Reviews for Plextor ConvertX PVR PX-M402U TV Tuner / Video Input Adapter

Plextor ConvertX PX-TV402U Review

Strengths: Hardware DivX encoding, ease of installation, good quality recording, can be used with laptops, supported in Windows and Linux, can use multiple units on the same computer, changing channels is fast

Weakness: Not compatible with Windows MCE, single tuner, RF/Coax TV input only, requires fast computer if multitasking, does not support HDTV, expensive compared to other brands, no remote included

The Plextor ConvertX is a solid DVR solution. Using USB 2.0, it can be used with a laptop (which is what I use primarily). WinDVR 5 and Ulead VideoStudio 8 are both included. They are pretty good, although WinDVR does not provide an experience quite like TiVo since there’s no built-in TV guide and it doesn’t automatically start recording as soon as you start watching. However, video is smooth, recording quality is quite good, and channel changing is the fastest of other programs I’ve tried, including SageTV, BeyondTV, GBPVR, etc. Although it has a hardware encoder, you need a relatively fast computer to do any sort of multitasking (Plextor suggests at least a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz). And finally, the ConvertX is one of the very few DVRs that can record directly in MPEG-4/DivX. This allows for much more recording time given the same amount of hard disk space. However, timeshifting in WinDVR (for pausing live TV) can only be done when recording in MPEG-2.


All in all, the Plextor ConvertX is pretty good. Though what keeps it from being great is the software. And while there are other better programs out there like Meedio (now Yahoo! Go) and Windows XP Media Center Edition, unfortunately they do not support the ConvertX. This really is a shame because the ConvertX is a very capable DVR.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Not the best

Strengths: easy to hookup, easy to setup

Weakness: software has major compatability issues

I had major issues with the included software with this unit. All my video was showing up green when pause/playing and/or recording. I looked it up, and many people have different issues with the software. I could playback video in another video player and it looked good, nice quality and all. I just couldn't use the unit like its meant to be used because of the software problems. I would not recommend this product.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Review for ConvertX PVR Personal Video Recorder...

Strengths: easy to set up. Picture quality is excellent

Weakness: None

I've been very satisfied with the Plextor unit so far. After I received it, the first thing I did was to spool one Hi-8 tape and then make a DVD, I used the functionality of the bundled WinDVD Creator software. It worked excellent, and I was able to watch the DVD I created on my DVD player.

The picture quality for the TV capture is also good. Compared with my old Plextor TV-100u, the new one did a good job. This one cost me more than 100 bucks, but I do think it is worthile for what you paid for.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Beware! This product wont work with MS Vista!!

Strengths: Works fine under XP.

Weakness: Does not support Vista.

According to Plextor customer support, "...has no plans of supporting Microsoft Vista in the future.", so unless you plan on using XP forever, I would skip this one for now.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Plextor ConvertX PVR PX-M402U TV Tuner / Video Input...

Strengths: Hardware is great

Weakness: SOFTWARE...Sucks on toast.

First I want to say the hardware rules. It is based on the WISchip GO7007SB which will hardware encode video up to 740x480 into MPEG-4/2/1 Divx and H.263. However the crappy software that comes with it sevely limits functionality. Ex.. Needs a 2.6 Gig processor for Divx or other MPEG4 due entirely to Windvr which is the software shipped with the PX-TV402U. It also recommends shutting off any other running programs. My 6 year old ATI All-In-Wonder will software encode on a 900 Mhz Athalon. And remember the PX-TV402U has hardware encoding. Even the recording skips on slower machines. Using GoCap which I downloaded from Plextor works on 800 MHZ P3 and while the viewing skips the capture is just fine. Sounds great but the audio codec (QDesign MPEG Audio Codec) won't allow conversion even to PCM in Virtual dub. The software won't allow the capture PCM audio although the card outputs audio that way. It insits on converting the audio to MPEG Layer 2 audio using it's own crappy codec which can't be converted. Also lacking is the ability capture in H.263 or to select anyting but a few limited capture sizes (despite the fact the WISchip GO7007SB supports encoding from 16x16 to 720x480), and the ability to turn off the video display while capturing which is the real culpert.
There is a solution though, and this shows exactly why the software is so bad. Use VirtualDub 1.6.7 to do all your capture. With it you can capture video in Mpeg-4/2/1, Divx AND H.263 in any resolution you want, capture lossless PCM audio to compress later into any form you want, and disable the video display freeing up your CPU. Doing this you can capture 720x480 video with 16 bit pcm audio on a 800 Mhz P3 (and I'm sure a much slower machine) without using more the 5 percent of your CPU while still running other programs. Remember Windvr which comes with the PX-TV402U required a 2.6 Ghz processor to do what a software encoder could do with much less. Here is great piece of hardware that allows you do so much with so little and due to the horrible software shipped with it you practically need to go out and buy new machine to make full use of it.

98% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Plextor ConvertX PVR PX-M402U TV Tuner / Video Input...

Strengths: Picture Quality is decent... Linux 2.6 support is GREAT...

Weakness: I personally don't like having a USB interface... but it works ok :)

This product is great even on Linux. The manufacturer released open source drivers and seems to have an intent to continue supporting the open source community. I'll buy more of their products...

93% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Plextor ConvertX PVR PX-M402U TV Tuner / Video Input...

Strengths: easy setup, no subscription fees

I used it to transfer recordings from two TiVo boxes to my Mac, then edited them and recorded to DVD. Easy to schedule recordings from the internet (Titan TV). The picture is very clear. Better price than buying EyeTV with the same software. I bought directly from the Plextor Store, no problems.

92% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Generally_great

Strengths: Dependable capturing; choices of video formats.

Weakness: Software not so good

I could only record with WinDVR5; the WinDVD Creator 2 keeps crashing when I tryed to capture video with it.
Other problems I have seen: (1)Capture went wrong (stuck) when I tried to open a video file with widows media player. This means you cannot use the computer for other things that consumes a lot of memory or CPU resources.
(2)When I was doing a scheduled recording, I saw an error (Exceptions) message, telling me to click OK to close the application. I did and the video captured was saved and usable. This was acceptable to me.
Other than the problems mentioned above, it works fine and so far.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ConvertX PVR

Strengths: Nice size, works well, simple setup, good results converting VHS tapes to DVD

Weakness: Software can be buggie

Wonderful device, I have used it mainly to convert VHS tapes to DVD. The picture quality has been quite good, considering the age of the tapes. I have had no problems with operating this devise on Windows XP. Does not work with Vista. As a tuner it has worked well, this is an analog devise so it will not pick up HD channels. No biggie - like I said, I use it mainly to convert tapes.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Plextor PVR Plagued with Problems

Strengths: Compatible with Dish Network and Cable | Can Connect Camcorder, VCR or DVD Player and Record Directly to PC!

Weakness: Very Buggy Software | Not Compatible with XP Media Center or Windows Vista

While the quality of this product is high and the learning curve to operate quite low, I have to say I expected more for my buck. The software is *very* buggy, leading to video output on the screen to drop. This usually happens while recording video on dish network or comcast then pause the unit. When you unpause, the screen turns green or black and will not correct until you stop recording. While the recorded content looks fine, you cannot continue to watch TV after pausing and unpausing because of the green or black screen. Support is almost non-existent as well, so this issue and others will go unanswered. I do have to say though, hooking up a VCR to this thing is extremely easy, and I was able to rip all my old home movies to DVD, protecting them for decades to come.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ConvertX PVR Personal Video Recorder PX-TV402U

Strengths: The Plextor PX-TV402U is good product. I used this for couple of my old VHS collection for recording and it turned out to be great. Easy to use without much hassel and lightweight.

Weakness: USB speed is the main restriction and it also contribute towards the quality of the record.

I got this product with 40$ mail in rebate in Newegg and I find it great for the value. I would still recommend this product for actual price...Quite good level of compression but i need to use it for several more try to comment on this.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Plextor ConvertX PX-TV402U

TestSeek.com has collected 4 expert reviews for Plextor ConvertX PX-TV402U and the average expert rating is 80 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use TestSeek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

Read Full Review

http://www.bonafidereviews.com/article.php?id=50

Plextor’s ConvertX PX-TV402U PVR (personal video recorder) is another approach to DV recording for those who own a Macintosh computer. It consists of a small hardware digital audio/video encoder box with built-in TV tuner and analog audio/video inputs which is connected to your Mac via the USB interface and is controlled by Elgato’s award-winning EyeTV software. It uses your computer’s hard...

Read Full Review