ASUS My Cinema EHD3-100 Dual Hybrid TV Card Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

I have wanted to try out the HTPC experience for a long while now. After having used the ASUS My Cinema EHD3-100 exclusively for a couple weeks vs. my TiVo DVR it is my belief that this product brings the HTPC market much closer to where it needs to be for mainstream usage. Part of this belief however is based on the way in which Vista Windows Media Center is able to leverage the card, and not based on the software provided by ASUS. If Media Center did not exist and the ASUS application was my only avenue, my experience would not have been near as smooth or enjoyable. For those looking for a complete HTPC setup to add to their existing Vista installation, The ASUS My Cinema EHD3-100 does deliver in spades. The included IR Remote completed the entire “user experience” for me. Due to the fact that I installed this all on a second IDE based hard drive, I won’t knock ASUS too much for the frame drops, but I will say to all that a fast SATA drive is highly recommended. In my recordings, I didn’t notice near as many drops as live TV, but live TV is what I mainly watch, so in the long run, the frame drops were frequent enough that I wouldn’t be able to stick with my HTPC out of frustration. With my quad-core Intel Q6600 processor and 2GB of DDR2 Memory, all other functions of the card & software were smooth, and error free.

ASUS has made a great package for those wanting to enter into the HTPC market. With this $119.99 TV Tuner, you really can’t go wrong with choices of signal type, onboard MPEG2 Encoders, and IR remote + IR blasters. Despite my frustration level with the frame drops, I know that this could be easily overcome with my much faster SATA drives, and would definitely recommend this product. I’ll stick with my Tivo for now, but ASUS has kicked things up a notch and started bringing the race closer.

Legit Bottom Line: The ASUS My Cinema EHD3-100 is a great dual hybrid TV card that goes nicely with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista to bring consumers a great HTPC experience.