It's a mystery--but it's worth solving!
Written: Jul 17 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great picture, VCR feature is COOL, easy set-up (for me anyway)...
Cons: Software 'hangs' at times but reducing hardware acceleration a bit fixes it
The Bottom Line: Overall: It’s like Mt. Everest: It's a tough climb but the effort is worth it!
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| jazjef's Full Review: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 (980) TV/Video Input |
Did you ever wonder what would happen if you could transport a Pentium-4 computer with no manual back in time to say…. 1925? Imagine how in awe AND how lost people would feel with this piece of equipment at the same time. This is how you feel with the Hauppauge WinTV PVR250. It’s a stellar piece of equipment and an incredible idea—but unfortunately, its strongest feature are its enigmatic instructions and cryptic configuration for operation.
This unit is cool. It does cool things. But its instructions are the polar opposite. I have never owned a product that was so cool and simultaneously had the worst set of instructions and most mysterious human factors engineered features at the same time.
The picture is awesome even on most channels with only antenna-air reception. The hard drive recording/scheduling VCR is so cool I have to go look at the thing 2 or 3 times a day just to confirm that I have something that does this. It totally replaced my TV and VCR both in my living room!
Now, the really beneficial stuff: I’m using XP-Pro, a Pentium 4, 1.8ghz with 512 DDR ram and a 20gb hard drive. I have a KDS Rad 7c LCD monitor. I use the PVR250 only for recording my favorite shows and thus skip the commercials. It works wonderfully, but is a mystery to set up. I will forego a lengthy review on its features for that of a couple of points on how to trouble shoot and get your unit properly working.
1. This software will ‘hang’ and stick causing you to need to re-boot….the solution for me:
While the WinTV program is running after you have scanned for your channel set-up: Right click on your desktop screen, choose ‘properties’, choose ‘settings’, choose ‘advanced’, choose the ‘troubleshoot’ tab, move the hardware acceleration to ‘none’….then go back to the tv picture and see if its functional… if its not there, then move the hardware acceleration to the first notch from the left and try again and see if your tv is running…. Keep moving it up one notch at a time and checking the TV to see if its active or not….. At about the third or fourth notch from the left on my hardware acceleration slider all of my problems stopped and my unit functions perfectly…. Since I am only using this computer and monitor for recording and watching TV I don’t need the hardware accelerator on full-blast. You may not want this solution.
This is only one solution but it saves you from needing a bunch of new drivers for the time being and it reduces the ‘hanging’ of the software and re-boots to nearly zero.
You will need to experiment with this unit to get it all set up properly…. But its worth it. This is a very rare example of a product that is so convenient, innovative, and able to replace multiple convenience appliances in the home that you can overlook instructions written in a language and logic from another galaxy. As a matter of fact, you will be so entranced by the idea of having an LCD TV that weighs less than 15 pounds that utilizes your sound card plugged into your tuner/amp that you will forget that you have to slog through poorly written instructions.
Bottom line: You can get a computer and monitor set-up like mine for $800 or you can go out a buy one of those scrawny LCD TV’s with a tuner for $799…. Hauppauge is one step away from undermining the LCD TV specialty market with this product that allows you to turn a computer in a multimedia center….. and if they fix the documentation problems and stabilize the drivers a bit more, the new Sony VAIO and Viewsonic Multimedia computer centers won’t be able to compete with this type of set up…. I feel like I have “beat the system” with this purchase.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jazjef
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Reviews written: 1
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