If we judge this book by its cover it would be terribly unfair.   The nFusion isn’t the best looking unit available and menu system reflects that.   The design inside and out is very simple but that simple design hides an amazing little FTA receiver.

To be fair, I’ll disclose that Sammy knows and guy that knows a guy who has an nFusion Nova and loves it more than his other receivers for one very simple reason.  When you turn on your TV and sit down to watch you always have a working picture. An innovative system called IKS (Internet Key Sharing) automatically polls a mystery system someplace on the world wide web to keep itself running without any interaction.  There has been virtually no downtime with this system.

Another common problem with FTA receivers is the EPG guide and missing information.  Pressing the blue button on the Nova remote quickly updates the EPG and does an excellent job quickly filling the guide with full show details on every station.   The EPG on the nova is fast and effective.   It allows multiple ways to access show data that work well for a channel surfer.

The Nova has the ability to record shows on your computer if you run a small program available free on that computer.   Getting this setup took a little work the first time and it’s not as convenient as a massive drive attached to the PVR directly but it does have some advantages.

The good: Turn on, watch TV.   It’s really that simple.  You will almost never need to reboot or manually load anything into the system.  The blind scan is very fast and does a good job getting stations in the order you expect.   The EPG is a shining star and the automatic updates are revolutionary.

The bad: The guide doesn’t always update by itself.   Sometimes you need to press an extra button to repopulate the data.   PVR setup was overly complicated compared to some other brands and is really an afterthought.   The remote sucks, get a nice universal remote instead.   You may have to access your wireless router or cable modem router to allow the device access to the network.

The ugly: The blind scan doesn’t seem to pick up every available channel.   Many users have reported missing channels in the upper range although there is nothing officially wrong.  If you want an inexpensive receiver you can leave at your folks house that just works, get yourself a Nova nFusion.  If you need strong PVR features you will be disappointed.