Final Thoughts

As a first product, GIGABYTE has done a pretty good job with the U8000 and if you're not interested in analogue TV, then the U7000 is a cheaper alternative. It lacks some features such as video capture, but it keeps down the cost and reduces the clutter and the otherwise clumsy dongles you get with USB TV tuners.

The whole package is nicely put together and at around $90 AUD (the U7000 is even cheaper at around $66 AUD) it's not a bad price either for what you get. There are some other limitations such as line of sight for the remote control and we're not huge fans of the little plastic nipple type remotes, but we're not really going to complain, as most cheap USB TV tuners don't come with a remote at all.

If you're already running Windows MCE, you'll be happy to know that GIGABYTE supplies compatible drivers in the box as well, but these are only for the XP version. There's really is very little to complain about here for the price and hopefully GIGABYTE will continue to produce equally impressive peripherals in the future.

It gets our recommendation if you're looking at adding TV to your PC or notebook, no problems at all!

- Pros

Great pricing

Ease of installation and use

Heatsink inside to control thermal issues

Bundle including PowerCinema and remote control

Works in the car up to 100km/h

Driver support for Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)

- Cons

Slightly difficult to get good reception (could be our test location)

A little slow when changing channels

Lacks video inputs

Rating - 9 out of 10 and TweakTown's "MUST HAVE" Best Value Award!