Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR-2250 PCI-E x1 Dual TV Tuner by Hauppauge
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Our Price: $200.38 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR-2250 PCI-E x1 Dual TV Tuner
Digital camera Review: A good base for your media center
Summary: 4 Stars
The dual tuner does what it is supposed to - playing one channel and recording another, or/and recording two shows simultaneously.
It became a functional base of our monthly payment-free TV with on-screen guide and DVR features; recording shows from the air and playing when we have time + skipping ads. That all using the Windows Media Center. The included remote gives an impression of a real DVR.
Small cons:
- The reception from the air antenna is worse than with an Insignia set-top box we used before; I had to improve our antenna system to get all channels.
- The remote control's green button supposedly opens Media Center; but it always tries to open Hauppauge's own player, although I tried my best to reconfigure it.
- My 11-months old is chewing the infra red sensor, which is sticking on a wire from behind the computer - but this one is not the manufacturer's fault ;-)
Digital camera Review: Better than expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this card so I could ditch AT&T U-verse's awful picture quality and set up my PC as a DVR. Fortunately, most of what I watch is available over the air. I already had a Hauppauge 1178 WinTV-HVR-1600 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder but I needed to record multiple channels simultaneously. With the HVR-2250 I can. I hadn't done much research ahead of time, so when the card actually arrived I was pleasantly surprised.
I was worried I would have to split my antenna to both inputs on this card, but it turns out that both TV tuners are driven by one antenna input. The other is for FM radio (and apparently signal here is good enough that FM radio works without an antenna). Reception is flawless for both TV and radio.
The included WinTV 7.2 software supports streaming your TV over the internet (sort of like Slingbox), which is a really nice feature if you have a reasonably fast computer. My 2.3GHz Athlon 64 X2 is not fast enough.
I did not have any driver problems with Windows XP. It's possible that Hauppauge has improved things in the 1yr+ since many of the other reviews were written.
I have only used the ATSC and FM radio functionality of the card, so I can't comment on analog TV performance. I haven't tried using the remote.
It was also very easy to get the card working under Linux (Ubuntu 10.10). All I had to do was download the firmware from the driver developer's website: [...] (see readme.txt). I had already configured MythTV with my HVR-1600, so once I had the HVR-2250 firmware I had no trouble using MythTV to watch and record multiple channels at the same time. I haven't tried listening to FM radio under Linux. I've been told that remotes don't work under Linux with the Hauppauge PCI Express cards (like the HVR-2250) but since I use the remote from my older HVT-1600 this hasn't been an issue for me. It could be a problem for someone building a set top box.
Digital camera Review: Cool
Summary: 4 Stars
Quality image improved over other cards, but still not as if the Cable signal was connected straight to the TV. Already tested recording two simultaneous shows. It's great to record two programs that play at the same time while you are out.Digital camera Review: Easy install
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently bought this tuner. I have read other reviews saying it was difficult to install all the drivers and get it working correctly. Others stated it was easy. I installed the tuner and installed the drivers in less then an hour. The remote didn't work right away with windows media center. Did some more research and downloaded a program from the manufacture and the remote immediately started working. There is some time to set a few things up, but its not hard at all. My only complaint is that Windows Media Center does not support QAM on Vista Premium. And there are no upgrades to fix the problem unless you get a new operating system like Windows 7 or Vista Ultimate. Make sure it has the Windows Media Center TV Pack installed. Not sure what other operating systems have the TV Pack. Over all I am happy. I have tried both antenna and cable. The remote works awesome. After I use it for some time ill re-review this product again.Digital camera Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I like it a lot. I read some negatives about it here, but I took my chances and am completely satisfied with it. In fact, it exceeds my expectations.