AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 HDTV Card

A no-frills but good quality HD Tuner card for MCE

Strengths: Easy install and integrates seemlessly with Windows MCE. Inexpensive way to get HDTV.

Weakness: Just the card included. Bad antenna input location. Need another card for SD if you want to install Windows MCE.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this card. I just put it in an empty PCI slot, and after installing Windows MCE, I had to download the drivers from the AverTV website (they give the address on the box). Then when you run Media Center, it's all ready to work. It includes another set of inputs if you want to record Standard Def. programming from your satellite or cable set-top-box. Once I installed...
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Overall, I'm very pleased with this card. I just put it in an empty PCI slot, and after installing Windows MCE, I had to download the drivers from the AverTV website (they give the address on the box). Then when you run Media Center, it's all ready to work. It includes another set of inputs if you want to record Standard Def. programming from your satellite or cable set-top-box.
Once I installed the antenna (not included) and aimed it, I was picking up digital broadcasts.

A couple of notes, like someone else said, they put the antenna input way up at the top of the card. This made connecting the antenna tedious, but it was do-able with my case. Just took awhile. Also, this is meant for OEM installation. That means that there is just the card and the address to the website included. No cables, antenna, drivers, or directions.

A lesser known fact, Windows MCE needs at least one SD tuner to install. This card does not qualify, so you need another card just to install MCE. I found a cheap one for like $40. I think Vista Home Premium doesn't have that limitation, but not 100% sure.

Also, if you don't have Windows MCE, you can download software from the website that lets you use it on any version of Windows XP. It seems to have decent features, including recording shows, and a programming guide. However, the picture didn't look as good, and the software had a tendency to freeze up if I lost signal.

Overall, I liked the card. It does what it is supposed to.

By gman757 - Feb 7, 2007

good HDTV card for the money without extras

Strengths: price, OTA ATSC HDTV

Weakness: no hardware MPEG2 decoder

it works as the second hdtv tuner in my HTPC setup.

Initially it doesn't work well, but after I moved it to another PCI slot it's stable - some issues with IRQ.

If you don't need Analog TV then that card is the right one as it's well priced card when you can get it for about $60.

By mikek753 - Nov 7, 2006

Avermedia MCE A180 HDTV PCI Card

Strengths: Price and value as well as easy installation and intergration with MCE 2005

Weakness: None as of yet.

I purchased the Avermedia A180 for my homebuilt MCE 2005 machine. I receive OTA digital broadcasts VIA an outdoor antenna. I had absolutely no problem with installing, or MCE 2005 detection and operation of this card. It is the second ATSC tuner in my machine and now I can record two HD broadcasts at the same time. The only thing I will be needing in the future will be more hard drive real estate...
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I purchased the Avermedia A180 for my homebuilt MCE 2005 machine. I receive OTA digital broadcasts VIA an outdoor antenna. I had absolutely no problem with installing, or MCE 2005 detection and operation of this card. It is the second ATSC tuner in my machine and now I can record two HD broadcasts at the same time. The only thing I will be needing in the future will be more hard drive real estate for the HD recordings.If you want a OTA digital TV tuner and are using MCE 2005 this is a great card for the price.

By byouh - Oct 10, 2006

Great HDTV tuner with support for Free OTA broadcasts without the ATI hassle

Strengths: Works well after driver installation and software from their website avermedia.com . Crystal clear signal from my small indoor $20 antenna. Support for video inputs.

Weakness: Does not come with ANYTHING but the card. No drivers, remote, cds... nada.. nothing.. Only works in Media Center 2005 if you already have or are purchasing a compatible analog tv tuner.

I brought this card over the ATI hdtv wonder due to all the bugs in ATI's software. Read the multitude of negative comments on the HDTV wonder reviews. I wanted something simple to install that works well and thats what Avermedia delivered. Just install the card, download the drivers and software, install and tada~ it works. Now if only every damn computer device worked like that. It'll work with...
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I brought this card over the ATI hdtv wonder due to all the bugs in ATI's software. Read the multitude of negative comments on the HDTV wonder reviews. I wanted something simple to install that works well and thats what Avermedia delivered.

Just install the card, download the drivers and software, install and tada~ it works. Now if only every damn computer device worked like that. It'll work with media center right off the bat with just the drivers if you have a compatible analog tuner.

Once its up, you'll be amazed at the quality of the hd broadcasts. You can see the close details of all the layers of makeup Jay Leno is wearing. Time shifting and recording is all supported in the software although it may take you a few minutes to get familiar with all the functions.

I use the inputs (theres an s-video, rca and standard audio inputs) to connect my Playstation 2 and Gamecube to the computer. Works decently. Quality of the video input is so-so, but thats usually the case for all video inputs on computers. At least theres none of that god-forsaken lag thats prominent on ATI cards which makes games unplayable.

All in all... its a good card. Very plain and simple, but these days that can be a luxury.

By riceknight - Jul 18, 2006

Budget tuner, see if it lasts

Strengths: Inexpensive, install to MCE 2005 simple

Weakness: Quality not too great, location of coax connection horrible

I know it sounds like it shouldn't matter, but the coax connection is so high that it's a pain to connect a coax cable to this card (especially if you have large hands). I bought two of these cards for my HTPC and connecting these things was the worst part. Dropping a 1/4" would have made a huge difference. The picture quality seems decent, but I don't have anything to compare it to (although I...
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I know it sounds like it shouldn't matter, but the coax connection is so high that it's a pain to connect a coax cable to this card (especially if you have large hands). I bought two of these cards for my HTPC and connecting these things was the worst part. Dropping a 1/4" would have made a huge difference. The picture quality seems decent, but I don't have anything to compare it to (although I may be judging a little harshly because I was already so frustrated!).

I would suggest immediately updating the drivers, which isn't difficult at all. Overall, not a bad product, but you may want to consider one of the more established, higher quality HD-tuner cards.

By scottyja - Apr 16, 2006