Jan Zdarsa You're probably also slowly getting a digital TV signal and you're starting to think that it would be nice to be able to watch new programs like Prima Cool (with great shows by the way) but you don't know which digital tuner to buy for your Mac and don't make a fool of yourself .
So today we're going to look at a new product on the market from AVerMedia. AVerMedia is mostly known for their TV tuners for PC, but this time they have taken the plunge with a TV tuner for MacOS computers. Their first venture is called AVerTV Volar M and is intended for Apple Macs with Intel Core processors.
But this does not mean that if you buy this TV tuner, you will only be able to use it on MacOS. Anyway, AverTV Volar M can be used on Windows as well. Programs for both operating systems can be found on the included CD, so if you use both MacOS and Windows, the Volar M could be an interesting choice.
In addition to the installation CD, the package includes a nice antenna with two antennae for receiving signals, a stand for attachment (for example on a window), a reducer for connecting the antenna to a TV tuner, an extension USB cable and, of course, the Volar M TV tuner.
The tuner itself looks like a larger flash drive, but some people might find it a bit bigger, so on my unibody Macbook, it also interferes with the surrounding ports (among other things, the second USB) when connected. That is why an extension USB cable is included, which eliminates this disadvantage and partly turns it into an advantage. Every miniature TV tuner heats up, so someone may be more satisfied if this heat source is rather close to the laptop.
Installation of the AVerTV software is done in a standard way, without any problem. During installation, you can choose whether you want to create an AVerTV icon in the dock. The app got angry for a while when I first started it, but after shutting it down and restarting it, everything is fine. Since this is the first version of AVerTV, small bugs can be expected.
The first time it was started it did a channel scan, which took only a moment and found all the stations the program could find (tested in Prague). Right after that I was able to watch TV shows. All in all, only a few minutes passed from unpacking the box to starting the TV station.
The whole control seemed to me to be very much based on keyboard shortcuts. Personally, I like keyboard shortcuts, but with a TV tuner, I'm not sure I'm willing to remember them. Fortunately, there is also a great-looking control panel, which has at least basic functionality. Overall, the graphic design of the application looks very good and fits perfectly into the MacOS environment. In short, the designers took care of themselves and I think they did a great job.
Personally, I would still work on user-friendliness in terms of controls. For example, the control panel does not lack an icon for displaying recorded programs, but instead of it, I would have liked an icon for displaying the list of stations. It also bothered me that when I turned off the window with the TV playback (and left the control panel on), the window with the television did not start after clicking on the TV station, but first I had to turn on this window via the menu or via a keyboard shortcut.
Of course, the program downloads the EPG with a list of programs, and it is not a problem to select a program directly from the program and set the recording. Everything works very quickly, and notifications about the recorded program will also appear in the iCal calendar. However, the videos are of course recorded in MPEG2 (the format in which they are broadcast) and we can therefore play them in the Quicktime program only with the purchased Quicktime plugin for MPEG2 playback (at a price of $19.99). But it is not a problem to play the video directly in AVerTV or in the 3rd party program VLC, which can handle MPEG2 without any problems.
From the control panel, we can also select an image that will appear in the iPhoto program after saving. AVerTV is integrated into MacOS very well and it shows. Unfortunately, widescreen broadcasts are stored in a 4:3 ratio, so sometimes the image can be distorted. But the developers will surely fix this in a short time. I would also work on reducing the CPU load as TV playback took up an average of 35% of CPU resources on an Intel Core 2 Duo 2,0Ghz. I think there is definitely a small reserve here.
There would be a few other minor bugs or unfinished business, but we have to take into account that this is the first version of this software for Mac and it will not be a problem for the developers to fix most of them. I have reported all the little things to the Czech representative of AVerMedia, so it can be expected that the version you will receive will not have any such errors and the functionality will be completely different. Anyway, on the first version, the program seemed surprisingly stable and error-free to me. This is certainly not standard for other manufacturers.
Other functions include, for example, TimeShift, which is designed to shift the program in time. I must also mention at this point that the AVerTV application is completely in Czech and the EPG with Czech characters works without any problems. Some tuners often struggle unsuccessfully with this.
I will not cover the Windows version of the program in this review. But I must definitely mention that the Windows version is at an excellent level and years of development can be seen on it. We can therefore expect that the Mac version will also gradually develop and improve, and for example, I would expect the possibility of converting recorded programs to the iPhone or iPod format in the future.
If you are one of the lucky ones who got a Remote control for your Macbook, believe me, you will use it with this TV tuner AVerTV Volar M. You can use the Remote to control AVerTV from bed, for example. With the Volar M, you can watch programs not only in 720p resolution, but also in 1080i HDTV, which may come in handy in the future.
Overall, I'm impressed with this product from AVerMedia and can't say a bad word about it. When I come home and plug the USB tuner into the Macbook, the AVerTV program immediately turns on and the TV starts. Simplicity above all.
I am personally curious to see how the AVerTV Volar M will fare on the Czech market. At the moment it is not in stock anywhere and the price of this product has not been set yet, but I would like AVerMedia to be the fresh wind in this field. As you know, tuners for Mac are not among the cheapest, and AVerMedia is known on the Windows platform primarily as a company with quality TV tuners at a low price. As soon as this tuner appears in stores, I will definitely not forget to inform you!
Thanks, I was looking for this kind of info. I would really appreciate it if any reader has experience with another tuner on Mac OS to write. I would be especially interested in something that has two tuners, i.e. the possibility to record and watch something else... I would love the functionality in Mac OS and Linux... Alternatively, if there is a USB device together with a DVB-S tuner, of course someone uses it ;-) Thanks.
prefectX
Why don't you have faith in Elgato? I have an EyeTV Hybrid and it works without any problems. It will probably be the fact that Elgato did not make tuners, but only SW for them.
E.g. the real EyeTV Hybrid I have is the WinTV HVR-900 from Hauppauge (http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hvr900.html). Elgato just gives it its name. This is also reported in the System Profiler. It will certainly be the same with the most recent tuners.
In Prague, I catch both CT1 (HD Test) and Nova (MPEG4-HD). Both can be easily recorded in HD on an Alu MacBook 2GHz with 5400 rpm. disk. The HD stream is around 6Mbps, which is absolutely no problem for the disk.