Customer Reviews

Hauppauge 1196 WinTV-HVR-1250 PCI-E x1 TV Tuner 1196

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Pros:
One of the lowest cost Hybrid Tuner Cards out there that can do both Analog and Digital Tuning. It works well, can view a clear picture on the computer, smooth, NOT choppy nor freezes. Includes WinTV7 which is needed to watch digital channels (ATSC or clear QAM), Windows Media Center only supports Analog (NTCS) Channels. The card is small (1/2 Height with 1/2 Height headers that can be swapped on) and its PCIe so it will fit a PCIeX1 or PCIeX16 slot.
64Bit supported just as well as 32Bit, running this on Vista Home Premium 64Bit.

Cons:
Does NOT have a MPEG Encoder chip, so no hardware conversion of the Analog signal, your CPU will have to work harder to do a software MPEG conversion. With weaker CPU's that might be a problem, my Athlon X2 6000+ runs at 40%-50% utilization while watching analog channels. I'm pretty sure Digital Channels do NOT need a MPEG Encoder chip, the digital signal is already streamed as MPEG, and watching digital channels my CPU utilization is 15%-30%, more often at the lower end near 15%.

Like mentioned, WinTV7 can crash suddenly, but restarts and runs fine after a crash. Its NOT to often, but enough that its more than a fluke. Runs just as well 64Bit as 32Bit. Remember, you can't watch Digital Channels in Windows Media Center, only analog, you'll need WinTV7 or another 3rd Party Program to watch Digital Channels.

Other:
Windows 7 will support Digital Channels in Windows Media Center.
If your cable company offers clear QAM, Comcast in my area has a digital alternative for every analog channel as well, so I can get every channel they offer in digital, then there is NO reason to pay extra for a Tuner Card with a MPEG encoder chip onboard, its NOT needed for Digital Channels. I'm pretty sure its NOT used at all for digital channels.
Remember, this card is PCI"e" NOT PCI, it will NOT fit your PCI slots, its for PCI"e"X1 or even PCI"e"X16 slots.

I purchased this card to be put into a MythTV (Linux) home-built DVR. I previously was only recording standard definition non-digital cable channels. I recently purchased a HDTV for my bedroom/office and wanted to be able to take advantage of that. This card works perfectly with MythTV and Linux. The tuner found all of the digital channels in the air that my TV was able to find with the antenna connected directly to it. This card seems to lock onto signals very well, as I havnt seen a single issue in any of the recordings made from it yet. You can't beat free over-the-air high definition of the local networks!!! I'm thrilled. Buy it!

If you have Windows 7, there's really no point in delaying the purchase of this TV tuner. Windows automatically identifies the tuner, installs the drivers, and then it's only a matter of opening up Windows Media Center (WMC) and letting it guide you through the steps. I was concerned that just having a direct cable connection (no cable box...obviously) would limit the channels. But I get pretty much all the cables I do normally plus the HD channels. Having an HD monitor and a large hard drive (HD recording takes up about 5 GB/hour) makes this capable of taping full seasons and plenty of movies without batting an eye. Movies on all cable and basic channels are categorized for you. You can browse titles in an iTunes-like view and BluRay movies are even marked as such just the way they would in the store. I use iTunes for a lot of things, but not anymore. Why pay the money for shows and movies you can record yourself? Why wait patiently for buffering and annoying commercials on Hulu when you can just fastforward? WMC has really come into its own, and this Hauppage tuner really allows you to exploit its full potential.

This TV tuner card works great in a Dell Dimension desktop with Vista. Highly recommended when combined with Windows Media Center. Note that the card will fit in either a PCI Express x1 or x16, but not in a regular PCI slot. I did not set up the remote as I did not need it, so I can't speak for how it works. It looked somewhat cheaply built, though, so if the remote is a selling point, you may want to look elsewhere.

If you want a cheap and easy recording option in Vista, go with this card.

Somebody mentioned that this card will not work with Comcast service. I have Comcast service and the card is working perfectly fine for me. Skip their converter box and plug in the cable directly into the TV tuner. Not only that I get all the channels but I also get all the local channels in HD, even though I'm not signed up for Comcast HD service.

Installs easily, but the WinTV software that comes with it only found analog channels on Comcasts cable network (which carries digital channels in Clear QAM). A search on Happauge.com's support center didn't help (support seems to be pretty basic in the US if you think you may need it).

Windows Media Center, which comes with Windows 7, found the digital channels without a problem however on my PC. So my advice is, install the drivers that come with the card and skip WinTV and use Windows Media Center instead (unless you can't use Windows Media Center for some reason). Otherwise the card works just fine.

I use this card with a home network and an Xbox 360 in the living room, which also runs the Media Center software. This allows us to access live and recorded TV shows in HD on our HDTV set in the living room. This could theoretically replace our Tivo (and its monthly subscription fee), the only problem is that Windows Media Center's cable lineup for Comcast in San Francisco does not list the more exotic channels like Syfy, Animal Planet, Comedy Central etc. (it does list all major channels). You can still program shows on those channels manually, but it is a pain.

The card works well on my win 7 media center system with QAM Clear channels from Comcast (no cable box). Here are some concerns.

o The remote supplied seems to not launch media center from the desktop like another Hauppage remote (USB) that I have. It appears you need to have Media Center Launched, then the remote works. A minor inconvenience.

o The cable tv receiver is not as strong as my TVs. When my signal was weak, my TV would receive the channel, but the 1196 was getting dropouts.

o I put a Wireless N PCI express card in the slot right next to the 1196. It was causing a dropout of the cable signal every few seconds. I tried to build a shield, but that didn't work. I had to take out the wireless N card and the 1196 worked perfectly after that. Definitely confirmed interference between the PCI express Wireless N card and the 1196. I'm not sure which card to blame. I have a small form factor PC so I couldn't try separating the cards more, so I don't know if that would have helped.

o Many clear QAM channels scan in the setup as if they are locked and scrambled, but if you select them, many can be viewed. After finding them in setup, you need to manually set them up in the guide so that the system knows what shows are on what clear QAM channel. That is a bit of a pain to do but worth the effort it makes it very easy to record shows. In my area Comcast offers HGTV, History, Comedy Central, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Fox News, CNBC, Golf, Style, and many more through clear QAM.

All in all, I like using this card with Windows Media Center and not having to have a cable company's DVR or cable box. Comcast offers plenty of basic channels through clear QAM, but you can't get premium Comcast channels or encrypted channels through this card. You need to set up a cable box and use an IR blaster to get those to record on this card.

The card works great, I didn't have any problems with the card. It was easy to install and get working in XP and receives well. It has good reception on analog and digital stations, I get a reading of 29.8 or so out of 30 on all the Phoenix stations 40 miles away except one weak station that only reads about 15-20 but they all come in well. I can even get most of the DTV stations from Tucson 100 miles away. For everyone whining about poor reception you need to get a good antenna.
The problem though is the software sucks like everyone says. I would change the rating to one star if I could. With WinTv 6 the picture is a bit too dark, color is too saturated and a bit too red but there aren't any adjustments while viewing DTV channels. When viewing analog channels there are brightness, contrast, color saturation and tint controls but they are absent when viewing digital channels. Also, when recording HDTV programs off the air the WinTV program creates MPEG files that won't play back in anything besides WinTV! The problem with playing it in WinTV is the lack of features and there is no way to de-interlace 1080i video so it looks good and the video is jumpy and the sound tends to stutter.
Isn't MPEG supposed to be a standard? Also, a one hour TV program takes 6.4 Gb of storage space and ends up lasting 1 hour and 14 minutes when it plays back! I tried editing the file in Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 and while it will import without making the program crash and plays OK in the preview window, when I do any sort of editing it becomes unstable and starts jumping around, the pictures on the video time line don't match the video and the audio gets out of sync with the video. What idiots wrote this software?
I tried contacting tech support at Hauppauge to find out if there are any secret menus for adjusting the brightness and color and was told to open the tools menu but when I mentioned there aren't any adjustments for digital channels they said to try using WinTV 7 instead. I tried WinTV 7 but it fails and won't install in XP. Tech support seemed to be surprised to learn about the problems with WinTV 6 and that WinTV 7 would not install.
I don't think anyone at Hauppauge ever reads the reviews of their products and they really don't seem to know that everyone thinks their software is crap. That would explain why it never gets fixed. I tried using Sony Vegas Movie Studio and it doesn't like the MPEG files created by WinTV at all. They will open in the program and the preview plays OK but if I edit the video or do anything to it then it becomes unstable and jumps around, the sound gets out of sync with the video and it's completely useless.
I did find a work around to the crappy WinTV program for playback thought. If I use VideoReDo to remove the commercials and save the file I found the file will then play in VLC Media player with de-interlace turned on, I can turn up the brightness and contrast and it looks great.
Update, Hauppauge has released an updated version of WinTV V6 that works a little better but it still don't have adjustments for Brightness and Contrast and still won't de-interlace 1080i. It records files that are more compatable with other player programs and doesn't cause crashes like before. Now I can record a show in HD and play it back using the VLC player with Video De-interlace turned on and it mostly looks good but tends to get jumpy and drop out the video sometimes. SageTV is a lot better than the crappy WinTV though. It looks better in HD (but SD programs look bad) and has a program guide and the ability to program recording by channel and time on any day you want. SageTV also has some problems though, it's slow to change channels, taking 6-7 seconds per channel with the up and down arrows and doesn't use keyboard shortcuts to allow punching in the channel number to go right to that channel and the sound plays at full volume with no way to turn it down. The "Free Download" of SageTV is only a 21 day demo though and nags me each time I start it up. They want $79 to register it which is more than the HDTV card costs and seems like a lot for a program with so many bugs.

I've only used the digital part of this tuner, but I'm very happy with it. Worked out of the box in my linux mythtv system.

If you are thinking about getting this, be sure to select the version that has a remote included. The only difference between the two versions is the extra remote and a S-Video to Composite adapter to make up for the Composite input port you are giving up for the remote input port. And most places offer the version with remote cheaper than the one without. Go figure :)

Hauppauge products have never disappointed me and the HVR-1250 is no exception. My need was simple, watch/record TV on my PC and the HVR-1250 delivered. Setup was a breeze. Although I have used WinTV in the past, I choose not to use it as the application software simply because Microsoft Media Center satisfied my requirement. The HVR-1250 performance is fantastic using the Intel i5-2300 chipset with 6GB RAM with a cable input. My only regret is that I didn't buy a 2-tuner card so I can record on a different channel that what I'm watching.