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The Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert tuner leaves an unclear impression. On one hand, it integrates the 10-bit CX23881 ADC from Conexant and has a user-friendly user guide; on the other hand, the audio quality in the FM mode is not that good.

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At first I didn't want to test the Leadtek WinFast TV DV2000 tuner -its circuitry is similar to the TV 2000 Expert reviewed some time ago.The developers just added the IEEE1394 (FireWire) controller, but it'sthe digital video epoch, and such controllers are widely used today. Besides,the DV camera support is not directly related with the tuner. It's justa kind of a bonus.

But the tests weren't that useless.

Accessory pack

In contrast to the small package of the TV 2000 Expert, this box is thebiggest and heaviest I even seen among TV tuners.

Because of the DV interface the board looks like a full-size video card(except 3D monsters).

The box contains

Tuner
Remote control
External IR receiver for remote control
MiniDIN 9-pin splitter for external video and audio sources
Cable for sound card's line-in
FM antenna
Additional card with 2 IEEE1394 ports (optional)
Tuner installation guide
Software manual
4 software CDs

The software suite coincides with that of the Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert, except the Ulead DVD MovieFactory SE updated up to v2.5.

It's used for creation of VCD, SVCD or DVD.

The version of the WinFast DVD (WinDVD 3.1) is the same.

Design

The board size was already mentioned:

The design differs a lot from that of the TV 2000 Expert. Below is theFireWire TSB43AB23 controller from Texas Instruments which is often integratedinto mainboards, and the PCI-PCI bridge from HiNT that supports operationof two devices on one bus.

The ADC (Conexant CX23881) is moved closer to the board edge.

Under the radio unit are connectors for brackets with additional ports.

I don't understand why they removed a connector for sound card's AUX-in,sound goes through the line-in. No comments.

The tuner's features are identical to those of the Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert, but for the FireWire.

The IEEE1394 controller is standard and functions properly.

Testbed

Athlon 2800XP (Barton) CPU
Gigabyte 7VAX Mainboard (KT400 Chipset)
ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB DDR2 Video Card
1 GB RAM (Samsung 512 MB PC3200 + Kingmax 512 MB PC3200)
Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Sound Card
FUJITSU MPG3204AT E Hard Drive
Windows XP Professional (SP1) ENG and Windows XP Professional (SP1) RUS

Connection

If we add the 1394 controller to the standard scheme we will get the following:

The same is about the connectors (plus an additional bracket).

The FM connector doesn't make it difficult to install the tuner, but theantenna connects very tightly. However, this is the cost of the additionalinterface.

The 9-pin S-Video + 3 RCA adapter is used for connection of input audioand video signals.

Tuning

Fortunately, Leadtek accounted for the problems mentioned last time, andon November 26 the company releasedWinFast PVR 3.0.9.26 and WinFast FM 1.52. I do recommendthem instead of the CD versions.

After installation of the tuner the device manager looks the followingway:

the IEEE1394 controller was found by the Windows XP itself

Also, there's the WinFast Wizard icon for quick access to all programsin the tray

The WinFast PVR

now well works with the Russian frequency range, the channels are detectedwhere they should be.

Besides, you can choose the Russia (PAL) standard for unique regionswith this broadcast type.

Sensitivity is high as before. Screening is ok as well.

Features and operation of the WinFast PVR and WinFast FM were already discussed in the reviews of Leadtek WinFast Cinema and Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert.

Quality

Have a look at the default color settings in the previous version (on theleft) and in the new one (on the right).

Now comes quality.

Quality looks decent. I don't even compare it anymore with the Philips7134 :-) .

Sound will be touched upon a bit later.

Image capture and processing

Xoro AEP-810 DVD player, the War movie, 5 zone, PAL.

Composite signal


S-Video

The Conexant CX23881 looks perfect in the PAL.

Finally, the WinFast PVR supports MPEG4.

FM tuner

WinFast FM benefits most of all from the new version.

Please, compare the settings of the WinFast FM of the TV 2000Expert at the moment of writing the review

and those of the TV DV2000.

The previous version of the WinFast FM played Mono with noother options. Quality in that case couldn't be spoken about at all.

I must say that there are more lows even in the Stereo mode comparedto Philips713x based tuners (downloada 20-sec clip, wma, 353KB). However, it must please those who are not indifferentto audio centers with V-Bass, X-Bass and other such functions :-) .

Sensitivity

Unfortunately, these settings seem to have no effect on selectivity - thetuner has found 93 to 98 FM stations though we have only 13. Earlier itworked much better, and now I have to remove fake stations manually.

Besides, while recording the WinFast FM sometimes displayed thefollowing messages.

Well I look forward to new versions of the WinFast FM, taking into account the similar disease of the Leadtek WinFast A180 TDH Cinema.