Some of us may be proud of the world’s biggest plasma screen that we have installed at home. The gigantic, flat-screen panel mounted on the wall at your home, exclusive ownership to the one that owns it wholly, giving its master a treat on the various entertainment channels that it could receive from broadcasting stations.

Now, not everything that’s big is smart. Have a go at what Compro claimed, the world’s smallest fully functional USB 2.0 TV box, a device with the size of your palm – the VideoMate U900 TV tuner box.

Especially for mobile personnel and PC gadget geeks, the VideoMate U900 TV Tuner is an excellent piece of hardware, designed with the proportions of a credit card, an extremely light weight device, weighing at only 60g. With support for virtually all TV formats, i.e. from NTSC to PAL, this device works regardless of where your location may be. Additional input interfaces to S-Video and Composite on the USB device means you can attach it to other video sources, such as DVD or VCD player.

PC Requirement:

• 2 USB 2.0 ports (at least)
• 2.4GHz processor (minimum)

Product Specifications:

• Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 1.4cm
• Weight: 60g
• USB 2.0 interface
• Built-in IR Receiver
• TV Format: NTSC, PAL, SECAM
• Supports S-Video, Composite Video and Stereo audio input
• Supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 recording formats
• Mini 32-key Remote Controller

For such a device, the hardware is only as good as its software. According to Compro, they have included its proprietary ComproPVR2 (software) program as a bundle package, and it seems to work perfectly out of the box and easy to use. It initiates the scanning of valid TV channels during the first time installation. In addition, a couple of programs from Ulead Systems, Inc. were bundled to aid in editing recorded shows and videos.

With a full range of features and capabilities in a tiny device, which works pretty decent, it is definitely a “cool” piece of “card-ware” to bring around together with your laptop. Furthermore, it saves you desk space compared to a conventional TV Tuner box, and a PCI slot.

# Image below shows the cables and remote controller that comes in a bundled package.