InterVideo WinDVR 3
Specifications
TV-Standards: PAL, NTSC, SECAM; video
formats: MPEG-1/2, VCD, SVCD, DVD, DV, AVI; timeshift and skip; auxiliary source recording
Our Verdict
The first thing you’ll note about InterVideo WinDVR 3 is its incredibly simple and easy-to-use interface. All the controls you need are on the dashboard complete with balloon help. Installing and configuring the software is a breeze, and it works with any TV-Tuner with WDM drivers. In our test scan, it detected all the available channels on our cable network.
Channel Surfing is a feature that shows a thumbnail preview of up to 16 channels at a time, and you can select the channel you wish to watch. Video Desktop is a cool feature that lets you view the video in place of your Desktop wallpaper.
The timeshift feature is simply mind-blowing, and the cool thing is that it runs well even on a moderately powerful system. Capture quality can be set in the options, and you can set it to MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or AVI, depending on how powerful your computer is. It can also automatically detect a DV-Cam connected to the PC and record content from the device. The software supports burning the captured content to CD or DVD. EPG, too, is supported, and you can use this to schedule recording of a programme. The parental control feature lets you password-protect certain channels.
It is priced a bit high, but superior features and performance tilt the balance in its favour and fetch it a Zero1 Award.
Runner-Up: NA