I've used this device for a few days, and love what it does in conjunction with my iMac -it's nice to be able to watch and record over-the-air TV (the little baby antenna is _uber_ cute and works surprisingly well), which is why I bought it (the sale price was a significant factor in my choice). I haven't tried it on my Windows boxes.What it doesn't do could be a deal-breaker for many: On the Mac, it won't record in any format but MPEG-2 using the supplied software. (It is said to record in H.264 on Windows.) Given the limited number of converters out there (and those -even the best -being a bit of a pain-in-the-neck), you may wind up only being able to watch your recordings on the computer. The support site is confusing. To be fair, I figured all of this out in fairly short order and just handed my spouse a DVD-player-ready disc of the latest Simpsons episode, but I've been tinkering with computers and peripherals for several decades now. I suppose there are stand-alone software packages that would make this little guy a snap to use; I don't want to spend the added time to search.
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The item did not work. The picture stuttered and was unwatchable. Tech support kept telling me the signal was too weak. However a TV set hooked up to the same signal worked fine.Read Best Reviews of AVerMedia AVerTVHD Volar MAX USB TV Tuner MTVHDVMXR Here
This product, the AVer Volar Max for Mac looks special reading its company's accolades, but they are hugely misleading. My experience includes that I only receive four TV channels even though my cable systems has about 100 channels. The electronic TV program directory in the users' manual is non-existant to my computer, which by the way is a brand new iMac Intel. The file that is loaded onto the computer for each recorded program cannot be played on a Mac computer and when you search to find a solution, it recommends that you buy another product to accomplish this.The users' manual is repetitious yet leaving many basic questions completely unanswered. The HELP tab continues to give me notice that I do not have permission to view the help section. The Product Warranty Registration card gives one a website to register the product and also for support. For support, I wrote in simple question and received no response. A few days later, I wrote in with a list of questions and received no response. They do not publish a phone number. Therefore, support in non-existent. Many of the features advertised do not work and there is no help available. For me, the executives of the company selling this product should be behind bars for theft.Want AVerMedia AVerTVHD Volar MAX USB TV Tuner MTVHDVMXR Discount?
I chose this model because it is advertised to work with OSX and Windows. It does. At least it does with over-the-air TV, I haven't tried it with cable. I don't have cable. My unit came with a small rabbit ear antenna with a suction cup base. You don't see the antenna in the product pictures, but it's there. The antenna attaches with a standard coax cable. Naturally, you can replace it with any standard antenna. (You can also use the little Avermedia antenna with your other TV. Surprisingly, it works about as well as a larger antenna that I have.Most of the people who have reviewed this product complain about the reception. Digital television reception is quirky, but in a major metro area, you should receive the major networks and some other channels as well. Overall, I'd say the reception with the standard antenna is a little better than the other televisions we have in the house. Surprisingly, it's a little better with the Mac than it is with the Windows PC. There should be no difference. I can't explain it.
First I installed the Aver software on my Windows 7 laptop. I can't remember if I didn't like it or if it didn't work. I switched to Windows Media Player which came with Windows 7 Premier (64 bit). I had no problems watching TV and recording programs with Windows Media Player. It was quite a while before I even installed the Aver software on my Macbook Pro (Snow Leopard). Basic television watching and recording are enabled on the Mac as well.
The bottom line is for the cost of about 3 DVDs, you're getting the equivalent of a television and DVR. It's a pretty decent add-on for the money. Any time you record video, it's going to take up a lot of space on your hard disk, several gigabytes for an hour show. Since most laptops don't have huge disks, you should probably think twice before setting it to auto record. This is a fairly simple and basic product for a reasonable price. I give it a solid 4 stars.
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