Hauppauge WinTV PVR250 - A Dandy Solution for PC TV!!!
Written: Dec 11 '07 (Updated May 01 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy installation, multiple uses with its software interface and durability.
Cons: Only one cable plug in, preventing watching a show and recording another.
The Bottom Line: Since you are reading this, you obviously are considering a purchase. This card will not disappoint if you understand its features and limitations.
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| mongomad1's Full Review: Hauppauge WinTV PVR250 (00980) Video Capture |
I have owned this card now for a few years and have been pleased with its performance. My goal was to run our then Comcast Cable TV through my PC so that I could record college football games, namely the Seminoles – hey, we were VERY good at one time.
I love/attended the university AND I love the football team even in this down time, especially since mini-me, Jeff Bowden, was given $500,000 to leave. No contract requiring it, just a ploy to keep Pappa Bowden pleased enough not to leave under negative circumstances. Just another of the crosses I bear. I digress.
The card was no problem to install since I followed the instructions: a rarity for me. When we had cable, I also had a 19” monitor built for the ENIAC or so it would seem based on its bulk. It was a Sony Trinitron Mulstiscan and had a decent picture, but I was not really using it to watch TV, just for recording my games, all things Seminoles, and my wife’s shows, 24, Lost, Monk – even I like Tony Shaloub! – and some others.
After, I burned them to DVD-RW’s, she or we would watch them, then I would record over them or put them on a less expensive DVD-R if it was worthy.
Time progressed and I now use it for viewing on my 20” Dell Widescreen and for the usual suspects, aforementioned. Also, we changed over to satellite (DirecTV) and my TV Tuner Card has its own box. This card has stood the test of time, growing as my needs changed. How was it able to do that? Good question, let us look at the apparatus in some detail.
Installation Needs and Tips:
System Requirements
Operating System – Windows 98SE or above, Vista not listed.
Processor – Pentium III processor 733MHz or faster for TV pause with full screen playback
Available PCI Slot
Cable/Satellite TV that uses Coaxial or S-Video.
Out of the Box Experience:
Hardware -
The card, PCI, with 125 channels, cable ready TV Tuner, hardware MPEG-2 encoder, dbx TV Stereo, S-Video/composite plus audio inputs.
Infra-red remote and receiver.
Software -
WinTV2000 application: Allows TV in a Window, program pause, TV Record and Playback
WinTV-Scheduler: Easily enter programs to record. Make sure you hit the “Record to File” checkbox or you will have nothing to view!
MPEG –Editing Software for high quality cutting and pasting of videos.
Ulead DVD MovieFactory (I use Nero 7 instead of this)
Reference info for installation and use.
As far as installing, it is the same with any other PCI card. Do not be afraid of opening your PC as long as you know what you are doing even a little bit. Keeping a hand on the case will eliminate static electricity as you are then grounded. Take your time, follow the instructions and never forcefully press on PCI cards. They run faster than USB connected devices, plus they are out of your way. Run the software first if that is the recommendation.
The infrared receiver plugs into the card, which, for my set up, is an issue since the line is very short, about 5 feet (my PC is on the armoire’s bottom shelf, must run to the top via a hole in the mid shelf where my monitor sits. Then, it must extend so that it reaches a place the remote can zap it. The beauty is you can run it easily on your desktop without the remote and, if you have a cable box on it, you use that remote for channel changing.
This is where you also plug in your coaxial from whatever TV service you get. If it is not a box, like a TV, the tuner will automagically find available channels using the menu option for that. If it is a box, tune into channel 3 and use the remote for the box. All recordings then need to be on channel 3 and just leave the box running on the appropriate channel.
You can size the window and it will adjust itself for the proper aspect ratio or view it full screen. Therefore, your monitor is a TV or you have TV to watch in a smaller screen while browsing the Internet or working.
Other Cool Things:
Of course, you can edit out commercials, but you can also take still shots to prove to your buddies that the receiver’s foot was clearly on the chalk! You can edit in any software program, so a more functional DVD editor can have you making all kinds of effects to wow your finished product for your intended audience.
If you have a young child as do we and get the stations like Noggin, Nick Jr, Sprout, Disney, etc., you can record the multitude of favorites that change weekly instead of paying $15 a pop for the retail versions of the Mickey Mouse Club and The Wiggles as examples. They no longer like that obnoxious Barney, you are only out a DVD-R or can record over a DVD-RW. You do this 6 or 7 times and the device has paid for itself.
If you get an external hard drive, set it to NTFS compress files (remember FAT32 only goes up to 4GB files for you dual layer fans), you can record TONS of programs without using up all of your hard drive on your PC. This can be set as the default so that the device will record to it.
Whilst recording programs, you can have it done on mute so that if you are watching the living room TV, you do not have to turn down the PC volume and it will close the TV program automatically if you do desire.
You have all the settings to adjust the color, sound and picture quality the latter of which impacts the size of a recorded file.
You can get a pay service so that it will act as a TiVo.
You now have a good excuse to get a high quality digital monitor and DVI Video card.
Bottom Line:
It works and works well. Also, it is reasonably priced, at around $100, for its capabilities and the enjoyment you are likely to get from this TV Tuner. You may use it in a completely different way than what you first intend or in several capacities based on its versatility.
I am waiting for the day that there are affordable, wireless TV receivers so that I can run EVERYTHING through my PC. Crazy? Well, I thought it would be wonderful to have a video camera that used DVD’s as its media and lo and behold, a search turned up the first of its kind that I know of, the Sony HandyCam. I waited for its price to go down, which happened in the 1st month of its release.
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Recommended:
Yes
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mongomad1
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Location: Actionville, FL (Jacksonville)
Reviews written: 58
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About Me:
I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
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