Hauppauge 1128 WinTV HVR 1800 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner Video Recorder
Amazon.com Product Description The Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1800 includes dual TV tuners to let you watch both digital and analog television on your PC, in a window or full screen. With PVR software and built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoding, you can also record television onto your computer for viewing later without slowing down your computer.
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Dual tuners lets you watch both digital and analog signals. View larger. View ports. |
Watch High-definition Digital TV and Listen to FM Radio on Your Computer
With dual format TV tuners, the WinTV-HVR-1800 lets you watch ATSC digital TV as well as QAM digital TV and analog cable TV signals. ATSC digital TV, which typically requires an antenna for reception, 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)
The WinTV-HVR-1800 also lets you watch and record QAM channels, which are unencrypted digital channels broadcast by your local cable operator. If you don’t have access to digital television channels yet, you can also watch regular analog cable television.
In addition to high-definition video, the card also features a dbx-TV stereo decoder for great TV sound. The card has Composite/S-Video and audio inputs that allow for connecting VCRs or cable/satellite set top boxes.
With a built-in FM radio tuner, you can also sit back and listen to top 40 hits or your favorite talk radio while you are working on your latest project.
Your Own Personal Digital Video Recorder
With the included software, you can easily record TV shows to your hard disk using MPEG-2. Several recording options are available depending on your playback needs; higher quality video requires more disk space. Generally, 5 gigabytes of disk space is used per hour of ATCS digital TV recordings. Thanks to the built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoder, your PC continues to run at full speed even while recording.
The WinTV application offers an elegant interface to watch TV in a window or full screen. View larger. |
With the WinTV-Scheduler software, you can easily schedule the recordings of your favorite television shows daily, weekly, or just once. You can then play back the recordings at your leisure, burn them onto CD or DVD for playback on another computer or your television, or with video editing software (not included), you can edit the shows. This is great for saving favorite movie clips, or of your favorite teams dramatic last-second win or your favorite player’s grand slam.
Windows Vista and MCE Compatible with Included Remote
The Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1800 plugs into a PCI-Express x1 or x8 slot, and is compatible with Windows Vista, XP Home and Pro, and Windows XP Media Center Edition. With XP-MCE and Vista, you can add the WinTV-HVR-1800 as either the primary or secondary TV tuner. The Microsoft Media Center application supports up to two TV tuners so you can watch on channel while recording another.
Included in the package is a Media Center certified remote control that allows you to have all your digital entertainment within easy reach, even while you are lounging on your couch.
What’s in the Box
WinTV-HVR-1800 PCI-express card, Media Center Remote kit, CD-ROM with WinTV software.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star bad for copying old video tapes
I have old Hi8 tapes to convert to DVD, record to your hard drive and burn a disc. Sounds good.. right? Wrong!! The video image jumps and flickers a lot, I end up getting a Toshiba DVD player/recorder for about the same price and that worked great!! No problems with the TV tuner. Video works good if I use a DVD to play into video card… Ha Ha Ha
5 Stars Love the MPEG capture
I like how the card will capture video and encode to MPEG-2, DVD-quality on-the-fly. It also saves time on the backend when the CPU doesn’t have to work as hard to transcode the video for burning to disc It’s a great card for capturing those old videos.
No complaints on the TV tuner, either; it’s just that TWC Akron doesn’t support digital broadcast through their cables. So, It’s my problem. Analog cable only for me.
5 Stars Worked like a charm
I was looking for a TV tuner for my new HP with Vista Home Premium 64 and after much research (including Amazon customer remarks), I purchased this unit about 2 months ago. I manage the tuner thru Windows Media Center. Although hooked up thru Comcast (CABLE TV AND INTERNET), the HD over the air signals provide the best view on my 25.5″ HDMI HP monitor. I purchased the TERK HD indoor antenna to go with it and I guess it is part of the reason for the sharp, clear HD reception. The fact that it also has an FM radio tuner is also a big plus for me. I have used the record feature a couple of times to “tape” live TV for later veiwing and it works very well. I highly recommend this product (and the antenna).
3 Stars Needs some help in XP
So, I purchased this card solely with the intention of recording video from external A/V sources, and have not hooked it up to a cable signal, so I can’t comment on that.
My system is fairly top end (at least it was when I built it about 9 months ago) – Core 2, 4GB Ram, 8800GTS, etc. This is the ONLY piece of hardware I have had any problem installing in at least the last 5 years. First off, the included CD, when you go to install the software for XP (because unless you have XP MCE you do NOT have software to view TV already), would not install the software. Drivers installed fine, but the installer would insist no software installation was necessary. Downloading the most up to date install CD from the manufacturer’s site resolved this problem.
As for the actual quality of the software (WinTV), I have no clue what passes for quality control at Hauppauge, but good lord spellcheck your UI! The software overall feels low quality and reminds me of software from the early Win95 days. The software works fine, but really lacks any sort of polish.
Somewhere also in the installation, my sound card stopped working (Realtek onboard sound on a Gigabyte P35-D53L). Probably a quirk to my system, but I was unsuccessful in reviving my sound card (full driver uninstall, driver clean sweep in safe mode, reinstall, etc). In the end, I had to reformat my OS drive and start from a fresh windows install – although this is probably due to a specific issue on my system. Just wanted to mention it.
Anyways, the performance seems good, works as advertised, but the quirks of getting it running on XP and the polish of the included software are frankly completely out of line with modern hardware. I imagine on a Vista system with MCE where only the drivers are required, this is a great card. XP users beware though!
5 Stars Works well, but could use improvements.
Hardware install went well. Driver installation was a bit of a pain (novice users may struggle). Couldn’t get Windows Media Center to work well with it on my updated 32-bit Vista machine. Ended up using software provided with card. Operates okay on Comcast digital feed in Spokane WA area, except that channel changes seem a bit slow. Am not using provided remote control.
