... There is no way around it unless Jetway releases a software update.
The software can record and can be scheduled to record TV channels like with a VCR or DVD Recorder. The Scheduled Recording Agent is easy to use but because the channels are not numbered, I have to literally 'count' down ... Read review
Advantages: Digital TV, Very good picture quality, Aerial included Disadvantages: Remote Control looks cheap, Software rubbish
The JetWay DTV DVB-T PCI card is a Digital TV Tuner card for desktop computers. This means once you have installed it and its accompanying software, you can watch Digital Terrestrial (i.e. Freeview) TV on your computer. A USB version is also available but the one I have is the PCI version, which is installed inside a computer. I bought it for £54 including delivery off eBay but later found it at Ebuyer for just over £40.
INSTALLING ...drivers and software for the JetWay card from the CD provided.
THE SOFTWARE
Once tuned, the Channel Panel lets me choose channels by double-clicking on the channel name. This is assuming I'm at the computer and I think this easy enough but the channels in the list are not numbered and there is no way to change the order. The channels also do not correspond to the default channel number that's found in TV guides. i.e. ... more
The JetWay DTV DVB-T PCI card is a Digital TV Tuner card for desktop computers. This means once you have installed it and its accompanying software, you can watch Digital Terrestrial (i.e. Freeview) TV on your computer. A USB version is also available but the one I have is the PCI version, which is installed inside a computer. I bought it for £54 including delivery off eBay but later found it at Ebuyer for just over £40.
INSTALLING
Installing it was pretty easy. I just turned off my computer, pulled out the power for safe measure, removed the back plate at an available PCI slot position, slotted the card in and then screw it down. That was the hardware installation done with. The rest was just to plug the power back in, fire up the computer and lastly install the drivers and software for the JetWay card from the CD provided.
THE SOFTWARE
Once tuned, the Channel Panel lets me choose channels by double-clicking on the channel name. This is assuming I'm at the computer and I think this easy enough but the channels in the list are not numbered and there is no way to change the order. The channels also do not correspond to the default channel number that's found in TV guides. i.e. abc1 channel is channel 15 (according to my TV Guide), but channel 15 is 'BBC Asian Net.' radio. I don't like the lack of customisability with the software as well the organisation of the channels. There is no way around it unless Jetway releases a software update.
The software can record and can be scheduled to record TV channels like with a VCR or DVD Recorder. The Scheduled Recording Agent is easy to use but because the channels are not numbered, I have to literally 'count' down the list of channels (which includes Radio stations) until I find the one I want to record. Let's say I want to record one of the late night, saucy, Channel Five movies. Do I set number 5 as the channel to record? No! Channel 5 appears as 37 in my Channel Panel! I had to count down to 37. The only thing I can do is to do for the numbering issue is to 'Edit' each channel name manually, or at least do the ones that I would record. If I re-tune the software, then I lose all my edited names and some channels will have changed positions in the ordering. The channels and radio stations aren't completely grouped together either despite them showing in the same list. I can filter the list to only display certain TV channels, Radio, etc. but the channel number is based on the All Channels list.
I do like how the Scheduled Recording Agent lets you create a single task for recurring recordings. For example, Futurama was on in the mornings every weekday at 9am, so I set it to start recording Channel 4 (number 5 for me, annoyingly) at 9:00 with duration of 30 minutes. I then select 'Every Monday to Friday' from a drop down box. I think that is a good inclusion to the software as it saves me making a recording task for each day. There are other choices like every Weekend or I can choose specific days each week if there's a programme I want to record on a specific day each week. I like this flexibility for scheduling but when recording, it brings up the TV viewing window and I'd prefer to be able to run everything in the background. Especially if I'm recording something to watch later while I'm at the computer.
I seem to be able to receive 30 TV channels including the British terrestrial BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4, and Channel 5 channels. A lot of the channels are boring but there are a few good ones, such as 'The HITS', a music channel. I was able to watch abc1 (lots of US sitcoms) for a few days but then lost access to it for some reason, and I'm trying to work that out as I like that channel. (See end of review for a list of channels I receive). The 'Scrambled' channels are Cartoon Network, Discovery Time, Boomerang and UKTV Food. Due to licensing reasons, there is no way to pay for or to receive these channels unless you get Cable/Sky/Digital. Freeview is not the answer. Something else I don't like about the software is how muting it mutes the Master Volume on my PC. This was probably easier to do for the programmer who made it but just because I want to mute the TV tuner software doesn't always mean I want to mute everything else. Video seems a bit out of sync but not by very much but once recorded, the video seems fine, and this is 'after' updating the software to the latest so the update is hardly that big of an improvement. When I press the record button, it pauses and takes a few seconds for it to return to get back to the video. Same when stopping and although this is minor, it is a bit annoying.
Watching TV is easy to start up as well as recording and taking 'Snaps' (pictures of what you're watching). Picture quality is very good and so is the capture quality. You can plug your DVD player or VCR into the Composite or S-Video to record stuff to your PC. You do need a fair amount of Hard Disk Drive space though as recording can go into the Gigabytes (1GB = 1,024MB (Megabytes) approx) in file size. Oddly, it managed to squeeze 14 hrs 20 minutes of video into an MPEG file of 1.89GB one time but only managed to squeeze 9 hrs 50 minutes into a big 7.44GB MPEG file the next time. I like how the first one is so small for that much video but I would have liked for the big one to be of a smaller size. Usually, I record about 1 hr of shows and they seem to be just over 1GB in size so I don't know how it works out. I think it would be better if I can edit these settings.
I bought a signal booster to use with my antenna to improve the reception because it kept getting jerky' whenever I moved. I like the design of the antenna supplied since it's magnetic but it's not very good unless you can stick it to somewhere really high with no obstructions. The wire isn't really that long so it's not easy and there isn't always a metal surface to stick it to. Even with my booster, my picture still jerks whenever I 'get in the way' of the signal but this isn't the product's fault. The software also has editing and DVD burning features so you can put what you've recorded onto DVD. The MPEG editing feature is difficult to use and although the progress slider is responsive, the video takes a long time to catch up. It's also not very intuitive to use either so it's worth using alternative software.
The buttons in the controls window are too small and the icons are not that easy to interpret. They made it so this main window looks like a remote-control and it is separate from the Channel Panel and video window. I've found that the software isn't as stable either. It crashed during a scheduled recording once for no reason. As a result, I missed Futurama on that day. I had also found the software to crash frequently when I first acquired the card and was playing about with it. This crashing problem went away for a while but later, got to the point where the software didn't start up at all. I found it to be a driver problem but no idea why it happened. Reinstalling didn't help and I eventually bought a different DVB-T card so didn't bother trying to fix the problem. It was only a software issue and installing the card on another computer worked.
The software also has an EPG/iEPG feature. This is basically like VideoPlus but apparently, if a programme you have set to record is rescheduled to a later time, the EPG programming will know this and will still manage to record your programme for you. When I open the EPG window, I get a VERY small list of programs. The programmes I want are never in there so I uncheck 'Current EPG', which opens a little web browser thing with some sort TV guide website. This little browser can't be maximised and I've left with a lot of scrolling to do. The site only lets me see when programmes are on with a description of each one, just like a regular TV guide. The EPG is a bit useless if it doesn't display more programmes to choose from and if I can't search for what I want. Maybe it is just this Jetway software that has badly implemented EPG functions? You are not able to filter the EPG programmes by channels, which is very disappointing. The lack of channels to choose from is also a bit useless.
It has Picture-in-Picture and channel preview as well as Teletext. I have not really managed to get them to work properly so didn't bother with them. Lastly, something I'm not too keen on is how the software displays the video. I use 'Theatre Mode' with TV-Out from my graphics card and videos I play on my computer appear full screen on my TV with most programs regardless of whether it is full screen or not on my PC. For example, I play a movie file on my PC and shrink the window to a small size to the corner but the video picture is played in full screen on my TV. This lets me watch files played on my computer full screen on my TV while letting me get on with work on my PC. Unfortunately, because of the way the TV card displays the picture, the video signal is not recognised as a 'video' so what I see on my PC is what I see on my TV. I cannot view the digital TV full screen on my TV because I use a high resolution of 1280x1024 on my PC (I have a 19" TFT) and only have a small 14" TV. Even when watching TV full screen on my PC, my TV does not display the whole picture, which is why the Theatre Mode is necessary. If I had a bigger TV then this may not be a problem (now if only I had a plasma to connect my PC to!).
THE REMOTE
The remote control is slim and looks ugly but it feels quite sturdy. Also, it has some good buttons such as Zoom, Preview, Record, as well as a 'SNAP' button to take a picture of what you are currently watching. I like the buttons included on the remote are really good. The Power button can even shut down the computer. I do have to point the remote straight at the receiver though. The infrared receiver has a cord around just under 1 metre and is plugged into the back of the TV card
SUPPORT
If you ever lose the CD, the software and drivers or want an update, then they can be downloaded from the Jetway website. The site looked rather amateurish at first but I even managed to download the driver at almost top speed with a 2Mbit broadband connection, which is very good. However, they recently revamped the site and now it looks MUCH nicer than before. However, I can't find the product information page for this card anymore on there. All my emails seem to bounce back when I try to contact the site so that's not particularly good.
GOOD POINTS
• Picture quality is superb (same for capture quality and recording quality) • Turn you PC into a Digital TV Recorder. • Saves you from buying a DVD recorder. • Schedule TV Recordings • Costs slightly less than other DVB cards (so long as you don't buy it on eBay!) • Remote control has good functions
BAD POINTS
• Picture seems ever so slightly out-of-sync with sound sometimes (but fine if recorded) • Channels are difficult or impossible to manage in the software. • Channels do not use the default numbers like what TV guides and Freeview boxes use. • Channels are not numbered in the Channel Panel list of channels • Software looks ugly and is all in separate little windows. • Software can be unstable and crashes without any reason. • Buttons on the software are too small and the icons are hard to distinguish. • iEPG function seems useless in this software • Antenna provided is not very strong (you may want to buy a signal booster)
VERDICT
Not recommended. Freeview and a DVB-T TV card for your PC is definitely worth having since it saves you from buying a Freeview box and TV if you do not have one already. Also, since you can capture video from your DVD player, VCR, etc, you do not need a DVD Recorder or HDD Recorder as you can use your PC instead. You're likely to have a computer already but not necessarily a DVD/HDD Recorder. You do need a fairly high spec. PC though. You can also watch stuff on your TV using a RF Out connector but I couldn't get it to work properly so can't comment further.
The card itself is fine but I think the software is badly made and completely rubbish. It's the software that lets me use the card so it's very important for it to be easy to use. The channels are impossible to organise and the software windows are not that nice to look at either. The software has a few good points but I think the bad points overshadow the good. You can find a different DVB-T card at around the same price with better software so I do not recommend the JetWay card. I would recommend paying a bit more for an AVerMedia DVB-T card (which I've bought already) which has much better software.
Thanks for reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TECHNICAL BITS
~ Minimum System Requirements
• PC with Pentium III 800 processor, 128MB RAM or above • Free PCI 2.2 Compliant slot • Graphic Card (Support Microsoft Direct X 9.0 or above) • Sound Card (SoundBlaster 16 Compatible Sound Card) • 1GB HD Space • CD-ROM Drive (For software installation) • Work UHF/VHF Antenna • Available Terrestrial Signal in your region • Microsoft Windows ® 2000/XP
~ TV Channels available:
ITV1 / ITV2 / ITV3 / ITV4 / ITV News / Channel 4 / E4 / More 4 / BBC ONE / BBC TWO / BBC NEWS 24 / CBBC Channel / 302 / 301 / CBeebies / Men & Motors / Ideal World / / UKTV Br'tIdeas / TMF / The HITS / More 4+1 / Five / QVC / abc1 (Lots of US sitcoms) / Bid TV / Price-drop TV / E4+1 / UKTV History / Sky Travel / Sky Sports News / Sky News / Teachers TV
~ Radio stations:
BBC Asian Net / 1Xtra BBC / BBC 7 / BBC 6 Music / BBC 5L SportsX / BBC R5 Live / BBC Parliament / Q / Magic / The Hits Radio / BBC World Sv. / OneWord / Smooth FM / Kerrang! / Smash Hits! / Kiss / BBC Radio 1 / BBC Radio 2 / BBC Radio 3 / BBC Radio 4 / heat / MOJO / Ttext Holidays / 3C / Premier Radio / Talk SPORT
The channels are Terrestrial channels that you do not have to pay to receive (except for the BBC ones which I'm sure most of you are already paying for through the rip-off TV license). Channels may vary depending on where you are.
For example:
abc1 is not available in Wales.
My favourites (when there are interesting programmes at least):
• abc1: A lot of US sitcoms. Sometimes 6 hours straight of a particular sitcom. Lots of adverts though. Only available in the UK between 6am and 6pm. • TMF: Celebrity lifestyle • The HITS: Music
