Compro VideoMate Action Ultra

INTRODUCTION

I work the best when watching TV. At home I have a nice big TV on the side of my computer which always is on showing a movie or just a random TV-channel. Obviously at work I cannot do the same and need to solve this in another way. Luckily Compro came to the rescue and let me test one of their latest external TV-Tuners, the Compro VideoMate Action Ultra tuner.

TECH SPECS AND FEATURES


VideoMate Action Ultra is a nice little compact TV tuner box. Let’s take a closer look at what we are getting:

• High-speed USB 2.0 transmission
• Real-time TV viewing (ok, that was pretty obvious)
• Support S-video, composite video and stereo audio input
• MPEG 1/2/4 format recording
• Timeshifting
• Still frame capture
• Video/audio capturing
• FM-radio
• Stereo sound
• No need for an external power adapter.
• 44-key full function card size remote controlNo need for external power adaptor
• Has a 3D Y/C separation chip to separate the video inputs from TV and composite into Luminance and Chrominance signals for a crystal clear picture for watching, recording, and capturing.
• ComproPVR 2, ComproDVD 2, ComproFM 2, and Ulead PhotoExplorer 8 SE software
• Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE, Ulead VideoStudio 7 SE

The VideoMate Action Ultra really is compact, something I know most users will like. It is also interesting that it doesn’t need an external power adapter. All power is provide through the USB 2.0 bus. This though means you got to make sure it can provide enough juice. I had some issues on my work-PC where the front USB-port didn’t provide enough power.

Composite, SVIDEO and Line-In. On the back you have
TV antenna/cable and FM-antenna

INSTALLATION


Installing the VideoMAte Action Ultra was a breeze. I first installed the drivers and applications from the CD and then added the little tuner box. As I mentioned before it draws power from the USB bus. It does this by having a small cable going from the power connection on the box to the USB connector that you then insert into the computer. It looks a bit cumbersome but works well.

Both cables hook together at the end and are inserted into the USB-bus.

I recommend getting the latest versions of both the driver and applications from www.comprousa.com right away since it fixes some very nasty bugs that the shipping drivers/applications have.