Computers and television, the best of both worlds and ordinarily most of us are unable to combine the two, right? Wrong! Hercules allow us to combine the two and then throw in  a video recorder for good measure. Smart TV Stereo is a TV card that will allow you to work on the PC and still be able to stay on top of your favourite shows. For someone like me who lives on their computer but still likes the telly, this is a blessing in disguise.

One of the first things I do have to tell you is that setting this card up would have to be one of the easiest things I have ever installed onto the computer. It literally was plug and play, though it did hiccup when installing drivers for XP as they hadn't submitted the files for certification. Don't worry however as it doesn't hurt anything.

It's nice when a card makes the job as easy as finding a PCI slot, popping the card in and closing the lid and then that's it. As you can see from the diagram above (taken from the box), there are numerous connections you can choose to get the most out of the product. The way that the card is designed will enable you to get it up and running in no time.
 

I am pleased to report that this product also has an extremely clear and crisp picture. I tested it using a standard coaxial aerial connection as that is the most common connection for most of us to view free to air. The Smart TV Stereo has a coaxial input and quickly and easily auto tuned itself to pick up Channels 2, 7, 9, and 10. I did find ti took quite a bit longer to get SBS on the UHF frequency. The depth of the colors shown was almost comparable to my television and after hours of testing I was more than happy with both the picture and sound.

Smart TV also comes in a mono card for the budget conscious. It shares many of the same attributes as the card featured in this review. RRP $129

So now we have the ability to watch TV on our computer and even get picture in picture by selecting to 'tack' the TV screen to always be on top. The screen can be resized to whatever you like and even located in a corner of the screen so you can do your normal work and watch some tele at the same time.

The really neat thing about this card and software is that it also doubles up as your video recorder too and I can tell you now that it's easier to set this card to record and user the timer features than it is to actually program my real VCR to do the same thing. I am constantly surprised by this card every time I use it and each time I discover something new.

A feature that I liked on the card is that it allows for simultaneous playback and recording on the hard disk. Miss a part of the movie that you like? Just play it back whilst the hard drive continues to record the show you like. This feature has earned the term timeshifting. Choosing the quality of the recording is easy too, with both MPEG1 and MPEG2 being natively supported. This can be edited with the software provided with the card and easily burned to VCD for later viewing. This is also relevant as you can easily hook up the card to your VCR and record from it to your hard drive. A great way for safely transferring family movies in a high quality format to CD or DVD. I'd recommend Nero for the final transfer back onto any recordable medium.

One of the weird things that I noticed about the card was that initially I could only get playback in mono sound. Despite what I did with the system and the card, I couldn't get stereo. Then about a day later, the sound started coming through in stereo, so I can only surmise that it'll work in stereo for everyone and that my system was at fault.

Taking a look around at the back of the card you will be staggered at how damn cool it is. There is a connection for anything you could imagine including DVD players and analogue cameras. Considering that there are not too many devices now that do actively support analogue devices, I was impressed that this card did so at such a good price (current RRP $189).

Finally, the card also comes with an infra red remote control and receiver, integrating the device as a true member of the home entertainment family. This is a quality, value for money piece of hardware for your computer. This card is sweet!

- Tory Favro