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Mar2
Asus My Cinema PE-9400 Hybrid Tuner Review
Several months ago my dual analog tuner started acting really flaky. I tolerated this for awhile, not really know what was going on. Once I narrowed it down to the tuner it was time to find a new one. At the time, Windows 7 was a rumor and no one really knew when we might see it so it wasn’t a consideration. Lucky for me, it’s not an issue.The My Cinema PE-9400 is a hybrid NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner. On the exterior of the card you’ll find two coax connections. One of these is an analog NTSC tuner which I currently have hooked to standard cable. The other is an ATSC/QAM tuner which I currently have hooked to my standard cable to receive ClearQAM (unencrypted) cable channels. Since it also handles ATSC, this is also the tuner you would hook your OTA antenna to.
Card Specs:
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Powered by PCI-Express port for faster data transmission
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MPEG2 hardware encoder built-in for unprecedented multitasking efficiency boost
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Hardware noise reduction technology built-in to enhance best video quality
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Watch analog TV and digital TV over the air (or digital TV through a standard coaxial cable) simultaneously.
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Watch analog TV or digital TV and record another, or record two different channels at the same time.
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Edit and burn video into DVD or VCD
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Remote control kit for easy channel surfing
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Listen to FM radio and music
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Capture external video-in source
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Play DVD & VCD
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Sort video and photographs
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"ASUS VideoSecurity Online Technology" for making your private security system on PC
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Microsoft Vista Home Premium / Vista Home Basic / Vista Ultimate / Windows XP certified
When you open the box you’ll find the card itself, a Media Center remote, IR receiver, software CD, and instruction manual. It’s your standard PCIx1 card so to install you just open your case and throw it in. Once you’ve secured it in your system, you’d think the next thing you could do is use the included CD to install your drivers and you’d be all set. Yeah, you’d be wrong. This is my first complaint about this card. While I’m sure the drivers are there, both Windows Vista and Windows 7 can’t find them. Asus’s own DVR and tuning software is there and if you install it then the drivers will follow. The problem here is that under Windows Vista, this was giving me remote control errors. The remote would open the Asus software as well as Media Center. Not fun. I ended up un-installing the software, going to the Asus site and downloading and installing stand alone drivers. Once I did, everything worked like a charm.Depending on the signal you receive, you’ll use one or both of the coax connections now sticking out of the back of your PC. While this may be a single hybrid tuner, it can record from both inputs at the same time. This allows, if you have OTA digital and standard cable for instance, to record one of your OTA networks in HD and a standard cable channel at the same time. While this isn’t terribly useful, if your setup is like mine, it’ll be perfect.
Once you’ve gotten this far, most things should be familiar to you. You’re going to walk through the standard Media Center setup. If you’re running the Vista TV-Pack or Windows 7, this may be more involved depending on what signals you have or which connection you’re using.
Overall, I can’t complain about the MyCinema PE-9400. While setup could be a bit easier with standalone drivers being on the disk, once you’re installed and setup, you should be happy. Both standard and HD recordings and live TV look great. While there are issues with streaming recorded HD TV to my Xbox 360, these have nothing to do with the PE-9400 and everything to do with Windows 7. Others have had these issues and I hope they’re cleared up by the time RC1 comes out.
If you’re looking for a single tuner or one that can handle the signal you need in the U.S., then the MyCinema PE-9400 will fit the bill. While it won’t give you anything to sing about, it’ll get your TV into your PC and beyond with Media Center.
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