Viewbox Tv Tuner Box for Monitors (Vb50Hrtv)

This product is amazing. I have it paired with a good to high quality 19" computer monitor. It allows a pass-through so you can use it with your computer when not watching TV. It comes with a remote and some cables. You can also connect a set of speakers and another DVD or VCR to it. My only complaint is that the highest supported resolution is 1024x768. However, the picture is still amazing. The picture quality of televison broadcasts and DVD movies surpases one of my televisons. If you would like a LCD TV but can't afford thousands of dollars. Get this with a good computer monitor. You'll save yourself at least a thousand dollars and get something pretty darn close in picture quality.

I decided to try the ViewSonic ViewBox after buying a ATI TV tuner card and being dissatistfied with the picture quality. I have also seen other peoples TV tuner cards and the poor quality pictures that they provide. TV tuner cards also have a very loud "static" noise that occurs as you switch between channels. The ViewSonic TV tuner switches between channels quietly, which is very nice. The box is a very small and sleek unit. It is about nine inches long, 6 inches wide, and less than 2 inches thick. It takes about 3 minutes to hook up to your computer. It hooks directly inbetween your computer monitor and your computer tower. A VGA cable is included, so all you have to do is run your monitor cable to the back of the ViewSonic box to the RGB output, attach the VGA cable that is provided to the RGB input of the ViewSonic box, then to where you normally attach your monitor cable on your computer. Plug in the audio output from your computer, screw on your cable TV coaxial line, plug in the power supply for the ViewSonic tuner and you are ready to go. It couldn't be simpler. You are also provided with an audio output jack if you want to use different speakers (other than your computer monitor's - if that is the case). There are the standard video and left and right channel RCA jacks to plug in a VCR, and one S-video input to run the signal from a DVD player, Playstation, or X-box to your computer monitor. This is the perfect component to take that smaller computer monitor that is now collecting dust in the corner of a closet, that you just don't want to throw away and use it as a monitor for the kid's Playstation, X-box, or as a regular TV. The unit has nice sound and comes with a remote for changing channels on the TV tuner and for changing inputs. You have 4 resolution choices for the TV tuner and other outputs: 640 X 480; 800 X 600; 852 X 480; and 1024 X 768. The TV picture on 1024 X 768 resolution looks as good as my regular TV picture. I am very pleased with this purchase and think that it is the ideal solution for college students that already have a computer and do not have the space or the money to buy a TV but want to have a TV in their dorm room.

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I do NoT own This... Im sure its good... But, One advantage of the TV tunners that go in your computer and USE your computer To display The TV or whatever On the Computer screen, Is that YOU CAN RECORD VIDEO FILES or take pics of the TV on your computer. Thats one thing I'd want in a TV tunner.

The ViewSonic Viewbox is a TV tuner, that meaning it lets you use your monitor just like it was a TV. There are many TV tuners, some a lot cheaper, but the image quality they produce is horrible. The ViewBox gives beautiful, sharp image. Its about 9 inches wide, 6 inches long, and about an inch and a half tall. Its black in color. It has all of the different kinds hookups, so you can hook up your Cable, VCR, DVD player, video game system, etc. The remote is average. It has all the buttons of a regular remote and more. The image quality is very sharp. Its like taking a really big TV, and crunching it down into a nice, smooth and sharp image. However, you will have to do some tuning to get the image to look the way you want. The image may appear muddy or blurry when you first turn it on. This can be fixed really fast by changing the Picture Options though. Oh yeah, I wouldn't get this unless you have a decently sized monitor. Atleast 800x600. A benefit of this is you can watch the show up close, without hurting your eyes. Unlike TVs, you can sit as close as you want and not worry about hurting your vision. The sound is just as good. However, make sure your speakers will work with this! I had to buy new speakers because mine wouldn't work. What I really like is how easily you can switch between TV and computer mode. Lets say your watching your favorite show, and a boring commercial comes on. You can just hit a button (on both the remote and the box), and the view switches right to your PC. Play a game or something, hit that button, and your right back to your show. So, the pros of this product are: small, affordable, cost less than a TV, good image quality and sound, ease of use, and you can watch the show close without damaging your eyes. And the cons: Only average remote, you cannot work on your PC while watching TV at the same time

This is a nice tuner, it does its job for the most part. The only problem I had with it was the image loss. When I connected xbox to it through the s-video connection, in wreckless the yakuza missions the wheels weren't as shiny as they were on a television. In Dead or Alive 3 when there is fast motion there are these black lines that appear on the characters legs which were not apparent on a television. However, the tv tuner part of it is excellent (which is why most people probably buy it for I'm guessing), it is better than most other internal tv decoder solutions. Despite my small gripe with its video game problem, it is difinately a strong performer, with one of the best tv tuners on the market which gets it a 4 out of 5 from me.

This is a great product to have if you want a TV, but don't have space for one. I live in a college apartment, so my TV is downstairs and sometimes it is in use when I want to use it. With this I can watch TV in my room. I have not had any problems with this. Installation is easy, you just plug every connector into the labeled slot. Unfortunatly There are alot of wires: speaker wires to and from the box, computer video to and from the box, power, and cable/Antena line. There are also input jacks for S-Video and RCA (i.e. Composite- the three color cables used by video games and DVD players). The reception is great. I didn't notice any difference between the ViewSonic and my TV. I use a LCD screen, so I do not know if CRT monitors are any different. I did notice a slight degrading in the video quality when using the RCA jacks for my video game console. But it is only slight and not worth bothering about. The tuner can shown in pixel resolution of up to 1024 X 768, which is the standard for monitors nowadays. Most other types of tuners cannot handle high resolutions, the USB tuner I used to have would slow the system down and get chopping signals, even at low resolutions of 320 X 200. One plus is that the tuner can be used even if the computer is not on, or even hooked up to it. I really like this feature because I do not always have my computer on, and it would be a nusicance to have to turn it on ever time I wanted to watch TV. Because the TV tuner does not connect to the computer directly, such as ones where you have to install it into a PCI slot or connect via USB, there is no software to install and you do not have to open the computer to set it up. The only down side to the ViewSonic is that it cannot show both TV input and computer input at the same time, when the ViewSonic is on, it shows the TV, other wise the Computer signal just passes through with the ViewSonic on standby. This does not bother me, since the majority of computer programs I use, like MS Word and Explorer, take up the entire screen, so I wouldn't be able to see the TV window anyway. For people with slower computers, it is actually better this way, because TV tuners that plug into a PCI slot or USB port can slow the system down and disrupt the TV stream. I would highly recomend this product over any other type of TV-tuners for computers.

I've always thought that watching tv/movies (dvd/vhs) on a computer screen was out of the question. THe most important part of the puzzle the 'video card' had to be of such a quality that made it impossible to find. Plus, having the 'puter on while watching a dvd/cable can make things annoying. This tuner is amazing...i've since gotten rid of my tv (a 25" magnavox) which did well but took up space and really did nothing more than what this tuner along with a new flat screen monitor can do. Plus i get to keep everything in one place. Games (rugby, football, etc...) are near perfect on the screen, as are dvd's such as the matrix! which can become a big blur if you don't have the right equipment. I recommend the use of a high quality (not high $) flat screen or crt monitor. I have since purchased a Planar 19" from reviews i read. I had the highest rating for clear and concise pictures when viewed as a multi-entertainment screen. If you have any more questions/points that i may have 'glossed over' or forgoten to make feel free to email me. -mike mike