Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q TV Tuner Stick/Personal Video Recorder with Clear QAM and Remote Control (Black)

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 3.2 x 10 inches ; 2.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001DEYVXO
• Item model number: WinTV-HVR-950Q
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 29, 2008

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description The Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR-950Q Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder will bring high-definition television directly to your PC. This handy device lets you watch your favorite TV shows through your computer, and record them digitally for future playback using high quality MPEG-2. More economical and versatile than a DVR, or digital video recorder, this PC Video Recorder, or PVR, gives you virtually unlimited options for saving and playing back your favorite TV broadcasts and clips.

The Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR-950Q Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder offers: Ability to watch television on your PC in a window or full screen. Portable, small size for on-the-go television viewing on your laptop. Compatibility with digital and analog signals. Acceptance of video feeds from a camera or satellite box.

The small, pocketable size lets you easily take it everywhere. View larger.

Play and Record Television Digitally
The WinTV-HVR-950Q is a simple-to-use device that brings over-the-air high definition ATSC digital TV as well as analog cable TV directly to your PC desktop or laptop. With the additional included antenna, it can also receive analog TV broadcasts, and it can also accept video feeds directly from a camera or satellite box.

More versatile than a DVR, the WinTV-HVR-950Q is a pocket-sized device that simply plugs into your PC's USB port. It features a built-in digital ATSC over-the-air TV receiver. If you live in one of the more than 200 cities in the United States that receives ATSC digital TV, you'll have immediate access to as many as 1500 digital TV stations. ATSC digital TV is the over-the-air HDTV standard for North America. ATSC broadcasts range in resolution from standard definition up to the high definition 1080i format. (To check the ATSC digital transmissions in your area, input your zip code at titantv.com.)

A portable digital TV antenna, which can be used to receive digital TV up to 10 miles from an ATSC transmitter, is included with the PVR . (To check the ATSC digital transmissions in your area, input your zip code at titantv.com) If you live in an area where you can't currently receive ATSC digital TV, the WinTV-HVR-950 can still be used to watch and record analog TV from cable TV or a TV antenna. (The WinTV-HVR-950 cannot receive digital cable TV or digital satellite TV.) With the included credit-card-sized remote control, navigating all these channels is easy.

Watch Clear QAM Digital TV
The WinTV-HVR-950Q also has a built-in QAM tuner, allowing you to watch and record QAM programming. Clear QAM digital TV channels are digital cable channels which can be watched on a TV set without a cable TV set top box. are Many cable operators transmit the local high definition ATSC channels using clear QAM.. Some cable operators transmit additional non-premium TV programs using clear QAM. With the WinTV-HVR-950Q, you can watch these channels for free. Clear QAM channels range from standard definition to the highest 1080i definition.

Once the WinTV-HVR-950Q is connected, you can begin to record your favorite shows in high-quality MPEG-2 directly to your hard disk using the Hauppauge SoftPVR MPEG-2 encoder. Television recordings will typically consume 5 GB of disk space per hour for ATSC high definition, while analog recordings will typically consume 1.5 GB of disk space per hour. You can also use the included WinTV-Scheduler to program your compute to record your favorite analog or digital TV shows for play back at any time.

Compatibility with Microsoft's Windows Media Center means that you can watch TV as well as your recordings with Windows Media Center. The included WinTV application also lets you watch your shows in a window or on full screen.

The WinTV application offers an elegant interface to watch TV in a window or full screen. View larger.

More about PVR Technology
PVR stands for PC Video Recorder. The WinTV-HVR-950 is a PVR that allows you to play television through your computer and record the broadcasts digitally. PVR doesn't use standard videocassettes; instead, it uses your computer's hard disk to store the broadcasts.

Once you record a television show to your PC's hard drive, you can burn a CD or DVD that will allow you to play the show back on another computer or on your television. With video editing software (not included with the WinTV-HVR-950), you can even edit the shows. This is a great feature if you want to save clips from movies or sitcoms, or keep your favorite player's grand slam or TD kick-off return for posterity.

And just like a typical VCR, the WinTV-HVR-950 offers you several recording options, depending on your play back needs. If you want the highest quality recording for playback through your HDTV, all you need is enough hard drive space to support high-quality recording. By using the lowest recording option, you can use your WinTV-HVR-950, along with an inexpensive video camera, as a low-cost on-site video surveillance system. In fact, the possibilities of how you can take advantage of the WinTV-HVR-950 are endless.

What's in the Box
WinTV-HVR-950 USB 2.0 TV stick with cable TV or ATSC antenna connection; USB extension cable; portable antenna; software on CD-ROM; remote control; and quick installation guide.

Product Description

The 1191 WinTV-HVR-950Q is a USB 2.0 TV Stick with a Hybrid TV tuner receiver for both NTSC analog, over-the-air ATSC hi-definition digital TV and clear QAM digital cable TV.. Watch, pause and record television on desktop, notebook or laptop computers. Its Pocket Size form factor makes it the perfect traveling companion for use with laptop and notebook computers. Ships with standing portable telescoping antenna. Compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP, XP Pro or XP Media Center Edition, with Service Pack 2. Also includes credit card size remote control.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome usb tuner, November 18, 2008

By	A. Dimitrov (usa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before I bought this item I read some reviews that it is changing channels very slow, crashes a lot after watching the hd channels, some ppl couldn't even get hd channels somehow.

The product turned out pretty awesome! I did notice some slowness when i first connected it to my pc (vista-32, q6600, 8800gt, 4gb ram) through a pci usb hub. I was wondering why since i definitely have the horse power for the device to be running pretty fast. I hooked it up to one of the standard usb ports and it got a lot faster. Actually now it is perfect. I am able to watch atsc channels no problems whatsoever.

I also tried it on my aspire one and it worked perfectly there as well!

This is a great product! Thanks Amazon!

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tuner/ recorder, August 18, 2008

By	H. DUONG "TGUYLA" (Alhambra, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great tuner/ video recorder. It is fully compatible with Vista and Windows Media Center. The remote control is convenience and works great with Windows Media Center. It virtually transforms your desktop/laptop into a HDTV plus a digital recorder system. Powerful hardware configuration (CPU, memory and hard disk) is strongly recommended. Recording 1 hour of HD contents (720p/1080i) in Windows Media Center requires 6 GB of hard disk space. The software package is good but I prefer Windows Media Center.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed about the WinTV, October 5, 2008

By	C. Chen "ccchen1102" (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hauppauge 1200 WinTV HVR-850 HDTV Tuner Stick
Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR-950Q TV Tuner Stick/Personal Video Recorder with Clear QAM and Remote Control (Black)

I checked the previous reviews here and tried both 950Q and 850 (purchased locally), I ended up return both units. The HW seems to be OK, the issue is with the software, it freezes and crashes way too often. I think if you have a WinXP system without MCE, you don't want to consider this brand. The software is written poorly: - On Analog or Non-HD digital channel, it takes 40-50% of CPU power on my Vaio S560, 1.8Ghz Pentium M + 1.5G memory. On HD digital channel, it takes 70-80% CPU power. Switching from Analog to HD would crash the WinTV version 6, Switching from Analog to Non-HD digital then to HD is the way to workaround it, but if you kill the app when it was at HD, the app crashes every time it launches, to workaround it, you'd have to unplug the cable (so there is no signal) before launch, annoying!! Isn't it?

Pctv HD Stick USB Hd Atsc Ntsc Clearqam Tuner
I've bought Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick since and this is the one I will keep, the PCTV user interface is very well done, the main window can be resized to really small, the channel switching is faster, it also takes up less CPU power on Analog and Non-HD digital at around 20% (70%-80% for HD). The software does lock up a couple times, however, this rarely occurs.