hankshay's Full Review: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q (1191) TV Input
INTRO
The Hauppage WinTV-HVR 950Q Hybrid TV Stick is the 3rd TV tuner card I've purchased and easily the best. Basically, the device allows you to watch TV on your laptop or PC using a single USB port on your PC. One of the main benefits of this device is that it's compatible with Windows Vista's Media Center.
INSTALLATION
The box includes a tuner card that is slightly larger than a USB Memory Stick and is enabled about the same way: you plug one end of the device into the computer USB port and the other end requires an antenna ATSC or cable feed.
Windows vista already had built-in drivers, so I wasn't required to install any. Of course, you can also use the ones that are on Hauppage's website. I've a pretty moderate powered system:
After installing Hauppage's software (included on a disc), I was able to watch TV. This tuner supports analog TV, analog cable, digital antenna ATSC, and digital cable (QAM 64/256). The analog signals will soon be depreciated here in the USA, so I not really concerned much about that.
I was able to use my home antenna to watch broadcast TV. Most channels came in as clear as my home tv's built-in tuner. The box includes a capable indoor antenna which is okay if your in close proximity to source, but otherwise it's not much different performance-wise to low cost 'hdtv' home antennas.
What was more important to me is that this tuner supports clear QAM(64/256), which allows me to pull unencrypted hdtv channels from my cable provider. The quality was very good and all my hdtv channels looks great.
ACCESSORIES
Included in the box is a small remote control, which actually fits in a PCMCIA slot. The ability to fit in a PCMCIA isn't really useful, as most laptops these days don't have this slot anymore (instead have an expresscard slot). The infrared remote works fine, but has to have line-of-sight to the USB TV Tuner. A USB extender cable is included to extend the unit out from the computer about 8inches. You can do most things a regular TV remote control and do. Enlarging the application window to full screen makes the monitor look like a TV.
Also included is a cable plug that can feed A/V and SVideo sources into the Tuner; however, I didn't test those capabilities.
The included software's DVR and scheduling capabilities are good, though basic compared to something like TIVO.
VISTA WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER
I purchased this item for use with Vista's Windows Media Center, as I feel it has a better interface than the included DVR software. Many of the current TV cards available don't support Vista's Windows Media Center, but this one does.
After a brief setup period on Windows Vista Media Center, followed by a longer period (~30min) of scanning channels, I was able to surf channels and watch TV. All the of DVR capabilities like scheduling and fast fwd/rewind worked perfectly.
Also, this tuner supports clear QAM through Windows Media Center via WMC TV Pack 2008. My only qualm is that enabling this isn't as easy as it could be. It requires adding a registry key. This should have been enabled through the driver and hope that Hauppage does this in the future.
The remote control is not compatible with windows media center, but it clearly says so on the product description and box.
SUMMARY
Compared to my experience with other TV Cards for computers, the Hauppage WinTV_hVR-950q is awesome.
I've owned an ATI TV Wonder and a Fusion 5 USB HDTV Tuner.
WinTV-HVR-950Q brings over-the-air high definition ATSC digital TV plus analog cable TV to your PC or laptop! Watch and record TV, in a window or full...More at Buy.com
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