Those who recall our review of Compro's sleek VideoMate U3 USB DVB-T tuner may also know that it didn't have a remote control. Compro's latest USB tuner, the U500, rectifies that and introduces a few extra features, too.
The U500 is a thumb-size tuner, not unlike may of the other thumb-size tuners already on the market, although it does appear to have a unique package and antenna design. The bundled remote is ultra thin and thus just as portable as the tuner itself; the kind of remote you get with a swanky hi-fi system... not a big clunky effort.
Compro's DTV 2 software comes with the tuner, allowing the usual range of features such as time shifting and recording, along with direct to DVD recording. Picture in/out Picture is supported, for viewing multiple videos in separate windows or all layered into one. The software can play multiple DVB-T channels from the same MPEG-TS in this way (multiple channels are combined into an MPEG Transport Stream for transmission) and they can even be recorded simultaneously.
If HDTV is on your mind then the U500 supports 1080i, and 5.1 sound streams, of course.
From our experience with Compro's products, we know they put a lot of effort into the software, but sometimes overlook the odd feature in hardware. However, on paper, Compro's U500 looks like it could be one of their best tuners yet.
