The Videomate U500 is a USB2 digital TV tuner for your laptop or PC, jumping on the bandwagon of companies offering Freeview channels on your computer.

The package includes a software DVD player, TV player, remote control and metal USB extension lead. The TV tuner is much bigger than standard USB memory sticks and might not fit into ports alongside other USB peripherals.

A travel aerial is also included, but like other USB tuner travel aerials you are unlikely to get a decent signal with it here in the UK, but it should work abroad where signals are much stronger.

The remote is thin and uncomfortable. The buttons are awkward and the computer needed an extra restart to get it working. Volume occasionally 'ran away' after a single tap, going to maximum or minimum without our control, it also lacks an info button to display programs on 'now and next'.

The installation process is counter-intuitive. You must cancel several 'Found new hardware wizard' boxes or the installation never ends. Once set up, the software crashed on all three computers we tested it on. Compro told us to check the ‘use overlay surface’ box in the Audio/Video tab in settings. This was already checked so we unchecked it and the program finally worked.

The problems didn’t end here though, we found TV viewing to be pretty unresponsive. We don't mind the video feed taking a couple of seconds to show, however this should not affect the speed at which you can change the channel.

You can't flick through channel numbers smoothly because it gets stuck on certain channels when it tries to load the video stream. This is extremely frustrating and a better alternative would have been for the 'channel number' and the 'now and next' information separate to the TV stream and then let the TV picture time to catch up.

Picture quality was good but had a slight blue tint and wasn't as sharp as we'd hoped. Subtitles were clear and responsive, but the aspect ratio didn't automatically adjust and we had to select 16:9 to get the picture looking right.

The channel order appears completely random and bears no relation to standard Freeview TV boxes. It starts with ITV1, 2 and 3, and then has more TV channels, then all the radio channels are sandwiched in and then Film Four, E4+1 and others left at the end - however, this is not unique to the Videomate.

Like other USB tuners, the interactive TV and text services don't work. This means the 'red button' can't be used and BBC Parliament won't display anything. Top-up and adult channels are not included. Thankfully we can say that the record quality was extremely good, the Mpeg2 Freeview stream is simply saved to disk, requiring no further compression.

As a single tuner, you obviously can't record one channel and watch another, however you can record direct to DVD. Timeshifting is limited but quality here is good, although it does cause a significant pause whenever it's used.

The picture-in-picture features were impressive and even with multiple boxes open it didn't lower the quality of the main TV channel, however this will depend on the speed of your computer. Picture-in-picture is not controllable from the remote, which is a shame.

The seven-day EPG (electronic programming guide) works well and, again, although not controllable by remote, a keyboard and mouse makes programming easy.

The package claims support for 1080i HDTV reception. However we couldn't receive the HD Freeview trials in London because they are transmitted in Mpeg4 and the U500 can only handle Mpeg2. The channels ITV HD Trial, Channel 4 HD Trial and Five HD Trial are listed but don't work (although 4's sound does, so you can 'listen' to HD channels). This is a wasted opportunity for the U500 to do something truly unique.

The usability of the U500 compares poorly even to an old AverTV USB2 tuner we've used for over a year now. It had a small breakout box that allows a true Freeview tuner to be connected to it. Even the AverTV's travel aerial produces a (fuzzy) picture in the UK and the remote control is large and comfortable compared to the U500's remote.

At £39.99 the U500 is reasonably priced but a host of minor software niggles let it down. The software crashed when we took out the USB stick and some Settings panels always sat on top of other windows, which is annoying when you're trying to troubleshoot. Recording options are too basic and the software and installation is buggy - there are other tuners that do the job far better.

Also consider:
Terratec Cinergy Hybrid T USB XS
Although it comes at a premium price, the Terratec CinergyT USB XS is dual-format, plus it’s the only tuner in the test with an A/V breakout and the software includes a DVD burner

Avermedia AverTV DVB-T Volar USB TV tuner
The Avermedia AverTV DVB-T Volar is cheap, easy to set up and you'll get a good picture if you have decent reception in your area, but don't rely on the travel aerial

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