In this day and age, computers can almost do anything and Video card developers Hercules takes the PC that one step further by introducing the Smart PCI TV Card that allows computer users to watch the television on their humble desktop PC's. For the uninitiated, a TV Card (or TV tuner card) allows you directly connect a coaxial cable or TV antenna into your computer that then enables you to directly watch the television on your computer.

The installation of the Smart PCI TV card was extremely simple and all it needed was a spare PCI slot on the motherboard. We tested the card on our test machine that was a Celeron 1000MHz, 384MB RAM and a 20GB hard drive. The installation itself took under 5 minutes to install and load all the relevant software onto the computer. Once the card was installed and detected by Windows XP, we then proceeded to plug a coaxial TV cable into the back of the card and then tune in our television stations.

The software (Cyberlink Power VCR II) that is included with the card allows you to perform a variety of features. For example, the software allows you to use the card as an MPEG-2 recorder to "virtually" store your recorded programs on the hard drive. This then allows you to copy your favourite programs on a blank CD or DVD for flawless storage, unlike video tapes that degrade after time.

Analog video camcorder owners will also be pleased to discover that this card allows you to connect your camcorder without the need to buy an expensive analog capture card. The card can also be used to connect a variety of other devices into your computer that include a video recorder and even a DVD player.

Once the television channels were tuned by the software, we were then able to watch all the commercial stations flawlessly on our computer monitor. Unlike a television that has a set resolution and frequency range, we were viewing programs in resolutions that ranged from 800x600 to 1024x768 and higher. The software also allows you to capture screen shots from your favourite television shows and view up to 16 channels at once. The video quality of the TV card was spectacular and as stated earlier, it is probably the clearest picture you will see on an LCD or CRT monitor without getting digital TV. The only unfortunate thing about this version of the Smart TV card is that it does not support stereo sound but not many computer owners own the best speaker systems for their computers anyway.

The beauty of software that comes with the card is that you can set the television window to the foreground while you do work in other windows. This allows you to keep on working while you watch your favourite shows. The software also allows you to have various window sizes if needed and you can also watch the television full screen if necessary. One of the most impressive features of the Smart TV card is that it supports time shifting. Time shifting allows you to rewind a movie while you are recording it, so if you miss a bit, you do not have to stop recording to rewind it.

The card also contains a variety of input ports that include Audio in, Video in, S-Video in and coaxial in. The card also supports a audio-out option that allows you to connect your TV card into your sound card but this is not necessary.

In conclusion the Smart PCI TV card would be a great addition to your computer setup that not only allows you to watch television on your computer, either through a foreground or background window but also allows you to connect a variety of other devices such as a analog camcorder, video recorder and DVD player. For a price around $140, this multipurpose card is not only made for the computer specialist but also the home user. Highly Recommended!

- Andrew B