Overall performance

During the first week of testing I wasn't really impressed. Well much had to do with the poor reception of DVB-T in our regions, nothing you can do about that. I had many problems to receive perfect images, mostly there were artifacts filling parts of the screen and if you have DVB-S already then it's a pity to see DVB-T not working out too well. I tried different locations though, but only when I had arrived in our capital city Brussels I felt a lot different about this type of broadcasting. I was sitting in my car near a peaceful park, hooked up the Compro U2800F and I got a crystal clear video stream. Amazing how I had the antenna just hanging around not really pointed anywhere, the beauty of it is that without hardly trying you get awesome picture quality and free TV. It's all about where you live though so I insist you look at DVB-T providers near you and check their sites for local reception maps. Rule of thumb, if any, would be to try big cities.



The software features make it a very complete package for Digital TV viewing and recording, you can customize each channel up to your own likings and there is nearly nothing you have to do when you're not much into video capturing on the pc.

I did however face few software bugs, ComproFM for example had the problem to often stop playing sound although my antenna was still hooked up and I didn't mute the audio, the problem kept returning even when I wasn't touching my portable. On another portable with Windows XP installed that problem came back and after few mails back and forth Compro engineers told me I must have got a damaged test sample, this is a retail product but Compro promised me this is an isolated case as they never heard of this before, they were also not able to reproduce it themselves. Other problems that occurred was that ComproFM locked up completely and I had to reboot my pc, it also happened that I had to restart ComproDTV because DVB-T reception was zero although I got everything set up correctly. Sometimes you also have to disconnect and reconnect the U2800F because it doesn't get detected by the software. Furthermore I also noticed a 'ticking' noise sometimes occurring whilst listening ComproFM, however when you switched channels this noise disappeared immediate but to reappear later once again.

The remote control does what it is supposed to do though at more then 2 meters distance some commands are being mixed up and at 3 meters the remote control had lost all if its functions. Off course when using your PC/Laptop LCD there won't be much issue's, though when you have your PC connected with an external HDTV then it would be helpful if the remote control allowed for longer viewing distances. You don't want to stand up each time you would like to view another channel. The remote control comes with a pre-installed 3V lithium battery, ours red 3.26V so I don't see the battery capacity as being a problem here.

Software update

During our testing period we had a close relation with the Compro support team and we carefully explained them where our test unit had failed on us. Their first thoughts went out to a broken unit, however later on they discovered hardware compatibility errors and so they kindly provided us with a software update few days later. ComproFM was being updated to version 2.18.800 and the bugs regarding sound muting and software lock-ups no longer occurred. At this moment they are working hard to get the 'ticking' noise issue's fixed so keep an eye on this article as it may get updated in the near future.

Conclusive thoughts

From what I've seen using the Compro VideoMate Vista U2800F it seems like terrestrial broadcasting DVB-T is really up to deliver Digital TV with great quality. The device itself comes with a great media processor chip which offers lots of possibilities like DVB-T reception, Analog TV reception, FM reception, Composite in and S-Video in. With that you get CompoDTV and ComproFM which give you control of the many basic TV and radio features, and a lot more. From these I found the Windowing mode and Timeshifting the most useful. Downside is that during my tests I found the software not to be entirely bug free, lucky me I stumbled upon a great support team which wanted to fix these issues immediate. Aside of that you must know that you get all this via a device not much bigger then many USB sticks, and it does not use any external power supply so no need to search for a second wall plug. Compro added a remote control which is quit small and yet complete for a relaxed evening in your sofa. Only drawback here might be the short reception distance, over 2 meters away it doesn't serve you the comfort it is build for. FM and DVB-T reception wasn't super either: The FM antenna worked great and I had no problem listening to all the available radio channels, the DVB-T antenna however is a bit more compact and just not enough for indoor usage in the area where I live. Though to keep it mobile you have no other choice then using these kind of antenna's and for those living closely enough to the transmitter poles should have no problems anyway. Your location has a lot to do with what you get.

Last but not least, price: at roughly $ 129 you'll find the Compro VideoMate Vista U2800F in stores and webshops. For the price you get a very complete AND mobile device which is able of offering HD 1080i image quality, if I only would have not had these problems with the software I would have surely recommended this device, now I'm left with some mixed feelings.



Before we leave you let's sum up the pro's and contra's:

+ Compact with mobility in mind
+ Very complete video/audio capturing card
+ Video and audio quality: up to 1080i high definition
+ Remote control
+ Cool software features
+ Very acceptable price-tag of ~ €130

- IR remote control action radius
- Buggy software

Before I let you go I would like to thank Nicole from Compro USA to supply us with this test sample, and I would also like to thank Andre Saegerman from VRT for his help to this article, until next time!