Hauppauge 1199 WinTV HVR-1600 Internal PCI Dual TV Tuner/Video Recorder with IR Receiver and Blaster

5 comments

1. 

   B. Babb on December 14, 2009 at 1:16 pm

   My computer had a 2000 year NSTC model Hauppauge tuner in it.

   I found when I connected a digital tuner equipped VCR to the computer through this card that each time I attempted to view a channel, it would crash my computer.

   I ordered this card in the belief that something in the digital signal was causing the issue with the older card.

   HARDWARE

   The card installation was typical. I followed the instructions and used the disc provided. When that did not provide adequate results, I removed the software and used the updated files from the website.

   However, the tuner was never able to capture and tune any of the 12 digital channels available in this area.

   Yesterday, a local station made the conversion and stopped broadcasting in analog, I have not been able to tune into their digital signal, either.

   The tuner will capture the analog channels, but in four months they will be going away.

   What good is a digital tuner that wants a fantastic signal?

   There are a total of four TVs tuned to the digital antenna and all four have great pictures on their 12 digital channels. I don’t understand why this card cannot tune to them.

   I gave it one star because it does allow me to view the digital channels tuned in using the VCR’s digital tuner and I can use the card in that manner, but the tuner itself in the card appears to be worthless for the purpose it was designed.

   I am unable to even determine if the dual tuner feature functions as I cannot get the tuner to work in digital. Analog channels are not worth messing with due to their future demise.

   Troubleshooting states that if no digital stations are tuned, check your antenna. There is nothing you can do if this card will not tune to stations available to every other TV in the system can tune into.

   For the only use I can get from it, the price was too expensive. It is basically an interface for me to connect a VCR to so I can watch what the VCR can tune in.

   SOFTWARE

   When programming channels, you cannot skip programming analog channels. That means you waste between 3-8 minutes while it checks for analog signals before moving onto digital signals. When analog stops broadcasting this will be a pain. Hopefully the software will be updated to allow programming analog OR digital OR both. Then when analog goes away, only the digital programming needs to be checked.

2. 

   DHC on December 14, 2009 at 2:32 pm

   The product works just like it is supposed to, but I would have never been able to install it in my computer by myself. The installation instructions assume you already know how to install computer cards in a CPU.

3. 

   CHRIS on December 14, 2009 at 3:22 pm

   WE ARE IN THE WEST INDIES AND THE PRODUCT IS NOT TUNED TO WORK IN OUR COUNTRY.THIS INFORMATION WAS RECEIVED FROM A TECHNICIAN FROM HAUPPAUGE.IT WAS INSTALLED , THE CHANNELS WERE SHOWING FADED WITHOUT COLOUR. TO TAKE IMAGES FROM MY CAMCORDERS NEVER HAPPENED AS THE PC NEVER RECOGNIZED THEM. THEY ARE SHARP AND SONY. I NEVER GOT THE SATISFACTION OF USING THE PRODUCT

4. 

   M on December 14, 2009 at 5:10 pm

   This tuner card produces a good picture and it’s nice to have dual tuners. However, keep in mind (this isn’t very clear from the description) that only the analog input works with regular coax input from your cable company for all of your usual channels. The digital input is only for QAM channels (the digital channels that your cable company provides for free that you don’t need a set top box to unscramble), the number of which vary by cable provider and geographic area. The process for setting up QAM channels is a pain if your area has many of them, as mine does, but this really has nothing to do with the card itself. The card works very well, but as is always the case with Hauppauge cards, the documentation is horrible and the WinTV application isn’t worth bothering with.

5. 

   M. White on December 14, 2009 at 6:38 pm

   I’m writing this review from a MythTV/Linux user’s perspective only. I’ve never used the included software or tried this card with Windows, so I have no idea how well that works. I have the card fully functional with analog and digital modes working on kernel 2.6.28.10 with the ‘cx18′ module. I had to recompile the kernel myself since I was upgrading a older machine, but I expect newer distributions would probably work out of the box. Configuring both halves (analog and digital) was somewhat painful with MythtTV 0.21, but it can be done by following one of the guides available on the MythTV wiki. Even the remote works perfectly with LIRC.

   My cable company is transitioning from analog to digital, so there’s some overlap between the clear QAM and analog channels. This card is great for capturing both of these. I really like that I can record analog and digital at the same time if there’s two things on that I want to watch. Obviously, the digital signal looks much better than analog, but I still find the analog recordings acceptable. Occasionally I get glitches in the digital signal but it’s not very noticeable. Overall, it’s a no-frills capture card that does exactly what it claims to.

   My only gripe is that when my cable company’s inevitable switch from analog to digital is complete, the whole analog side of this card will be useless. Since they encrypt most of the digital signals for cable channels, I’ll only be able to record the major networks. It’s a shame there’s no support for CableCard or some other means to record encrypted digital channels.