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Prolink PixelView PlayTV P7000 Review

Company:

Prolink, www.prolink.com.tw

Price:

Suggested retail price is $119 US.

Ratings

Price:
Install/Setup:
Usability:
Support:
Average Rating:

Pros:

• Very well built card. Great quality. Great Images.
• Great for watching and recording TV.
• eDrive. Very Cool!

Cons:

• Was difficult to get all the drivers to install.
• Does not include video editing or authoring software.

The Card

Over the years, TV-tuners for computers have gone from providing basic (and arguably lousy) TV signal input on a monitor, to having a variety of features and capabilities beyond simple TV watching. While the primary purpose of a TV-tuner is still to put a TV signal on your computer monitor, these products are definitely moving towards the role of video appliances. That is to say, they bring the video into the computer to be manipulated, or recorded, before being output to a monitor or TV.

In this review, we're testing one of Prolink's latest TV-tuner cards, the PixelView PlayTV P7000. This PCI card has ambitions to replace your VCR, with video recording straight to DVD, timeshifting and an assortment of other goodies made for a computerized home theater setup. Does this all sound too good to be true? Let's take a close look at the Prolink PixelView PlayTV P7000, and find out.

Prolink's PixelView PlayTV P7000 card itself is rather small, with two coaxial inputs for TV and radio respectively, and an additional port for the included S-video and RCA combination cable. The small plug on the end is for the Infra-red sensor that goes along with the included remote control. The remote is simple to operate and has a wide breadth of uses.

Also included in the bundle are an FM wire antenna, the aforementioned infrared sensor and a short cable with both S-Video and RCA inputs for bringing non-coaxial TV signals and audio into the PlayTV P7000. The software included is WinDVD for viewing what you have recorded. Unfortunately there isn't any included video authoring or editing software.

The included manual does a great job of describing all the features of the card and how to use them. The only thing really lacking in the manual is some description on the advantages and disadvantages of the various video capture formats the card offers. With some trial and error, users can find out which video format offers the best performance and file size for their needs.

Specifications

System Requirements

600-MHz processor or faster

Microsoft¨ Windows¨ 2000, and XP

128 MB RAM

250 MB free disk space for applications

20 GB or above free disk space for DVD/MPEG2 record (Recommended)

Approximately 450 MB for every 10 minutes of captured video

Video card and monitor that support 16-bit color or above

Sound card

CD-ROM drive

CD-Recorder or DVD-Recorder

Available PCI slot

Analog video source device(s), such as a television, camcorder, or videotape deck

The Remote

The included remote can be used not only in the PV Center applications but even in other applications. It allows you to turn on the DVD software, the CD player (Windows Media Player or any other mediaplayer), the PV Center TV software and the PV Center Radio software with the push of a button. You can also browse through videoclips/movies, music as well as images making it a perfect solution for a small computer that you want to use as a fully featured PVR-solution with your TV.

1. Fingertip 1 (F1)-TV
   Watch your favorite TV program.
2. Fingertip 2 (F2)-FM
   Listen to FM radio.
3. Fingertip 3 (F3)-CD
   Enjoy listening to any selected CD, which has been installed in your PC.
4. Fingertip 4 (F4)-DVD 
   Get your popcorn ready and enjoy any recorded movie with one touch of the "DVD button".¨.
5. Fingertip 5 (F5)-Category key
   The entire above function category can be organized & browsed in one button. Additional functions, such as Photo album, email, music, and video can be selected with this button.

Getting Started

Installing the many drivers was a little more difficult than it should have been. For some reason not all the drives automatically installed. We had to brows the driver directory on the install disk and found 2 drivers that did not install themselves. Once we did this the card functioned normally.

Once the card and the many drivers were installed and we rebooted a few times, we launched PV Center. Immediately the tuning wizard launched and it began scanning channels. The card is hooked into a large antenna set up in the attic via coaxial cable. The scanning process only took a few minutes. Once complete, the wizard displayed the found channels and gave us options for our viewing and recording preferences.

First test was to view the channels found by the wizard. All the local channels were available for watching, as well as a few we didn't know the antenna picked up! As with a TV, the picture quality was as good as the antenna is positioned correctly. Some channels were not as clear as others, but all in all the picture quality was almost as good as watching it on my 32" TV. Not too shabby.

Next test was to actually record something and then play it back. We recorded about 10 minutes of a show in the highest format and screen size allowed. This sucked up about a half a gig of hard drive space. Which is normal for MPEG 2 quality video. We then played back the recording in both WinDVD and Microsoft Media Player. In both cases, the video quality was quite good for a TV show. Obviously not as good as a digital DVD image, but quite acceptable for TV.

Additional Features

Time Shifting

Time Shifting allows you to create a recorded 'stream' of the TV signal, slightly behind the original signal's time, which of course can be paused, fast forwarded or rewound. Thus allowing you to not miss any of your show if you need to run to the bathroom or answer the phone. You cannot record a show and timeshift it at the same time though. Prolink says that this will available in a future update.

PV Center Radio

PV Center Radio is just what is sounds...allows you to listen to FM radio by attaching the included antenna to the FM input.

eDrive

eDrive is an application that checks your email (only Outlook Express or Outlook) and looks for an email with a predefined title. When it finds an email it then looks into the body of the email and processes a set of VBScript commands that lets you control PV Center. If you are running late and are going to miss your favorite TV show, you can instruct PV Center TV to start up and record a show so that when you get home you can start watching it from the beginning. Send the email from your cell phone, pda, or another computer. Pretty cool!!

Adding It All Up

The Prolink PixelView PlayTV P7000 video capture/TV tuner card is an excellent product. Despite our low rating on support/documentation and installation, don't let this distract you. In addition to bringing an excellent TV signal into your PC, the PlayTV P7000 card also functions well as an easy to use video capture device. With its recording, time shifting, and multi-function remote, it could make your VCR extremely nervous. This card would be quite at home recording your favorite TV shows onto a hard drive or DVD for you to watch later.

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