The world is changing. Over-the-air HDTV broadcasting is coming at you like a freight train, so you’ll be able to tune in to digital TV no matter where you travel in the US (read about the mandatory HDTV deadline here).
Many people bring several portable devices with them to keep themselves entertained (usually when they would otherwise be bored out of their skulls). Just about every form of entertainment now comes in a portable form… you can put your music on an iPod or other MP3 player, play your favorite movies in the car with a portable DVD player, and you can even bring along a Sony PSP or Nintendo DS to game while you’re on the go. Let us not forget the road warrior or nomad student who is constantly on the move. Why not have portable TV to tap into all of that new digital content floating around in our atmosphere?
The AutumnWave OnAir GT is a new USB device that transforms your laptop into a full-blown HDTV PVR. There are several products competing in this space (like Pinnacle’s PCTV HD reviewed here), so what makes the OnAirGT worth your time?
It connects using a USB cable, so it is universally compatible with any laptop or PC made in the past 10 years (assuming it has the horsepower).
Highlights
- Watch HDTV in full screen or in a window
- Receive local TV stations broadcasting free HDTV (or use a cable connection supporting QAM)
- Record or playback your favorite show in full High Definition
- Pause and Resume Digital TV
- No Internet connection or satellite required
- Includes nVidia PureVideo Decoder license, which provides superb quality and Dolby 5.1 audio
- No subscription fees
- Full-size programmable remote control
- Self-powered by USB port
- Uses same LG tuner found in $5000 HDTV sets (which improves reception and functionality over a silicon-based ‘stick’ tuner)
- Can accept input from S-Video, Composite Video, Left/Right audio connections
- Uses either included antenna or existing cable TV jack to tune Digital and Analog TV
HDTV (ATSC / Analog TV (NTSC) / QAM Digital Cable
- Supports HDTV resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 (ATSC)
- Watch Digital (ATSC), Analog (NTSC) (Even if you are in an area where digital cable broadcasting is unavailable, you can still watch analog TV over-the-air (captured by antenna) and cable TV analog broadcasts.), or Digital Cable (unencrypted QAM) TV (The tuner processes unencrypted high resolution signals in both QAM64 and QAM 256.)
- The 5th-generation LG Electronics tuner/demodulator offers unsurpassed metro and fringe area reception (The fifth generation VSB chip manufactured by LG has enhanced features that improve reception of digital TV signals even in fringe areas. It supports Terrestrial Digital TV (VSB: Vestigial Side Band) and Digital Cable TV (QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)) with virtually no multi-path problems.
Playback Features
- Pause Live TV and Timeshift (Pause TV at your convenience, and press Play when you want to continue) using DVR features (Digital TV)
- Playback HD stream files (ATSC) (Playback previously recorded material in original quality)
- Select from six speeds for fast forwarding or rewinding through recorded files
Recording Features
- Schedule to record (The Scheduled Recording function allows you to record your favorite shows in your absence. It is possible to set up a schedule to record programs on a daily, weekly, or special occasion basis. If the computer is in Standby or Hibernate, the computer will be automatically powered on to run your scheduled item.) up to 80 programs
- Real-time (The instant record button allows you to save Over-The-Air (OTA) or Cable broadcasts to your hard disk in their native resolution for playback at a later time.) or Scheduled Recording on Digital / Analog TV
- Still image capture (While watching TV, it is possible to capture and save your favorite scene easily in either BMP or JPEG format.) on Digital and Analog TV (JPEG or BMP format)
- Time-shift support(Have you ever had to stop watching TV briefly to answer the phone, go to the door, or for other reasons? When enabled, simply click the Pause button, and the Timeshift function will automatically record up to 120 minutes of any TV program you are watching. Return within 120 minutes, and you can click Play to resume watching your show, without missing any program content.) (Digital TV)
- Record while in time-shifting mode (Have you ever wished you could go back and record a great scene? Now you can! If timeshifting mode is enabled, simply rewind to the beginning of the scene and click the Record button.) (Digital TV)
- Recording during playback (While playing back a file, clicking Record will save a clip to a separate file.) (allows editing / saving of previously recorded material)
- D-VHS (You can use your D-VHS device to record Digital programming from the OnAir HDTV Program. You can also playback (and record) clips from your D-VHS device to your PC’s hard drive.) HD Stream playback and recording (Windows XP only)
- Connect your VCR or Camcorder (Simply connect your Camcorder, VCR, or gaming system to the Composite or S-Video input. Click the Record button to save it as an MPEG-2 file on your computer. You can use various 3rd party utilities to then burn this .MPG file to CD or DVD) to record your favorite tapes to PC
- Connect your favorite gaming console to play and record games on your PC (Connect your favorite video game console to the tuner and use your PC monitor to play your game. Also, record your favorite game sessions so you can play them back for your friends. (Supports up to 720×480))
Audio and Video Features
- Dolby Digital® 5.1 (Equipped with the most up-to-date HDTV decoding engine, you can experience 5.1 output if your sound card supports it. In addition, with an SPDIF port, you can pass the audio to an external sound system.) Channel support (Digital TV)
- AC3 / AAC audio decoding
- Stereo and multiplex sound support
- SPDIF Output for Digital TV through an AAC compatible sound card (not included)
User-Friendly Features
- GT easily fits into pocket, backpack or laptop case
- USB Powered for maximum mobility
- Remote control (The full featured remote control allows you to control the functions of the TV program from a distance. You can also set it up to control your other PC programs.)
- Digital Signal Strength Display makes antenna pointing easy
- Electronic Programming Guide (Electronic Program Guide data is received from Digital TV (OTA) broadcasts. For other sources, our program is compatible with TitanTV’s website.) (EPG) (OTA Digital TV)
- Sleep timer
- Zoom Navigator (You can zoom in on a certain area of the screen while watching TV. The picture can be zoomed from the default (100%) to a maximum of five times of the current TV view (500%).) to select and enlarge the TV picture
- Titan TV integration
- Digital and Analog Closed Caption support
- Wallpaper TV View (live video or captured images as your desktop background)
Requirements
- A Desktop or Laptop computer
- 1GHz or faster CPU
- 512MB RAM
- Windows Vista, XP (SP2), or 2000 (SP4)
- A USB 2.0 port (most computers built since 2004 have at least one)
- A video card supporting DirectX 9 or higher
- Driver and Software (included with the OnAir GT)
The box contains the unit itself, a USB cable, video breakout cable (for recording external video sources), a full-sized remote control, telescoping antenna, a suede-like carrying pouch, driver CD and quick-start guide.
The unit itself looks very simple. Several LEDs on the front show you the status of the unit, but they are not labelled so you really don’t know what they mean (I assume power, signal, and aux). The back of the unit has 3 ports: one for the antenna, one for the break-out video input, and a USB cable. There is now power switch, as the unit receives power from the USB cable itself.
Once connected the unit was very easy to set up: it was actually very painless, especially considering the hours it usually takes to get other tuners we’ve tested up and working.
The AutumnWave OnAirGT USB HDTV tuner outperformed every other PC-based HDTV tuner we compared it to, which picked up more stations with higher gain in the same spot. If you are visiting a densely-populated area then you’ll probably never notice, but it makes a difference once you start to get on the outskirts of a city.
Fitting a “standard” HDTV tuner into a portable box is a challenge, and because of this the OnAirGT Solution is much larger (and therefore not as portable) as some of the “inferior” stick tuners. It is odd that AutumnWave claims this box has superior technology to other “stick” tuners and then throws in a very simple low-gain antenna. We had much better results when we used the antenna included with Pinnacle’s HDTV Pro stick (which has a magnetic base and longer telescopic reach).
Installing the HDTV is a dream compared to other HDTV tuner cards. Solutions from other vendors tend to have flaky Vista support and frustratingly long install times, but the AutumnWave worked flawlessly right from the start, even on the 64-bit version of Vista (no other tuner we’ve tested works 100% in Vista 64). The tuner is immediately recognized in Media Center, and begins working instantly. Having a no-hassle tuner far outweighs perceived advantages of other tuners.
The included software has a LOT of features, but just aren’t very polished. There are several included tools to measure the antenna gain and other utilities, but the included PVR software isn’t very useful beyong watching live TV. You have to set up recordings by time (just like your old VCR), and there didn’t seem to be any guide support. Using the tuner in Windows Media Center is far more satisfying, which is what most users will end up using.
Although it is a little more bulky than other competing products, it is a dream to install and works flawlessly. The next generation of this product should include a higher-gain antenna, more polished software, and a smaller and sexier package. Regardless of these minor usability issues, the tuner performs better than any other on the market currently.
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2 Comment
If the picture is "like a puzzle" then that's probably an incomplete MPEG stream. Test the signal strength. You either need a better antenna or be closer to the signal.
I have OnAir HDTV..this work very good eln regular channel, but went I go to the digital..es soo bad..the pictures like puzzle..and frozen the screnn en my pc..