Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR-2250 PCI-E x1 Dual TV Tuner by Hauppauge
|
Our Price: $200.72 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR-2250 PCI-E x1 Dual TV Tuner
Digital camera Review: Excellent Tuner (but not the best remote)
Summary: 4 Stars
I added this to my HTPC (see specs below). I picked it because it sports two hybrid tuners meaning I could record two channels simultaneously whether or not either or both was analog or digital (including HD). With only one input, I didn't need a cable splitter with its resultant losses. I attached an FM antenna (not included) to the FM input. Windows 7 media center picked the antenna up without any problem. I watch HD (clear QAM) TV and the picture is absolutely stellar. The analog reception may be a tick less picture quality than a direct connection to the TV, but it is satisfactorily close in PQ. I get better FM reception than I do through my collocated Sony AVR using the same antenna. So why not five stars? Because the remote's 'OK' button, directional arrow buttons, and function buttons are very laggy. In fact, since the IR receiver doesn't flash on reception, I initially thought my remote didn't work at all. One has to depress these buttons for over a second before there is a visual response on the screen. Volume, mute, and channel changing are all responsive. The Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver sold through Amazon from CE Compass is a much better remote and includes mouse functions as well as media center functions. As far as I can tell, the white box (1229) 2250 comes without the remote and costs less. I would go with that and order the better remote separately. However, if you want to use a blaster with a cable set top box (STB) the Media Center package is the only way to go. I have used the included Win7 software to capture video through the analog inputs included and the quality was wonderful. If Hauppauge ever makes a card with HDMI input or cable card capability, I would definitely make Hauppauge the brand of first choice. I am very satisfied.
*hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC 7K09 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
*ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
*AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor
Digital camera Review: Excellent tuner
Summary: 5 Stars
Installation was easy with Windows Media Center and Win 7.. I only installed the drivers and WMC made configuration simple. Well worth the price, no problems.Digital camera Review: Excellent, but took some tweaking..WORTH IT though!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this to replace an old Diamond PVR that I'm running with Beyond TV. Wanted digital QAM. Worked great plug and play. BTV picked it up, and I was able to get all QAM channels that are available in Indianapolis area. I wasn't ready to map the channels, though. You have to visually choose which QAM channel goes with which Analog station (with Beyond TV that is). Took a while, but helped in weeding out those channels I wasn't interested in. WIN-TV app worked fine. Records in .TS format, so you need an app like HDTV2MPEG2 (google it) and it converts fine. Burned DVD's look great even on HD 42" living room TV. When I tried to use it with Vista Media Center, I kept getting tuner errors (couldn't find it??). Dug through the registry and it was there, just not seeing it. Reading through forum posts, etc, I kept reading about how you had to reinstall Vista. I wanted to get it working, but not THAT bad. I uninstalled WIN-TV and Beyond TV. I Then uninstalled the drivers and went into the registry and wiped out the tuner data media center had listed there and then rebooted, reinstalled the drivers and media center found the tuners with no problem. I'm going to reinstall Beyond TV now that Media Center is working fine and we'll see if they play together well. So, in short, it seems if you have OTHER PVR software on board, and want to use Media Center, uninstall that first and start "clean" from that standpoint. The QAM picture quality exceeds what I expected. All tuners work well....don't use the radio feature (thanks Pandora!). I don't use the IR/Remote so I can't comment on that. I'm happy with it, but as noted, it took some tweaking.Digital camera Review: False advertisement (Not a clear-QAM tuner)
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't usually write reviews on items that I purchase, but this is one that I can't ignore.
This device works fine for ATSC from an antenna, but it doesn't tune in any of the 150+ Comcast clear-QAM channels in my area (Loudoun Co., VA).
If you want a clear-QAM tuner that works in Northern VA, buy the HDHomeRun by Silicon Dust, it just works.
Digital camera Review: Finding my Channels!
Summary: 5 Stars
well installed it; and had no problems with it; the only thing is it tells u that it doesn't find any channles but it does. Did a list update from the internet with media center and all my channels where in sync with the list/schedule so it works great on windows 7.
just remember to go into edit channels and select them or have it do a auto select and your channels are there, again on setup with media center install it tells u it doesn't find any channels but it does and their in your edit channel list.