Program a disaster

I decided to buy this hybrid sticks because unfortunately in my home, the digital "TV everywhere" is not receivable and there I need the analog reception. But I recently had the opportunity to. DVB-T characteristics of the Freecom sticks to test in a suburb of Mainz (a good reception area for DVB-T) But first things first:

The System:
Laptop, WinXP Pro SP2, P4 Mobile processor, 2 GHz and 256 MB RAM, USB2.0 PCMCIA card

Scope of supply:
The Freecom stick is delivered in a small box. This comprises not only the stick a USB extension cable (1m), an essay for connecting a coaxial cable, a small rod antenna with approximately 1.25m coaxial cable and suction cup, a Quick Install Guide and the Installation CD with driver software and user manual.

Preparing for installation:
Before installing I have with "Start - dxdiag - Run 'checked the DirectX version and acceleration settings of the display. Everything was fine, it could go.

Installation:
After inserting the CD opens via Autostart Freecom menu, unfortunately without the possibility of the installation to begin. The program can therefore be closed. To install the driver you stick with a CD inserted the stick into a free USB 2 interface and can search for the driver. After installing the driver you can install \ Arcsoft the setup.exe program from the Windows Explorer to the CD in the subfolder. The installer recommends a reboot after installation. Previously you should still install the software for the remote control (in the subfolder \ Arcsoft \ Hybrid_RC).

The Software:
The TotalMedia software is referred to as All-in-one application, popularly saying rather "jack of all trades." To enumerate all the negative points of this software is beyond the scope of this assessment is beyond (which is anyway far too long). Therefore, only the most important:

First, the program opens the same in full screen and presents the choices. Select 'TV': the first selection made it clear what this software much emphasis was placed, namely animated menu change. You can exit a menu with either the backspace key or a mouse on which einblendenden Mini navigation bar at the top. The TV picture can unfortunately only be displayed in full screen mode or within the Software as a portion of the surface. A frameless, freely positionable and changeable in size TV picture with an "always on top" option does not exist! Brightness, color and contrast settings there is not even. Compared to my 8 year old WinTV card and software is the height of luxury.

Analog TV:
First I tested the analog reception via cable television. Under Video setting the hardware has been changed according to this analogy. The video standard was then displayed first with "Secam", but what you can safely ignore. 'Change Channel List' on were quickly found by tuning all TV channels. Unfortunately, modifying the channel name is a catastrophe. To this end, the transmitter is clicked, whereupon a small preview window to switch the TV picture. Then you can - of course, after an animated menu change - type in the station name. For computers without a keyboard, this is ("extremely useful") and mouse on a superimposed clip-on keyboard possible. For a tab jump between station name and channel not working. But that modifying the channel you can also save you need, because it has nothing to do with the order of the channels. Locating the channels / stations according to your wishes is NOT !!
Dear programmers, how about a list box for all channels, rename a button (or F2 key) for immediate renaming without changing menu and two buttons to change the order?

Quality analog TV:
The quality is fine, you can not expect miracles but. In full screen mode you can also watch movies 'painless' with some distance from the screen. The teletext is a bit distorted still readable.

My system utilization in analog TV:
In full-screen and with no other programs in the background: 50-80% CPU utilization

DVB-T:
In a suburb of Mainz I could test the DVB-T properties recently. IMPORTANT: When starting the channel scan is initially not a received signal is displayed (normal). The channel scan takes about 5 minutes. After successful tuning were 18 of the 21 stations in the Rhine-Main area are available. The three missing channels PHOENIX, BR and SWR are on the frequency 198.5 MHz (channel 8) and could not be found even with a trial basis connected active antenna amplifiers. Apparently, the Freecom stick not received at this frequency range. The signal strength of the 18 available channels (ie maximum intensity) was using the supplied rod antenna for 6 of 6 bar. In an annexe it looked but worse. Here most of the channels had only 5 of 6 bar (only RTL 4). In addition, could be found by searching for a station only 14 programs. The frequency 738 MHz (channel 54) with PRO7, SAT1, N24 and Kabel 1 broke away. With amplified antenna but all 18 stations were received with maximum strength. The names of the channels are transmitted via DVB-T and set automatically. However, modifying the order is not possible as in analog mode.

When EPG does not always fit all the information into the display window. On the right side three points were then "..." is displayed, without which one can expand the window. In the ARD there was unfortunately no EPG information (no idea if that was on the transmitter).

As with the analog TV teletext is somewhat distorted.

Quality DVB-T:
The picture quality is good. Nevertheless, sometimes it can be seen in fast motion and closer inspection a formation of small blocks. However, my laptop is at the lower limit of the system requirement. Whether a faster hardware means trouble-free image at the same time, I can not judge.

When recording, you can select the desired quality. With each level of quality while the estimated maximum recording time is shown on hand of free disk space in minutes. One touch recording, the time-shift function (if generally enabled) can be started via the control module is Fading at the bottom of the screen. Both I tested only briefly and successfully. The loss of quality when shooting at lower level is clearly visible. The high level I have not even tried because of my hardware. The time-shift function is great. So you can just freeze the program and continue thereafter at the same location, for example in a disturbing call.

My system utilization in DVB-T (no recording, no time-shift):
Full screen with no other programs in the background: 40-70% CPU utilization

Other:
- The remote control has only very rudimentary controls. Switching between the two transmitters would be the least recently accessed.
- I wanted an alternative to the TotalMedia software use the freeware "ProgDVB", but unfortunately the program crashes when calling from already.
- The stick is relatively warm during operation.

CONCLUSION:
New technology in its infancy. The program must necessarily be replaced by a user-friendly software. For the user, it would make more sense, with proven usability to offer software as a single program can do it all wants, but offers little comfort. The slow nerve, DVD-like menu animations and the non-adjustable order of stations is the worst case scenario! A frameless window TV picture should be adjustable. If necessary, the purchase of better passive or active antenna makes sense. In addition, the frequency range should be checked / expanded, so that all stations can be received. Overall, it has not known how to combine new technologies with known convenience features Freecom. As a result, remain for hardware 3-4 star, the Software 0-1 star.