ECS EZ-TV Tuner Card

If you have a PC stashed away in a back room or bedroom and don't have room for a TV, then a TV tuner card could solve your problems. The EZ-TV card is a good example of what to expect. It plugs straight into your PC via a spare PCI slot and lets you watch television on your monitor.

However, before you get started, there are a lot of cables to connect, including the TV and radio aerials and the remote control receiver. Then there's a ton of InterVideo applications to install. We were glad to see that ECS provides a 'one-touch' install, which loads all of the applications onto your PC at the click of one button.

Once that's done, you're finally ready to roll. We found the software surprisingly easy to set up and it's got an auto-tune facility to get all of your channels tuned in.

The remote control lets you do everything from the comfort of your chair, including time-shift recording TV programmes, playing back a recording and programming the video. The size of your hard disk limits how much video you can record but we'd suggest having at least 10Gb free to get the most out of it.

For the price, it's a comprehensive package that saves space when you haven't got room for a separate TV.

Contact: Protac International Computers 0870 120 5730
www.ecs.uk.com