Asus My Cinema ES2-750/PT/FM/AV/RC
Introduction & Specification
Published: 7th December 2009 | Source: Asus | Price: £40.00 |
Introduction
It's hard to start a review of a product from a company that we've seen so much from before. Asus accounting for a large, large number of reviews here at OC3D means we've heard their history and numerous facts a fair few times. So lets focus on the product, the ES2-750/PT/FM/AV/RC TV Card. TV cards have been kicking about for years and years now. Personally I had one installed in the first PC I owned, and have kept one in the family PC ever since. They used to be somewhat of an oddity, people seemed to take it that the PC and TV were two separate household electronics goods.
These days however, with products becoming even more versatile as one box replaces several, it's hardly a surprise to see TV cards being put into more and more PCs. Most of these being aimed at (as you can probably guess) the Home Theatre PC (HTPC) market. Many of the cards implementing Tivo like features and thusly allowing the user to record their favourite shows to a hard drive inside the machine itself. Saving the use of DVDs, CDs or even VHS tapes if you can remember them.
Specifications & Features
These, as normal, will be taken form the manufacturer's (In this case Asus') site. The international version to be precise as the according to Asus' UK site the card doesn't exist.
Nothing much out of the ordinary here. The card uses an AMD chip for it's Audio, Video and channel decoding and an NXP tuner. As you can see it's a PCI-E card conforming to ATX standards. It supports a multitude of operating systems and comes with a healthy bundle list.
And of course the listed key features:
Utilises the PCI-Express port for faster data transmission
Intelligent Image Enhancement
- HDTV Video Quality with 12-bit ADC brings you to the world of live TV
- Intelligent 2D & 3D Comb Filtering technology
- Ultra-high quality video decoder: De-interlace, provides
- ASUS Exclusive Noise Reduction technology
Insert-n-Play with an existing AMD Graphic Card
System install the driver automatically without hassle clicking process as long as your computer possess AMD VGA Card with driver 8.61 Version or later.
All-in-one Multimedia Centre
* Watch analog or digital TV on your PC
* Scheduled recordings and TimeShift supported
* FM radio listening
* Connect camcorders, DVD players and other external video-in devices for video capture
* Edit and burn TV programs on DVD or VCD
* Full function remote controller for easier channel surfing
Intelligent Image Enhancement
- HDTV Video Quality with 12-bit ADC brings you to the world of live TV
- Intelligent 2D & 3D Comb Filtering technology
- Ultra-high quality video decoder: De-interlace, provides
- ASUS Exclusive Noise Reduction technology
Insert-n-Play with an existing AMD Graphic Card
System install the driver automatically without hassle clicking process as long as your computer possess AMD VGA Card with driver 8.61 Version or later.
All-in-one Multimedia Centre
* Watch analog or digital TV on your PC
* Scheduled recordings and TimeShift supported
* FM radio listening
* Connect camcorders, DVD players and other external video-in devices for video capture
* Edit and burn TV programs on DVD or VCD
* Full function remote controller for easier channel surfing
Some impressive sounding features. The card sounds like it should add perfect TV functionality to your PC. It states that the card will work automatically with an ATI gpu installed, which I for one find quite interesting. The remote is another point that warrants interest, as many 3rd party remotes feel a little out of place when used with a real PC, we'll have too see how this one shapes out.
Next we'll dive in and look at the card itself and the software it's supplied with...
Most Recent Comments
I'm not understanding why the performance problems or issues exist with this card.
There are, and have been, cheap Hauupage tv cards that work very simply and with something as simple as Intel onboard g965 graphics. Alot of these based on 10 year old tech. Infact cards I've personally experienced have been that old and use the Intel onboard mentioned.
Be interested if ASUS chose to reply to the review.Quote
There are, and have been, cheap Hauupage tv cards that work very simply and with something as simple as Intel onboard g965 graphics. Alot of these based on 10 year old tech. Infact cards I've personally experienced have been that old and use the Intel onboard mentioned.
Be interested if ASUS chose to reply to the review.Quote
I am using the ASUS 2007 and facing the same bad picture quality. What i should have to do.Quote
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Originally Posted by name='Lailah'
I am using the ASUS 2007 and facing the same bad picture quality. What i should have to do.
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with stuff like iplayer and sky and iTV all broadcast over the net now is there any point to a TV card as such. Maybe if you dont have a net connection but other wise just hit iplayer and watch from there or even virgin media + to view your missed programs.
Or even get your self a Full working 120 Gb Arcos TV+ for £35 from curries and record what ever you whant and that in hi def and then stream it all over the house.Quote
Or even get your self a Full working 120 Gb Arcos TV+ for £35 from curries and record what ever you whant and that in hi def and then stream it all over the house.Quote
CSS Valid
Good review though, I do not recommend one of these to anyone (no matter what model)Quote