Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)We took it back. We thought it would work with our HDTV compatible 65" wide screen TV for better clarity than what other PC to TV converters had to offer, which would have been really, REALLY nice, but we couldn't figure out the proper way to hook it up. The couple of printed pages inside the box only list the unit's specs and capabilities.
There are NO instructions about hooking it up. (Doesn't instruct whether the computer should be on or off when the unit is first connected, doesn't specify at which point during the installation the unit should be powered, doesn't explain about using the settings buttons on the top of the unit, and doesn't explain whether display settings on the computer likely need to be changed for the unit to display on the TV ... they do). We never got ANYTHING to apepar on our TV set after a few hours of frustration ... until we bought a DIFFERENT manufacturer's product (that explained about the computer display properties needing to be changed). When we finally did get a picture, it was horrible (no better than non-HDTV converters); definitely not usable for internet surfing.
We did see one sentence at the GrandTec website that says the unit will work with most but not all HDTV or HDTV compatible TVs, but there is no list of which TVs are known to work with it. Their website is worthless too. No help is provided on it.
Coupled with the previous reviewers comments about the customer service for this product, I strongly suggest you consider a different brand!
We later purchased AverMedia's AverKey 300 Gold. It's more expensive, but is by far superior product. It comes with a remote (the GrandTec does not). It has a terrific manual, is very easy to hookup and use, and has really fantastic features. The button text on the remote is a little hard to read, but manageable. The remote is laid out well and works nicely. This is a really cool unit, but unfortunately is still not really usable for searching the Internet on your TV. Again, the text is just too hard to read. I got around OK on pages I was already familiar with, and for using items I was familiar with on my computer, but if you really don't know what something says without reading, you're in trouble (unless you are willing to zoom in and out between the 4 corners and center of the page, which is a pain to read anything with). It killed me to have to return this unit. It would have definitely been a keeper, with better TV text readability.
We looked at the TView Gold, by Focus, but didn't purchase it presuming its text on TV is probably poor like the other units. Unlike the other units, it does require computer software. The packaging doesn't list that its compatible with Windows XP, which is the main reason we didn't give it a try. It does state that it works with Windows 2000 and Windows ME.
We have since given up on trying to use a PC to TV converter. As much as we didn't want to go the route of a subscription service, we bought the MSN TV 2 box, keyboard and remote instead. It's a nice unit that displays Internet text on the TV better. It easily auto-detected our Comcast broadband internet and Microsoft router, so we were up and running in a blink. (I made about 5 calls to MSN TV; nobody could confirm that my router was compatable. I was concerned because MS quit making it a few years ago. If that's your situation, rest assured that the router will work with it.) MSN TV 2 will also give you access to your computer photo files if you're networked, and some music and video content on your computer if it's in the right format for Windows Media Player (the only player that works with the unit). You can access these things even without being signed in to your MSN TV 2 service all the time. Unfortunately, even though you may be on a network, it doesn't allow you to do everything you could do from your computer; dang! Paying a monthly subscription, having limited computer access, and the fact that the PageBuilder web page builder is no longer included (was part of the earlier WebTV/MSNTV model), is really the only downside to going the way of the MSN TV 2.
This has been a very frustrating experience. It took us about a month to research, buy, test and return a number of products before we came to this conclusion. I'm sure better options will become available in the future.
Click Here to see more reviews about: GRANDTEC GHV-2000 Hi-wire Multi-format VGA To HDtv Adapter
Product Description:
HI-WIRE MULTI-FORMAT VGA TOPERPHDTV ADAPTER
Get 48% OFF
Want to read more honest consumer review about GRANDTEC GHV-2000 Hi-wire Multi-format VGA To HDtv Adapter now ?
0 comments:
Post a Comment