Diamond TVW750USB ATI Theater HD 750 USB TV Tuner

For the $35 I paid for this I was expecting to be disappointed - BUT I was pleasantly surprised. This is the 5th TV tuner that I've owned (all the others were from the brand that starts with an "H" - can't remember it off hand). Three were internal PC cards and one was a USB dongle.The previous USB dongle broke because It was attached to a stiff coax cable and the connection was poorly soldered. The diamond should not have this problem as it construction braces for this.I have Comcast cable and over the last few years most all analog channels are gone replaced with digital. The other tuners I still had would pickup digital over the air broadcasts but NOT unscrambled digital channels over cable like my digital TV(s) will do if I bypass the cable box.Since this was sold by Amazon if it didn't work I could easily return it so I gave it a shot. I does pickup all unscrambled digital stations just like my digital TV(s) do. It seems to work fine and I've had NO problems with it. It comes with it's own TV suite that works really well and also lets you record.I was also worried as I have a computer running Windows 8 - 64 bit but it had no problems with it EXCEPT for Windows 8 Media Center. Media Center NO longer comes standard with Windows 8! It is now a paid add-on for like $39. Those of us that went to Windows 8 in 2012 were given a code for a free copy of Media Center if you were lucky enough to see that online and apply for it early enough.Media Center sees the TV dongle but will NOT find any channels over a cable when scanning. I haven't tried media Center with it since 2012 so that may be fixed. Also when Media Center tries to access the Diamond dongle it screws it up somehow. The only fix it to unplug it and plug it back in. Then it will work fine again with Diamonds software. My solution was to just not use Media Center with it and everything is fine.Another real nice feature is that in addition to the coax in line they include a mini USB cable that has both RCA jacks & S-Video. Thus if you want to record from an old VCR or DVD player this works fine. $35 is a great price.

I bought this item because I really liked the price, it said it would work better with my graphics card, and it could do the same as any other tuner out there on the market. I had high hopes for it and when I received it, I was more than excited to get everything set up and started.The box was packed nicely and it came with everything in the description: the Tuner itself, a cable line connector, an antenna receiver, a composite video tip converter so you can plug like a DVR or cable box into it, a cap for the tuner, the CD with the software (if all else fails their website has the 32 and 64bit drivers available, never fear. I checked myself), and the instructions.The first two weeks I had it, it was awesome! I was able to record all my shows and it was an easy setup with Windows Media Center and life was just peachy. The tuner worked really well and didn't skip a beat or anything of the sort. But then towards the end of the second week, my shows that were recorded were all messed up and I was kind of confused. So I tested the cable line by putting it directly into the TV and it worked fine, picture was clear. When I plugged it back into the computer, the image was glitchy, there was no sound whatsoever, and it would crash on me. It was really frustrating. Then I decided to uninstall it and reinstall it and it worked for a couple of days, and then I had the same problem. I decided I am just going to return and get my money back.All in all, this is a great tuner when it works. I would not recommend this tuner. If you do buy just be cautious and watch its performance.

Where do I start with this TV tuner? Well let's start from the end... Bottom line once it works, it works great! The picture clarity is fantastic and it works with Windows Media Center. If you're not an advanced PC user I wouldn't recommend this tuner because there are a lot of steps that need to be taken to get it working. Keep in mind I have Windows 7 64-bit so your issues or lack thereof may vary. The drivers on the CD aren't worth the disc it's burned on and the Diamond website has no real help. I found if you plug in the tuner then install drivers Windows won't recognize the tuner and it'll throw a error. After going around in circles I even was able to "Blue screen" Windows. Here are the steps that worked for me but keep in mind they might not work for you. Use the information for just that, informational purposes.1. Left the tuner unplugged.2. Downloaded the drivers from the Diamond website for both the tuner and remote fix.3. Installed those drivers.4. Plugged the tuner in and it was found.5. Started up Windows Media Center and setup the tuner in it.6. It found 5 channels, BOO! Needed to add the missing ones manually.7. Step 6 was difficult because I needed to find the actual number of each channel and the corresponding guide. Did a web search found the information8. Finally was done!Pros: This is a great tuner with fantastic picture qualityIt works with Media Center, well sorta.It does support Clear Qam and does work with HD channels.Cons: The driver disc is worthlessCould lock-up your PCVery hard to setupThe Diamond website has no real help.Need to do manual channel and guide setup in Windows Media Center (I'm not sure if it's the tuner or Windows Media Center)