, the GoTView line of TV tuners includes two models - internal with a PCI interface and external, stand-alone, connected between the monitor and the computer. In this review, we will look at the internal GoTView PCI tuner version with a built-in FM receiver.

GoTView PCI

A small cardboard box with a rather simple design somehow did not fit into the general mass of other computer hardware boxes. Probably because the box design was done entirely in Russian. Although this localization seemed unusual, it left a very good impression.

Inside the box are:

• The GoTView PCI TV tuner itself
• Remote control
• T-shaped radio antenna
• Audio cable for connecting the tuner to the sound card
• IR receiver (eye) for remote control
• Instructions for installing a TV tuner
• Two CDs with software

Before moving on to a more detailed examination of the TV tuner itself, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with its characteristics and understand what all the advantages of localizing this device for the Russian user are.

Characteristics of the GoTView PCI TV tuner

• Interface - PCI, 32-bit
• Chip - Conexant BT878
• 125-channel analog block manufactured by TCL
• Supports PAL/SECAM/NTSC standards for TV broadcasting
• FM stereo decoder for radio playback
• Extended range of VHF-FM radio broadcasts

Connectors:

• Coaxial connector for TV antenna
• Coaxial connector for FM antenna
• Composite RCA video input
• S-Video video input
• Line stereo audio input

Software features

• Ability to scan a specified range with a specified step
• Adjustment of channel frequency in 0.01 MHz steps with the ability to enter a specific wavelength value
• Preset settings for the main channels of Russian television and radio
• Individual picture and sound settings for each channel
• Selecting the resolution for preview and full screen viewing
• Ability to capture individual frames in BMP, GIF and JPEG formats with resolutions from 80x60 to 768x576 at the touch of a button or on a timer
• Capture video images in resolutions from 80x60 to 768x576. Ability to set timer recording
• Capture and encode audio with any codec installed on the system
• Ability to set application priority when capturing
• Ability to play recorded AVI and WAV files without exiting the program, as well as directly during recording
• Full capture information:
  • size and duration of the captured fragment
  • free disk space
  • possible recording time based on available free disk space
  • number of frames captured and dropped
• A video editing program from InterVideo with great editing capabilities and a wide range of professional capabilities. Completely in Russian.
• Automatic saving of settings.
• Possibility of reserving disk space for recording a fragment.

Many of the software features are unique to GoTView tuners. Those who do not record programs from television and radio on a computer will never need many of them, but fine-tuning channels and searching with a given step will clearly appeal to those users who are in an area of ​​​​uncertain reception of high-frequency signals. We will look in more detail at some of the capabilities of the tuner software a little later, but for now it’s time to take a closer look at the device itself.

The TV tuner itself is made on a printed circuit board coated with dark brown varnish. The board is quite small in size - its length does not extend beyond the contacts of the PCI slot. The board panel is golden in color and contains the following connectors (from top to bottom):

FM antenna

TV antenna

Jack for connecting an IR sensor

RCA video input

TV input socket

Line audio input

S-Video video input

Line audio output

To the right of the sockets located on the board socket, the tuner has two four-pin connectors for connecting a sound card via internal input and output.

Thus, the sound card can be connected to the tuner using standard audio cables from a CD-ROM. The presence of such internal connectors can be considered an advantage of the board, because although in modern conditions nothing prevents you from transmitting sound via the PCI bus, but in the case when you need to transmit the audio stream directly through a sound card, such a connection is more convenient than using a cable through sockets on the tuner and sound card bracket.

The heart of the TV tuner is the Conexant Fusion 878A chip. In general, this is almost a standard solution for modern TV tuners. This endcoder has proven itself well over the past years and today is already that “old, good, proven” solution that can be used without fear of consequences.

The analog TV tuner unit is manufactured by TCL. By today's standards, of course, it looks a little anachronistic, since on modern TV tuners the analog blocks are several times smaller, but this is not a reason for concern. This analog unit combines a television and radio receiver and, as we will see later, copes with its task perfectly.

As befits any normal tuner, GoTView PCI has a control panel that operates on IR rays. True, this remote control, unlike many others, is very convenient. The remote control is powered by two AAA batteries. Oddly enough, against the backdrop of the total Russification of the TV tuner, the remote control is distinguished by English-language inscriptions. Although, if you think about it, how, for example, can you translate the signature “Sleep” or “Mute”? These words are already so familiar to our Russian users that it’s time to include them in the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language.

Some expensive TV tuners and combiner boards, which combine a powerful 2D/3D accelerator with tuner functions, use radio wave-based control panels. There is nothing to say - this solution is very convenient, but the remote control in this case will cost much more, and we are talking about a tuner for the Russian market, and here the price is of great importance. Therefore, to control the tuner in GoTView PCI, we use infrared rays that are already familiar to us.

The IR ray sensor connects directly to the TV tuner board and can be placed anywhere on the computer case. In the kit for the GoTView remote control, we did not find a sticker for attaching the sensor to the computer, but the fact is that the GoTView PCI tuner had been in some other test laboratories before us, so it’s possible that the sticker was lost somewhere because they didn’t want to I wish they “deliberately” forgot to put it in the box for the tuner.

Installation and testing

After installing the TV tuner into a free PCI slot and booting the system, you need to install drivers and software. Under the Windows XP operating system we use, the drivers installed themselves when the CD was inserted into the CD-ROM drive. Installation of the program for receiving television and radio programs is also done with a few keystrokes.

As software, GoTView offers us software created on the basis of the best program for TV tuners - Fly DS. The original program, adopted by thousands of users around the world as an alternative to the viewers that come with default tuners, has been redesigned by GoTView programmers specifically for this tuner.

This program already contains frequencies of Russian television channels and FM radio stations. That is, after installing the tuner, you most likely will not have to go through the procedure of scanning and sorting channels. Although, this is not a fact, because if your TV programs are broadcast on cable TV, you will have to scan the entire range. True, scanning here is at the highest level. You can scan the entire frequency range, as well as a selected one, with a specified step. For each channel, you can manually set the frequency with an accuracy of 0.01 MHz. Here you can also adjust the sound volume and brightness, contrast, warmth and color saturation for each channel individually.

A special task scheduler will help you organize turning on and recording TV programs at the right time. Here you select the channel, date and time when the tuner will be turned on and the duration of its operation or capture. It’s very convenient, by the way, so as not to overwork yourself on the computer and not miss your favorite series. True, when capturing video in this way, you do not display any statistics on the capture and you may not even know whether the recording is being made to the hard drive or not.

But manual capture, called by one press of a button, is replete with settings. Here you can reserve disk space for the next video file, select the resolution, apply filters, change the quality of video and audio compression, and also get full statistics on the capture - what frame rate is being recorded and how many frames are skipped. At the bottom of the video capture window there is an indicator of the system's CPU load, and if the load is high, you can manually increase the priority of the recording program.

Impression

Our test laboratory carried out cable television, so the preset frequencies of Russian TV channels turned out to be useless and we had to scan the entire range. The scanning was carried out with a minimum step, so it took quite a long time. Of course, if you don’t have a lot of time, you can reduce the scanning step, but we were in no hurry. As a result, the TV tuner found all available channels and even a couple of those that were not found by the existing Samsung TV, which, according to the manufacturer, was also adapted to Russian broadcasting specifics. I was very pleased with such a high sensitivity of the tuner, because more channels were available on the computer than on the TV.

The image quality produced by the tuner was also pleasing. Fine-tuning the channel frequencies helped minimize noise on the channels where there was noise. Video capture and compression also did not cause any complaints. The abundance of settings and convenience of the software allows you to maintain the same balance when convenience is not put at the expense of functionality.

As for radio broadcasts, as a rule, there are no complaints about radio tuners and GoTView is no exception. The tuner received VHF channels and to receive them there was no need to run a separate module or a separate program - in the viewer you just need to switch the channel and the computer will turn from a TV into a radio.

conclusions

A TV tuner optimized for the Russian user will have a great future in our country. High sensitivity of the analogue unit, high-quality software, complete Russification and a set of unique features - this is what a tuner for Russian roads should be like.

No flaws were found in GoTView during testing. Perhaps the WinDVD Creator program for editing and creating your own video collection is less convenient than Pinnacle Studio 8. But again, inexpensive Pinnacle tuners come with a trial version of Studio 7 or Studio 8 with a validity period of 30 days, and GoTView comes with a full licensed version of WinDVD Creator in Russian. True, if you wish, you can purchase any installation software on the Russian market.

Summing up all of the above, we can state the fact that such whales of the TV tuner market as Aver, Pinnacle and Prolink (PixelView) will still have to move up and share a place on the pedestal with the newcomer GoTView.

Mikhail Degtyarev (aka LIKE OFF)
02/10.2003

Today our test laboratory will review the range of TV tuners from the Taiwanese company GotView. This manufacturer is notable for the fact that for many years it has been exclusively engaged in TV tuners, and all of its products, which are not difficult to find in the vast majority of computer stores, are aimed specifically at the Russian user. Interestingly, for many countries around the world, GotView deals primarily with OEM supplies to multimedia companies. In Russia, the manufacturer offers, under its own brand, products that are fully adapted to the existing specifics of our television broadcasting; and this applies not only to Moscow or St. Petersburg, but also to all other regions of Russia and neighboring countries.

The models that will be presented in our review were selected by GotView as the most popular products of this brand. It is noteworthy that among them there are both built-in TV tuners for PCI and PCI-E buses, as well as an external model using the USB interface. First, let's try to compare them based on some common characteristics.

GotView TV tuner comparison table

* Average estimated cost taken from the website www.price.ru at the time of preparation of the material

Note: a complete list of features of GotView TV tuners can be found on the manufacturer’s home page: www.gotview.ru.

For information: the abbreviation "DVD" in the model name of the GotView TV tuner indicates the presence of a hardware MPEG2 encoder on the board.

Description of GotView models

Almost the entire range of GotView tuners is supplied in nice and small packaging boxes, designed according to the manufacturer’s proprietary template. For the convenience of the buyer, the functional features of the models, equipment, service functions, etc. are presented in detail directly on them. Despite the small dimensions of the packages, inside a potential buyer will find many components. Their set for all GotView built-in TV tuners is almost identical, and includes the following:

TV tuner;
Low-profile bracket for installing the tuner in “thin” cases;
Antenna dipole for radio receiver (with Velcro);
RCA (composite) to S-Video adapter;
remote control;
Batteries for remote control;
IR receiver for remote control;
Composite video cable;
S-Video cable;
Stereo audio cable;
CD with software;
InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2 CD;
Installation Guide

All models of the company's built-in TV tuners have a low-profile printed circuit board design, and the models' delivery kits also include additional low-profile brackets, which allows the products to be used in specific small-sized system unit cases.

Many GotView TV tuner models come with a multimedia remote control. With its help, you can control not only the functions of the TV tuner itself, but also various applications. When studying the package contents, we discovered that in the GotView TV tuner range there may be at least two options for remote controls, photographs of which you see below:

GotView Remote Control Models



Reprogramming the keys on the remote control is carried out using
proprietary software shell

The remote control in the black case is a “regular” remote control, and the one in the silver case is a “multimedia” remote control, corresponding in functionality to the Microsoft Media Center Remote. This remote control allows you to turn your computer on and off, which is undoubtedly a very useful feature. This remote control also allows you to control any programs, including multimedia applications and Windows Media Center, as well as emulate a mouse and keyboard. The multimedia control panel is also sold separately, but its receiver connects to the USB port, and not to the tuner. Conveniently, it does not require a driver to operate, and due to its versatility, it can be used with any computer TV tuner.

The thin “regular” remote control is inferior to the “multimedia” one not only in functionality, but also in convenience - it does not fit well in the hand, and the identical membrane buttons are extremely inconvenient for working blindly.

GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe

DVD2 Deluxe in retail packaging

GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe appeared on the computer market in 2006, replacing the outdated GotView PCI DVD model. One of the main advantages of this model is that it is initially equipped with a multimedia remote control that allows you to turn the computer on and off.

Thanks to the additional low-profile bracket, the tuner can be installed not only in a standard-sized system unit, but also in “thin” computer cases, popular among assemblers of HTPC systems. By the way, the vast majority (if not all) of GotView's embedded TV tuners have a low-profile PCB design.

PCI DVD2 Deluxe PCB



View of the side panel of the tuner

The GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe tuner is built on the basis of the top model of the Philips FM 1216ME/I H-5 (Mk5) RF unit, which has long proven itself in business. It allows you to confidently receive both television and radio channels, with good selectivity and low noise levels. On the printed circuit board, the RF block is distinguished by blank shielding.

Conexant CX23416

The encoder/decoder is a combination of CX25843 and CX23416 chips manufactured by Conexant. It must be admitted that such a combination is a long-tested solution, and is used by many manufacturers not only when designing TV tuners, but also video capture cards. Due to the capabilities of the CX26843 decoder chip, the tuner implements a three-band equalizer, as well as support for stereo broadcasting in A2 and NICAM formats. The CX23416 chip provides video capture in MPEG2 format in real time at a bit rate of up to 15 Mbit/s, without loading the computer's central processor with such tasks. It also has hardware noise filtering with continuously adjustable noise reduction levels.

The tuner performed quite well in operation, demonstrating excellent quality of television picture transmission. GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe has very good sensitivity and can be recommended for purchase by those who do not have the most ideal receiving antenna.

GotView PCI Hybrid

GotView PCI Hybrid in retail packaging

The GotView PCI Hybrid TV tuner is a budget model, but the interests of this consumer audience do not seem to be infringed in any way. On the contrary, the rich (even excessively rich) package, which, by the way, includes a remote control, all kinds of cables, and a low-profile bar, will appeal to even a sophisticated user.

Tuner PCB



View of the side panel of the tuner

Perhaps this is a corporate style - all the printed circuit boards of GotView's built-in TV tuners are united by the purple color of the varnish (or, more correctly speaking, the mask). The high-frequency part of the tuner is served by the XC3028 hybrid chip manufactured by Xceive Inc. (as you can see, the chip and its surroundings on the printed circuit board, unlike analog receivers, do not require external shielding). The selector allows you to receive both analog and digital broadcasts. As an analog-to-digital converter for the PCI Hybrid, the manufacturer chose the fairly common 10-bit ADC CX23883 from Conexant, which supports all types of video standards.

In operation, this TV tuner performed quite well, demonstrating acceptable quality of television picture broadcast. However, when initially setting up channels, the tuner could not automatically determine the color standard (PAL or SECAM), which had to be set manually. It should be noted that GotView PCI Hybrid is the cheapest model of TV tuners in the family, which, in relation to its rich configuration and quality of work, makes the model a very good purchase.

GotView PCI DVD3 Hybrid

PCI DVD3 Hybrid in retail packaging

This model is a hybrid TV tuner with MPEG2 hardware compression, with the ability to receive both analog and digital TV and radio channels. The tuner comes with a remote control, made in a thin case with membrane buttons. In addition, rich equipment and software adapted for Russia (typical for all models of GotView TV tuners) will certainly appeal to many buyers.

PCI DVD3 Hybrid PCB



View of the side panel of the tuner

The tuner's input device is based on the Xceive 3028 chip and does not require additional metal shielding. For this reason, in hybrid models we do not see the tin casing inherent in analog tuners, which protects high-frequency circuits from interference (on digital receivers they are simply not among the mounting elements).

Conexant CX23418

The highest level of integration is on the Conexant CX23418 chip, which plays the role of an MPEG2 encoder with built-in audio and video decoders. For portable solutions, such a selection of the element base would give an advantage in low power consumption and small dimensions of the product, but the GotView PCI DVD3 Hybrid board is already designed for a low-profile design (an additional special bracket is included in the package), and built-in TV tuners have no power supply there are no restrictions.

The CX23418 hardware encoder is capable of providing high-quality video capture in MPEG2 format in real time at a bit rate of up to 15 Mbit/s, without loading the computer's central processor. The chip has a hardware image noise reduction filter with continuously adjustable noise reduction level (the level is adjusted in the TV tuner driver).

While assessing the broadcast quality of a television picture, we discovered a very strange behavior of this tuner in dynamic scenes: the frames seemed to be layered on top of each other, forming a trail. This is especially noticeable in cartoons, where the number of frames is significantly smaller, and the difference between two adjacent ones is correspondingly large. This can be seen in the following screenshots:

In more or less static scenes, the trail is not so noticeable, and the screenshots look absolutely excellent:

However, the reason for this “bifurcation” of frames, as it turned out, lies in the tuner settings - more precisely, in the setting of an excessive noise reduction level. When this level is reduced, the described effect becomes unnoticeable.

GotView X5 DVD Hybrid PCI-E

X5 DVD Hybrid PCI-E in retail packaging

The GotView X5 DVD Hybrid TV tuner became the company's first model with a PCI-E interface. Let me remind you that this new interface has increased bandwidth, and the connector has fewer pins than standard PCI. In the near future, PCI-E should completely replace the PCI interface, and even now PCI-E devices are already relevant - the number of classic PCI connectors on modern motherboards is steadily decreasing.

X5 DVD Hybrid PCI-E PCB



Side plank view

As a channel selector, the tuner uses the latest development from Xceive - the XC5000 chip, which allows you to receive both analogue and digital (DVB-T) radio and TV channels. Compared to the XC2028 and XC3028 chips, the new selector, with equally miniature dimensions, has better selectivity and sensitivity, which ensures good TV picture quality even at low signal levels.

Conexant CX23887 decoder

Due to the fact that this TV tuner uses the PCI-E interface, the Conexant CX23887 chip was chosen as the decoder. This chip is the latest ADC, which also integrates a PCI-E bus interface bridge. In addition, a hardware feature of the chip is an integrated 3D Comb Filter, the task of which is to separate the brightness and color components of the signal, which allows you to successfully suppress moire, improving image quality. This advantage is especially noticeable at the boundaries of high-contrast transitions, where light tones alternate with dark ones.

The GotView X5 DVD Hybrid TV tuner demonstrated outstanding quality of TV picture transmission, which you can also see by looking at the attached screenshots. By and large, there’s nothing to complain about.

GotView X5 3D Hybrid PCI-E

X5 3D Hybrid PCI-E in retail packaging

Immediately after the release of the TV tuner model discussed above, GotView prepared another new product for the PCI-E interface. It was the GotView X5 3D Hybrid model, which differs from the X5 DVD Hybrid in the absence of a hardware MPEG2 encoder on the board. In all other respects, the new product is completely similar to its older “sister”.

Tuner PCB



Side plank view

The design of the tuner's printed circuit board is very similar to the model discussed above, with the only difference being that the spaces for the hardware encoding chip and the accompanying memory chip with a power stabilizer were left empty. It can be stated that the X5 3D Hybrid is intended for those users for whom the video recording function is not of great interest.

This model also uses a Conexant CX23887 chip as a 10-bit ADC, capable of working with PAL/SECAM/NTSC video standards and NICAM/AM/BTSC/EIAJ/A2 audio standards, automatically detecting them.

The high-frequency part of the tuner is based on the XC5000 silicon hybrid chip. In the photograph of the board, this chip is hidden under a metallic golden screen, which was done, rather, solely for aesthetics (unlike analog RF blocks, digital ones do not require external shielding). The XC5000 accepts both analog and digital programs.

Having examined the screenshots of TV channels, it is extremely difficult to discern any big difference in quality with the above-considered model. GotView X5 3D Hybrid broadcasts the TV picture just as well as the older model.

GotView USB2.0 DVD2

USB2.0 DVD2 in retail packaging

In addition to built-in TV tuners, the GotView line also includes external devices connected via a USB interface. This is the GotView USB2.0 DVD2, which is an updated TV tuner model with hardware compression for MPEG1 and MPEG2 formats, and which now includes a radio receiver. To connect the device, you need two free USB ports: a USB cable is connected to the first, and an additional power cable is connected to the second.

The kit includes a stand for vertical installation of the tuner

The device body is aluminum, with plastic inserts at the ends. For ease of placement on a table, the package includes a plastic stand, which you see along with the tuner in the photo above.

Front panel view

On the front panel of the tuner there are connectors for connecting external multimedia peripherals. These are a composite low-frequency video input, a stereo audio input and an S-Video input. In addition, there is also a button to turn on the tuner (while the device is operating, it is illuminated by a red LED).

Rear view

On the rear panel there is a row of “main”, so to speak, connectors. This is an input for USB power, TV and radio antenna jacks, as well as a USB input.

Tuner PCB



Reverse side of the tuner circuit board

The tuner is made on a modern element base: a 10-bit Conexant CX25843 ADC, a Conexant CX23416 hardware MPEG2 encoder and a Philips FM1216ME/I H-5 (Mk5) RF unit.

The only problem that arose during my acquaintance with this TV tuner was the delay and frame drops of the television picture. The solution was found in the video card driver, namely, in changing the hardware deinterlacing mode to software. There were no complaints about the quality of the television picture broadcast.

When preparing screenshots, software deiterlacing was used.

Software

The software package is unified for all GotView TV tuners, so the story about it can be included in a separate chapter. So, the performance of the TV tuners in this review is ensured by the GotView Pro 5.0 program. Its greatest advantage is, perhaps, excellent functionality along with complete Russification. One cannot help but rejoice in the fact that the manufacturer is constantly working to improve the program, and since the availability of updates is checked automatically, the user will receive a notification about the update almost immediately after a more recent version appears on the manufacturer’s website.

The initial installation of the software from a CD will not cause problems: after identifying the tuner card and automatically installing the driver, you won’t even need to restart the computer. The user will be greeted by a completely user-friendly interface of the GotView Pro program, and learning to navigate it will not take much time. The program has the ability to use so-called “skins” (graphical shells of the main program panel). There are only a small part of them in the standard package, and the user can easily find the rest on the GotView website.

Initially, the program contains a table of all on-air television and radio channels with their frequency values. Thus, in some cases, after installing the program, all television and radio channels will already be configured; only residents of certain regions and cable network subscribers will need to use the channel search function.

Window for setting TV channel management settings

For channels with unstable reception, the automatic search for which did not give the desired results, you can use a manual search, or manually set their broadcast frequencies. Next, for the found channels, you can specify their name, select an icon, and also sort in the light of your own preferences.

TV tuner general settings window

The hierarchical structure of the general settings window allows the user to quickly find the desired section to make any changes to the operation of the TV tuner. Each group of parameters has its own icon, which allows you to quickly find what you need.

The operation of the noise reduction filter is also interesting, the level of which can be adjusted smoothly and even separately for each channel. This filter can significantly improve the image, both when recording and when viewing. You just need to take into account that operating the filter in software mode will require additional CPU resources. If the computer resources are insufficient, then it would be preferable to use a tuner with hardware compression: only in this case will filtering be performed in hardware without loading the CPU. Let me remind you that TV tuners with software operation of the noise reduction filter include GotView PCI Hybrid, and those with hardware operation include GotView PCI DVD, GotView PCI DVD2 Deluxe, GotView PCI DVD3 Hybrid and GotView USB 2.0 DVD (in relation to the TV tuner models of this review).

TV program schedule ("Teleweek")

For GotView TV tuners, it is possible to receive the weekly TV schedule via the Internet. The database can be loaded either manually or automatically. It is convenient that if there is a fresh TV program, when you switch channels, information about the current program, as well as its start and end time, is displayed on the screen. The “degree of completion” of the transfer as a percentage is also visually displayed in the form of a status bar.

Video capture settings window

GotView software allows you to capture video with a wide variety of recording parameters. The ability to automatically split recordings into files of a given size has been implemented, which is sometimes necessary (especially when creating large videos).

Window for information about the brightness components of the image

To obtain information about the current video image, the manufacturer has provided a “graphic observation window”. Here you can, based on graphically presented image data, independently set the white and black levels, as well as obtain information about the signal-to-noise ratio. Using the graphs, you can quickly determine whether the video image is overexposed or too dark, and based on this, you can more accurately adjust the picture.

The proprietary software has very high functionality. We have considered only a small fraction of its main functions. The interested reader will get the rest of the information from the manufacturer’s website, where, among other things, there is a hotline, a forum, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Conclusion

In general, GotView's range of modern TV tuners made a good impression. Taking into account complete and high-quality localization of software, as well as adaptation of models to Russian conditions, any GotView model can compete with the recognized giants of the Russian market. A large selection of models designed for different categories of users allows you to easily select a TV tuner to suit your needs, and the high quality of broadcasting television images will not make you doubt the correctness of your choice. I will also note the modern element base that the manufacturer uses when designing models.

Personally, my favorite models were the X5 DVD Hybrid for the PCI-E bus, the DVD2 Deluxe for the PCI bus, and the external USB model. The only thing is that I cannot guarantee that the picture quality on your television antenna will be no worse than mine.

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I think I won’t be wrong if I say that most users interested in computer devices don’t even know about the GOTVIEW brand. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese industrial group of the same name presented under this brand on the Russian market last year a rather interesting range of multimedia products, among which was our today's hero - the GoTView PCI internal TV tuner.

All products supplied by this company are adapted to the conditions of each country separately, and our experimental product is no exception. The manufacturer especially emphasizes its unique software, with which the Russian user will be very comfortable working. Well, let's see...

Equipment

The fact that this product did not accidentally end up on the Russian market becomes clear after you pick up the nice box. Just from the information that I found on the box, the potential buyer gets a “very positive” picture of the board’s capabilities, especially after the loud statement on the box about ideal television.

Inside this cardboard miracle of design, along with the tuner board, we found a remote control with a pair of AAA batteries, a standard T-shaped FM antenna, an audio cable for connecting to the linear input of the sound card, an external IR sensor for the remote control, two CDs - one with drivers and working software, the second with a set of programs for capturing and processing video from InterVideo (WinDVR and WinDVD Creator) and small instructions in Russian for installing drivers for different versions of Microsoft operating systems.

Almost a standard set, except for one very nice thing - a disk with full versions of software from InterVideo, which greatly expands the capabilities of the board. Of course, I understand perfectly well that in our country getting any software is not a problem, but having at least some useful licensed software at home is a pleasant clearing of conscience :)

Design and technical characteristics

Black varnish, high-quality soldering, a golden plate with connectors - these are clear signs of a brand, and a brand with a big name. It seems that GOTVIEW is challenging the famous brands whose names are on everyone's lips. But one varnish is not enough. To qualify for leadership, the design must meet high modern requirements.

And this very design is based on the Conexant Fusion 878A chipset.

You can argue for a long time about the advantages of this or that chip, but still, more modern chips from the same Conexant or Philips provide better picture quality. However, they, like new, unused chips, do not yet have the choice of software and developments in it that the 878 can boast of.

The high-frequency analog receiver unit TCL2002MB-33F has its roots in the Philips past.

The engineers clearly did a great job on the design of the board itself - everything was done quite compactly. As a result, the length of the tuner does not extend beyond the PCI slot.

Even before the chipset, two four-pin audio connectors for connecting an input audio signal source and for connecting a tuner to a sound card caught my eye. For some reason, such a solution is not often seen on TV tuners of different, even very prestigious brands. Meanwhile, it is very useful, because thanks to these connectors you can free up external audio inputs/outputs, as well as overlay and mix audio from other audio sources.

The presence of these connectors speaks of some kind of professionalism.

Well, the main connectors, of course, are located on the golden plug. There are: FM antenna connector, TV antenna connector, socket for connecting an infrared sensor, low-frequency AV video input, minijack audio stereo input, composite S-Video input, minijack stereo audio output.

Well, in my opinion, everything necessary that only happens on TV tuners is present here.

Remote control and IR sensor

The 30-button remote control has a special curved ergonomic shape that fits perfectly in the hand. All rubber buttons are located not anyhow, but thoughtfully - for ease of operation. Even the lowest buttons are very easy to press, as the elongated shape of the remote control makes it easy to hold.

The remote control controls both TV and FM, so you don’t have to get up from the couch.

The only complaint I have about the remote control is the variety of colors on its body. It could have been done more modestly, but this is my personal opinion, and, as you know, there are few like-minded people in terms of taste and color.

The length of the wire of the remote IR sensor is, as always, short. I just don’t understand, is it a pity for manufacturers to make it not one meter long, but two? Well, if my computer is on the floor under the table, then where should I, excuse me, put this sensor? But this is most likely not GOTVIEW’s fault, because... The length seems to be some kind of standard.

Working with the supplied software

Installation of drivers was very fast and almost automatic. My Windows XP easily recognized two new devices in the system.

By the way, in the old version of GoTView, four devices were added to the system.

After that, I carefully examined the CD and there I found excellent instructions for installing and working with the TV tuner, where everything was described in great detail. The instructions are in PDF format, so to read it, there is a folder with AdobeAcrobatReader 6.0 on the disk. In addition, there is also a folder with InternetExplorer 6.0 and a folder with the main program for working with the GoTView Pro tuner, which occupies as much as 1.9 MB. But it’s not about size, but about quality.

Installing the program took no more time than installing the drivers. After launch, it was proposed to edit the settings for a specific job, but for now we will take a closer look at its interface:

The player's interface is quite unusual and does not at all resemble the usual elongated control panels from the software of other TV tuners.

Another innovation that the manufacturer introduced concerns switching between TV and FM operating modes. Now everything happens in the same panel - you switch channels and switch TV to radio. This is the situation if in the right corner of the three possible TV/FM/TV+FM modes you select the last one.

The lower left corner is occupied by six sliders responsible for brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation and other similar characteristics. They, along with the volume, are adjusted separately (!) for each channel. Indeed, each channel has its own display features, so why limit yourself.

To the right of these settings are icons for six items in the tuner's main menu - Capture, Channels, Scheduler, Settings, TV program and Channel Listing. They are located in a completely incomprehensible way, so we will consider them in a different sequence.

Channels. The first thing that catches your eye when entering this menu item is a huge table with the names, frequencies and characteristics (system type, volume, color settings) of not only TV channels, but also FM stations.

Firstly, the presence of this table immediately in the newly installed program indicates that the manufacturer took care of the end user and created a database for all Russian television broadcasting (16 channels) and partial radio broadcasting in the FM range (6 stations of the Moscow FM range). The small number of FM stations can be explained simply - each city has its own, and it is simply impossible to keep up with changes in the frequency of their broadcasts, as well as with their new names. Secondly, as you have already noticed, in the table both TV and FM are in one list. They can be distinguished only by the broadcasting system (varieties of SECAM, PAL, NTSC or FM).

The right side of the "Channels" field is reserved for editing certain characteristics of this table. Here you can not only change the channel name, broadcast system, adjust the volume and brightness, but also assign an icon for the channel or FM station. 16 icons for the main channels are already hardcoded into the GoTView Pro database. In addition, here you can fine-tune the channel frequency with an accuracy of 0.01 MHz (!) or simply set a new one by selecting it from the entire operating range of the tuner and writing it manually.

In the upper left corner there is an extremely useful Scan button, which will definitely come in handy for you. You can scan both the entire frequency range and the range of the standard channel grid. The scanning range, as well as the step (minimum step 0.02 MHz) are selected manually. In addition, the user can decide for himself which search method the tuner will work with.

In my opinion, here are the broadest opportunities for finding the right channel. The signal will not go unnoticed!

Settings. This menu item consists of three fields - “View”, “Interface” and “About”. In the “View” field, you can adjust the resolution when viewing, with the ability to enlarge the image with cutting off the edges, adjust the aspect ratio, etc. The most important thing here can rightfully be considered the deinterlacing setting, which allows you to save your nerves. Let me remind you that interlacing is a comb that appears on moving objects and spoils the entire viewing experience. Usually this function is implemented in the tuner software, but not always efficiently. Here you can set one of five deinterlacing modes, or not use it at all.

The "Interface" field is responsible for setting up messages displayed on the screen, for selecting a sound source and for other functions, which you can familiarize yourself with from the figure.

Capture. A rare TV tuner can boast so many settings for capturing Video, Audio and just pictures. It’s not for nothing that GOTVIEW pays great attention to the ability to work with recorded video and even included a disk with a software package from InterVideo in the package. Five fields allow you to qualitatively configure everything connected with it - AVI, WMV, Sound, Image, Network.

AVI. Perhaps even an experienced user will initially have some concern about correctly configuring all the parameters displayed here. But this is only at first glance, because... everything is done simply, conveniently and accessible to any user. All possible settings for the resulting video file are taken into account. For ease of use, there are settings such as reserving disk space for a file, limiting recording time, and setting the frequency of captured frames.

An important feature is the ability to display dropped frames during capture. This is a kind of indicator of the capabilities of your machine. If this indicator is different from zero, then it would be a good idea to change the recording parameters to easier ones.

In order not to contemplate the comb on moving objects after recording, it is possible to connect a deinterlacing filter during recording.

The function for setting the video capture resolution has a rather interesting addition that allows you to crop the image along any of the four edges (or all at once) to a width specified in pixels. In general, you can capture video with a resolution from 80x60 to 768x576.

Naturally, you can configure the video and audio stream compression parameters if necessary. In addition, GoTView allows you to set a timer for a single entry by date and time.

The right side of the AVI field is reserved for volume and color level settings. And the bottom one shows processor load in real time.

WMV. For this type of settings, the settings are a little smaller. For example, there is no possibility of reserving disk space, there is no possibility of setting the frequency of captured frames, as well as settings for video and audio compression.

Sound. The meaning of the settings in this field, I think, is clear to everyone. It is worth noting that the interface has not changed compared to the video settings field. The sound can, of course, be recorded in MP3 with any settings.

In addition, sound can be recorded not only from FM broadcasts, but also from TV. There are situations when you don’t need a picture. No problem - write only audio!

Regarding audio and video capture, it’s worth adding one more thing. Encoding in real time, i.e. directly during capture, it can be performed using any of your codecs, which seriously expands the capabilities of the tuner.

Snapshot. Even in this field of settings, GoTView has much more options than its competitors. You can capture individual frames not only with any resolution possible for the tuner, but also in any of three graphic formats - JPG, BMP, GIF, and the JPG file compression quality can be adjusted manually.

There is also a great opportunity to set capture every N seconds during viewing.

Net. Well, this is completely new. The function is experimental, as evidenced by the red warning label. The manufacturer offers you to work with the tuner... over the network, i.e. capture video over the network. True, the recommended resolution is only 320x200, but it is recommended and not strictly limited.

Scheduler. Well, this is just a great thing for scheduling automatic recording of not only video, but also audio, as well as taking screenshots. In addition to standard actions, you can execute any command both before and after recording. The command is, of course, written on the appropriate command line.

TV programm. An equally useful thing is for downloading databases with programs for each channel. Well, everything seems to be clear here.

Channel listing. The last menu is for displaying a grid of 16 channels per page. Quite a standard feature. The only pity is that you cannot configure the location and number of channels shown manually.

Summing up the software, we can safely say that of the software supplied with tuners, this is the best. True, the manufacturer cheated a little - after all, in this case, high-quality alternative software for Fly DS TV tuners was taken as the basis. But in this case it is absolutely clear that its deepest processing has been done. Maybe it was the opportunity to create ideal software that became the reason for choosing the classic Conexant Fusion 878A chip.

The second disc with the software package from InterVideo is not only a full-fledged licensed copy, but also, in the best traditions of GoTView, the main program for creating home videos WinDVD Creator from the package is completely (including help) Russified, which makes the work of a beginner much easier.

It is most likely pointless to describe all the capabilities of WinDVR and WinDVD Creator, because... To do this, you will need a whole book dedicated to creating videos. One has only to mention that the package serves both for capturing and subsequent processing of video, is recognized all over the world and will certainly appeal to many.

Reception quality

Testing of the reception of TV and FM channels was carried out in two versions - with the connection of an external cable television and with the connection of the tuner to the indoor antenna. Test computer configuration: Athlon1200 processor, Soltek 75SL-75DRV2 motherboard, NVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 video card, 256MB RAM, ESS 1969 sound, Windows XP SP1 operating system.

Having connected the cable to the tuner, naturally I had to search for channels again - the frequencies set by the manufacturer, of course, did not match. I did a search across the entire operating range in steps of 0.1 MHz (Well, 0.02 MHz is too steep). This process is not fast, so I managed to drink tea a couple of times during this time. But the result exceeded all expectations. Due to the small pitch, many duplicate channels were picked up, but the tuner caught the 17 channels that my TV receives with excellent quality. Almost nothing had to be adjusted.

Channel examples

Naturally, I immediately noticed an interlacing comb on all channels and hastened to get rid of it. Of the five deinterlacing modes, the most attractive was the second method from the list - Blend. Copying lines gives too rough a result, the errors of which are too noticeable when the image is stretched. The last two modes TwoFields and Weave (especially Weave) eliminate interlacing quite a bit. The Weave filter also produces good results, but the image quality after using it is noticeably worse than when using Blend. The Bob filter gives a result between the high-quality Blend and the rough Copy Strings.

Below you can look at footage of fast-moving skaters taken without deinterlacing and using the latter in all five filters. The sequence is as follows - no filter, Copy lines, Blend, Bob, TwoFields, Weave.

Also pay attention to the channel logo (the sequence of filter application is the same).

Well, it seems to me that the real work of the filters is obvious.

After switching from cable to a simple indoor antenna, I didn’t have to configure anything - the channel grid from the manufacturer coincided perfectly with what actually exists. The reception quality was somewhat worse, but these are already the errors of my antenna (if you can even call it that). The TV doesn't pick it up any better.

The processor load when watching TV is clearly visible in the screenshots of the capture menu located above the text. When recording video, it was also not possible to load the test machine to capacity. That’s why all the test avi files were recorded without dropped frames or other glitches.

I was very pleased with the ability to download TV programs from the Internet. All you have to do is press the button, because... all necessary website addresses are already entered into the tuner database.

FM reception does not cause any complaints at all, because all the stations that I know in Moscow were caught clearly. Moreover, the reception was clear, even despite the position of the antenna. Well, in general, its length is quite enough to hang it anywhere.

Total

This is a serious bid for one of the leading positions in the TV tuner market. The capabilities of the device are simply amazing. In addition, the tuner is perfect for those who plan to frequently record TV programs. This tuner's software is simply impeccable - don't mess with it. An excellent dessert was a licensed disc with a package from InterVideo. The downside, of course, is the use of an outdated chipset, but without it, most likely, such almighty software would not exist. So I would like to wish the actively developing GOTVIEW to release a tuner on a modern chipset, but with the same software. The Conexant Fusion 878A chip still processes the signal of the most widespread SECAM standard in Russia, not in the best way - the colors are a little bit different. So five minus! By the way, online technical support is organized on the company forum.

TV tuners GoTView PCI 7135 and GoTView PCI DVD

Maxim Babenkov

The Taiwanese company GOTVIEW specializes in the development and production of multimedia products and peripherals for desktop and laptop computers. The company's line of multimedia products includes devices for receiving television and radio signals on a computer TV-FM tuners, as well as TV tuners with additional capabilities for capturing and digitizing images.

The company has been present on the Russian market for two years, but in such a short time it has already proven itself quite well, since its products are of high quality, well-equipped, functional software and fully adapted to the conditions of Russian television broadcasting.

In this article we will focus on just two internal models of GoTView TV tuners with a PCI interface: GoTView PCI 7135 and GoTView PCI DVD.

The first model of the TV tuner GoTView PCI 7135 is made on a purple PCB and has a gold-plated strip. This style is traditional for all TV tuners of the company.

The GoTView PCI 7135 model is built on a Philips SAA7135HL decoder. The bulk of the chip's radioelements are located in close proximity to it. The board contains several large and small capacitors (LC filters), which serve to eliminate interference arising from other elements inside the computer, as well as from power supply interference.

The Philips SAA7135HL video/audio decoder processes PAL/SECAM/NTSC signals and supports A2 and NICAM stereo broadcast formats. The decoder also provides advanced audio processing and allows audio to be digitized at sampling rates up to 48 kHz. In addition, the decoder supports various effects such as Virtual Dolby Surround and Dolby Surround Prologic.

The third generation Philips FM1216ME/I H-3 unit is used as a high-frequency block in GoTView PCI 7135, which supports PAL/SECAM/NTSC format signals in the frequency range from 48.25 to 855.25 MHz. Most modern TV tuners are equipped with a similar high-frequency unit.

The device allows you to implement traditional functions such as capturing video with sound, as well as receiving FM radio stations in stereo mode.

On the back of the GoTView PCI 7135 there are the following connectors: two antenna inputs (one for connecting a television antenna and the other for a radio antenna), a 2 mm connector for connecting an IR receiver, composite and S-Video video input, audio input and audio output. The strip with connectors, like in many other models of the company, has a golden color.

In addition to the traditional audio connectors on the rear panel, the GoTView PCI 7135 is additionally equipped with internal audio input and audio output connectors. These connectors are useful primarily when connecting a TV tuner to a sound card, which allows you to leave the external line input of the sound card free. Audio input and output connectors are located on the outside of the printed circuit board, which simplifies device switching. We emphasize that in some cases there is no need to connect via these connectors, since the GoTView PCI 7135 TV tuner also transmits sound via the PCI bus.

The GoTView PCI 7135 TV tuner is equipped with a remote control, which, in addition to working with the TV tuner itself, allows you to control various multimedia applications. The presented remote control differs from the remote control that was included with previously released TV tuner models. Thus, the new remote control has an increased number of buttons and a more thoughtful placement of them, and in addition, the remote control buttons can be programmed using the utility supplied in the kit.

The GoTView PCI 7135 package includes a remote control with batteries, an IR receiver for remote control, an FM antenna, a mini-jackmini-jack audio cable and an audio cable for connecting the tuner's audio output to an external line-in input of the motherboard or sound card , user manual in Russian and two CDs with InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2 video editor in Russian and GoTView PRO software.

GoTView PCI 7135 is one of the best TV tuners among similar models on the market today. A well-designed board using high-quality components provides excellent image and sound quality, and also allows reliable reception of various video signals.

The second of the TV tuner models under consideration, GoTView PCI DVD, differs from the first not only functionally, but also externally. The printed circuit board, as emphasized above, is also made in purple, but in terms of size it is much inferior to the GoTView PCI 7135 card, especially in width.

The GoTView PCI DVD TV tuner is based on Philips SAA7174HL and CONEXANT CX23416 chips, which allows video capture and compression into MPEG format with a bit rate of up to 15 Mbit/s and an audio sampling rate of up to 48 kHz. PAL/SECAM/NTSC standards and A2 and NICAM stereo broadcast formats are supported. The main difference between the Philips SAA7174 decoder and the Philips SAA7135 is the absence of a PCI interface, the function of which in the TV tuner is performed by another chip CONEXANT CX23416. This chip serves as a hardware MPEG1/2 codec for video and audio streams. In addition, the CX23416 has a hardware noise reduction filter, which removes noise from the video image and increases the MPEG compression ratio. On the reverse side of the printed circuit board there is one HY57V643220CT-6 memory chip manufactured by Hynix Semiconductor, which serves as a buffer for the MPEG stream. The specifications of this chip are as follows: voltage 3.3 V, operating frequency 166 MHz, four banks of 512 Kbit each

for MPEG stream

The third generation Philips MK3 unit is used as a high-frequency block in GoTView PCI DVD, which supports PAL/SECAM/NTSC format signals in the frequency range from 48.25 to 855.25 MHz. Unlike the model described above, the GoTView PCI DVD TV tuner uses a high-frequency unit without an FM receiver Philips MK3 1216.

The main capabilities of the device include support for terrestrial and cable television, ample opportunities for searching and setting up channels, the ability to capture real-time video in MPEG-2 format with a resolution of up to 720×480, capture frames in various graphic formats, etc. Other features of the GoTView PCI DVD model include high-quality image processing with noise reduction and deinterlacing filters with normal and double frequencies. I would especially like to note that the program uses the hardware capabilities of modern video cards to process images with deinterlacing filters, which can significantly reduce the CPU load.

On the back of the GoTView PCI DVD there is a composite video input, an IR receiver socket for the remote control, an antenna TV input,

S-Video input and audio input.

The traditional analog audio output is not implemented in this model at all, which, however, is not surprising. Sound transmission is carried out only via the PCI bus, as a result of which there is no need to equip the device with an audio cable to connect the tuner to the sound card. However, the GoTView PCI DVD includes another audio cable for connecting external sources, which has a mini-jack plug on one side and two RCA plugs on the other. This cable is convenient for connecting various video cameras and a VCR to the tuner.

The GoTView PCI DVD remote control is completely different from the first model. First of all, the remote control is very flat and equipped with a large number of buttons - their number reaches 37 pieces. In addition, the buttons are touch sensitive, which prevents dirt and dust from entering. Tactile sensations when pressing buttons allow you to accurately assess whether a key was actually pressed. In general, we can say that the remote control is compact, and in addition, it is lightweight and functional. Frequently used buttons for changing volume and switching channels are located very well on the remote control. The remote control is powered by a 3 V lithium cell.

In our opinion, the GoTView PCI DVD TV tuner can today be considered the simplest solution for digitizing both television channels and video signals from a home video camera and VCR. The advantages of a TV tuner include the fact that during the digitization process a hardware noise reduction filter will be used, which will slightly improve the quality of the digitized signal.

An added benefit is that GoTView PCI DVD can run Windows MCE 2005, something that few tuner manufacturers currently boast. If you have two or three GoTView PCI DVD tuners in this OS, you can schedule multiple channels to be recorded simultaneously.

The GoTView PCI DVD package includes a remote control with a battery, an IR receiver for remote control, an FM antenna, an audio cable for connecting various audio sources (mini-jackRCA), a user manual in Russian and two CDs -disc with InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2 video editor and GoTView PRO software.

Now let's briefly talk about the software that comes with both models of GoTView TV tuners and its functionality. The GoTView PRO 4.0.0.475 program has a number of interesting and unique functions, including, for example, PIP (picture in picture), which allows you to watch two channels simultaneously if you have a second tuner. The ability to separately record audio and video streams greatly facilitates and speeds up video editing, and also helps to avoid the use of additional software. A unique feature of the program is support for third-party Direct Show (DS) and DirectX Media Objects (DMO) filters, designed for additional image and sound processing.

The Motion Detection function allows you to use the device as a video surveillance system. To do this, just connect a video camera to the tuners, which will record the monitored area. Thanks to support for an unlimited number of skins, the appearance of the program is quite easy to change.

Installing device drivers and software does not cause any difficulties, especially if you follow the installation sequence, as well as the recommendations specified in the user manual.

The main window of the GoTView PRO program contains buttons for switching TV channels, buttons for setting the reception frequency, a button for displaying all channels in a separate window that opens, a video capture button, a scheduler button, a button for updating the TV program via the Internet, and a settings button. There is also a display that displays various information, such as channel number, channel name, current time, audio mode, television standard and much more. The main window also contains sliders for setting the overall sound and separately for channel sound, brightness, contrast and saturation.

The software allows you to capture frames in BMP, JPEG and GIF formats with a resolution of up to 768x576, record audio and video streams with compression capabilities (for this, audio and video codecs must be installed in the system). Various functions are also supported, such as channel preview and Time Shift the latter allows you to simultaneously record and playback video.

Of all the other features of the program, we note the functions used to configure the interface, video and audio signals, remote control buttons, display menus and indicators in windowed and full-screen modes, as well as to control the program using keyboard hot keys.

In general, we can say that the software shell has very rich functionality and is currently one of the best, perfectly complementing and implementing all the capabilities of the device hardware.

The editors express gratitude to GOTVIEW ( http://www.gotview.ru )for the provided TV tuners GoTView PCI 7135 and GoTView PCI DVD.