Hauppauge 1192 WinTV HVR-1950 External USB HDTV Tuner/Video Recorder by HAUPPAUGE
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Digital camera reviews of Hauppauge 1192 WinTV HVR-1950 External USB HDTV Tuner/Video Recorder
Digital camera Review: Couldn't get it to work with direct tv
Summary: 1 Stars
If you are using Direct TV, I wouldn't recommend this product. Although the product description stated that it works with satellite, I could not get it to work. Using the composite connection to the Direct TV box and the Ir Blaster connection should have worked but it would not recognize any channels. After about six hours of reading documentation and trying different things I finally gave up and sent it back.Digital camera Review: Does well under windows, but for MythTV, need patience
Summary: 5 Stars
This unit runs well under windows w/ Media Center. I have a Dlink DSM512 and hate it. I purchased a ITX Motherboard (7"x7"x3") installed, with a intel dual core 2 1.80Ghz CPU, 1 GB Ram, and Slimline DVD. (Nice for STB's),
(http://www.cappuccinopc.com/pandora-965-dr.asp). Comes all together, and I picked it up with a 320GB drive for under $400. I dropped this Hauppauge tuner on the USB, and loaded windows XP, and MS Media center. Runs fine.
But what I want is a PVR that gives me Music, Photos, Video, youtube, News, Weather, Streaming.... like free MythTV for Linux. (There is a mythtv for each distribution). I installed the actual MythTV, which is pretty manual.
A better way is to install mythbuntu 8.10. This is a simple download, burn the CD, install, configure a few things and you are running. However to watch TV you need to have a bit of patience and you will need to install the pvrusb2 driver, and extract the firmware from the windows drivers that the pvrusb2 driver looks for so it can decode the mpeg2 video stream. I will give you some links. If you follow Mark's instructions carefully, you will have a full working mythtv implementation in about an hour. (I basically installed this because I went from DirectTV to FIOS TV, and my PVR on DirectTV could record about 50 hours of Hi-Def. The Fios PVR can't get in more than 18-20 Hours Max, and both the FIos PVR and DIrectTV PVR have a 160GB Drive... In this way, yea, I have to say FIOS sucks compared to DirectTV, but the bundle is saving me $1200 a year.). So I now only record the Hi-Def Broadcast channels (OTA, Over the Air) series on my new mini-PVR. The ATSC OTA content is about 6.5-7MB/Hour. So if you do the math you can get nearly 40 hours on there. So Fox, NBC, ABC, series go on the MythTV PVR, and things I like on Discovery, or TLC, I record on the FIOS PVR. So to get you started you need: www.mythbuntu.com, and you should download the latest windows drivers for the HVR-1950 as you will need them. Getting the mythtv installed is pretty easy. TO compile the driver and get it installed is not too bad either. (here is the link for the PVRUSB2 driver and instructions: http://www.isely.net/pvrusb2/pvrusb2.html ). Mile Isely (The author of the driver and all around guru) describes how to extract the firmware from the windows files since the pvrusb2 driver needs this firmware to decode the mpeg2 video. This is the hard part, but he wrote a perl script to make it easy, and he has great instructions. But it is not for the non-technical I must admit. Here is the driver setup link (http://www.isely.net/pvrusb2/setup.html). Here is also a decent overview of the process from mythtv (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_WinTV-PVR-USB2).
Once you get it working, you will love the extra features and power of the MythTV PVR. You can add your own content through the on screen interface, You can even use your phone, read RSS feeds, latest news. Nice.
I did see some complaints that you can't record one and watch another.
That is because the HVR-1950 only has one tuner. For those that say "I will get two!), the other limiting factor is the USB2.0 Bus. If you run two simultaneously you exceed the USB 2.0 bus capacity. :(
The Hauppauge HVR-1950 is a nice Tuner when you can't drop a card in the PC...
Digital camera Review: Don't buy this WinTV product!
Summary: 1 Stars
I know it's often confusing to see when people commenting about an item whether it's the service of the vendor/supplier or the quality and usefulness of the product itself the reviewers are focused on. Let me just say I have no issues with Amazon.com or its affiliates for the buying experience. I've purchased items from Amazon.com for over 10 years now. I'm quite satisfied with Amazon.com itself.
I'm providing the review of the product, Hauppauge 1192 WinTV HVR-1950 External USB HDTV Tuner/Video Recorder. It's a waste of money! Don't buy it! I've owned an older model of WinTV years ago and thought with the advancements in technology I would be able to get many of the improvements in HD from the WinTV. It almost seems that they've simply repackaged the same product in a newer box and sold it. I even purposely chose an external model thinking it would be easier to get things to work and maintain (from prior experiences).
The installation itself was ok, pretty easy. But, almost as soon as I had it installed, I get a notice from the software there's a newer update patch available. Once I had finished the update the box seized to work. I would keep getting the "No Signals" message from every channel. I've tried re-scanning the channels (several times), re-installation of the H/W and S/W process (several times). No matter what I do, The box just wouldn't work for me. (And yes, everything is plugged in correctly and checked with every attempt of installation)
Bottom line is I would never purchase anything from Hauppauge again!
Digital camera Review: Easy DVR
Summary: 4 Stars
This External Usb HDTV tuner/Video Recorder was easy to set up as a DVR.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00198MYB0/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title
This product has a short learning curve so you will fine it easy to use.
Digital camera Review: Excellent Tuner
Summary: 5 Stars
So far the Hauppauge 1950 tuner has been great. I'm running it on a Vista Home Premium (64bit) laptop (HP Pavilion Centrino Core 2 T5800 processor) - performance and function has been excellent in Windows Media Center. I tried the WinTV app but prefer Windows Media Center.
Pros: quality of product, performance and function (Windows Media Center)
Cons: none so far