Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP Expert

 (12 customer reviews)

The card installs and works pretty much as advertised however the installation software and technical support are very poor. Be aware that this card does not have hardware encoding so it uses a lot (30%+ on a 3Ghz Pentium 4 with 1GB ram) of processor capacity when recording. Video recordings lose audio synch after ~25 minutes and the synch differential continues to grow as the recording proceeds. Leadtek technical support suggested installing latest drivers but that made no difference. I have now ordered the hardware enabled card (Leadtek WinFast PVR2000) that other reviews indicate solves this problem. Also, be aware that the FM receiver is very low sensitivity and you will probably need a high gain external antenna for any reasonable FM reception. The card operation, operational software and remote are the best available, however, which is why I am staying with the Leadtek product line.

I bought this TV card in January 06 and it has failed twice. The first time the company replaced it but the new card started flickering right off the bat and soon failed. I tried it in 2 different computers one a Core 2 duo running XP and one an Athlon 64 running XP. The problem is the company will not respond to my emails. They do not answer their phone extensions: RMA, Sales, or Support. Leadtek does not reply to recorded messages you leave on their (Toll) phone number. I have been in contact with the Attorney General of the State of California, Bureau of Electronic Appliances concerning this matter.

I had problems installing this product in my computer, but not because of the product itself. Make sure that your computer's on-board sound has a cd-audio expansion jack. Mine didn't, so I had to go buy a new sound card ($12). Not a big deal. Otherwise, the video quality on the screen is great... a bit grainy at full screen, but would be fine from across the room. You shouldn't sit that close to a full TV anyway (right mom?). This card is definitely worth every penny you'd pay for it. It's easy to install, easy to setup and the software is pretty much idiot proof. I think you would probably get a better picture from a more expensive card, but this is more than enough for the vast majority of users. Save the money unless you're a very picky person.