AVerMedia announced it has released its AVerTVHD Duet dual TV tuner. The Windows 7-compatible product can receive over-the-air HD Digital TV signals (ATSC) or unencrypted digital cable (ClearQAM) and can either record two programs simultaneously or else allow users to watch one program while recording another. AVerTVHD Duet sports a PCI Express interface that is faster than a traditional PCI connection.
A Picture-in-Picture feature lets users watch TV while working on their PCs, with windows sizes that fill one quarter, one ninth or one 16th of the screen. A transparent mode lets users see through it to view their entire desktop at the same time. Bundled with AVer's MediaCenter application, users can access PVR-like features such as pausing, rewinding and recording live TV as well as a program schedule and time shift capabilities.
The software supports digital sound, closed captioning and has support for 1080i HD quality programs. Also, H.264 encoding lets users record TV at a 320x240 resolution for playback on iPods, iPhones, Sony's PSP or other portable multimedia players.
The dual HD tuner without the MediaCenter program costs $70, while bundled with the software is priced at $90.