question about Hauppauge PVR-150 TV tuner card

[hclarkjr]

i am thinking about getting one for my computer to watch and record TV on the computer. would i need anything other than a free PCI slot to install it? does the image go to the monitor screen through the PCI slot? sorry if this is stupid question 😱

 

[nerp]

The image goes through your video card. All you connect to the TV card is your cable or svideo wire from the cable line or your set top box. The remote control has an IR blaster thingy that plugs into your USB port.

Do you plan on using the machine with MCE? The bundled TV utilities that come with most TV cards aren't all that great.

 

[hclarkjr]

yes, i believe from what i have read that vista has that feature built in

 

[accguy9009]

I am using this Hauppauge card with Vista Home Premium

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16815116007


As nerp stated, all I did was connect the cable feed and the IR Blaster and you got it. I had to get the newest drivers before it worked correctly. The remote will not work unless you install the IR software. Vista Media Center really works well. I just installed SP1 and no glitches at all.

 

[vailr]

I'd recommend against any TV tuner card that's "standard definition only".
After Feb. 17, 2009, it can't receive any "off the air" signals, without adding a $60 digital-to-analog converter box.
(It will still work with analog cable or satellite content, however).
A better choice would be an HD capable tuner card, such as the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (for PCI slot)
or the WinTV-HVR-1800 (for PCIe slot). ATI TV tuner cards also come in HD-capable versions.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Su...V-Tuners-Video-Devices

 

[boomhower]

Also do some research on that card. I have had it in another system and it works great however I have read some reports that it does not play nice with systems with 4GB's of ram. I have no idea why, just what I have read. I do not have it any more.

 

[WraithETC]

Originally posted by: boomhower
Also do some research on that card. I have had it in another system and it works great however I have read some reports that it does not play nice with systems with 4GB's of ram. I have no idea why, just what I have read. I do not have it any more.

Yep..... mine just doesn't work sometimes.

 

[jkresh]

hauppauge makes good hardware but is not great with driver updates, also I agree with vailr, look at a card that can do ntsc and atsc so you have an antenna option next year (also hd is nice), you can go hauppauge or with someone else (ati/amd, avermedia...)

 

[SpeedEng66]

Originally posted by: vailr
I'd recommend against any TV tuner card that's "standard definition only".
After Feb. 17, 2009, it can't receive any "off the air" signals, without adding a $60 digital-to-analog converter box.
(It will still work with analog cable or satellite content, however).
A better choice would be an HD capable tuner card, such as the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (for PCI slot)
or the WinTV-HVR-1800 (for PCIe slot). ATI TV tuner cards also come in HD-capable versions.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Su...V-Tuners-Video-Devices

now I have a questin (sorry for the ot)
but my current pvr150 is using my cable line (my tv used to be in this room so I just used the existing line)
now I get currently is the basic channels (abc cbs fox ect & lot's of spanish channels lol)
but it's clear (unlike rabbit ears hooked up to it)

so when this conversion happens am I going to loose my basic channels using the pvr150? (even tho I am hooked up via cable)

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: SpeedEng66

Originally posted by: vailr
I'd recommend against any TV tuner card that's "standard definition only".
After Feb. 17, 2009, it can't receive any "off the air" signals, without adding a $60 digital-to-analog converter box.
(It will still work with analog cable or satellite content, however).
A better choice would be an HD capable tuner card, such as the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (for PCI slot)
or the WinTV-HVR-1800 (for PCIe slot). ATI TV tuner cards also come in HD-capable versions.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Su...V-Tuners-Video-Devices

now I have a questin (sorry for the ot)
but my current pvr150 is using my cable line (my tv used to be in this room so I just used the existing line)
now I get currently is the basic channels (abc cbs fox ect & lot's of spanish channels lol)
but it's clear (unlike rabbit ears hooked up to it)

so when this conversion happens am I going to loose my basic channels using the pvr150? (even tho I am hooked up via cable)

Not until your cable company decides to turn off analog cable...

 

[SpeedEng66]

Originally posted by: VivienM

Originally posted by: SpeedEng66

Originally posted by: vailr
I'd recommend against any TV tuner card that's "standard definition only".
After Feb. 17, 2009, it can't receive any "off the air" signals, without adding a $60 digital-to-analog converter box.
(It will still work with analog cable or satellite content, however).
A better choice would be an HD capable tuner card, such as the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (for PCI slot)
or the WinTV-HVR-1800 (for PCIe slot). ATI TV tuner cards also come in HD-capable versions.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Su...V-Tuners-Video-Devices

now I have a questin (sorry for the ot)
but my current pvr150 is using my cable line (my tv used to be in this room so I just used the existing line)
now I get currently is the basic channels (abc cbs fox ect & lot's of spanish channels lol)
but it's clear (unlike rabbit ears hooked up to it)

so when this conversion happens am I going to loose my basic channels using the pvr150? (even tho I am hooked up via cable)

Not until your cable company decides to turn off analog cable...

thanks!!
oh well if they turn it off it was nice while I had it 🙂

 

[jkresh]

SpeedEng66, even if they turn of analog you could just get a cable box and connect to the pvr150 over svideo (admittedly you would have to pay for the box but you still would ahve the advantage of being able to use the pvr to record/timeshift without paying for dvr service).

 

[SpeedEng66]

Originally posted by: jkresh
SpeedEng66, even if they turn of analog you could just get a cable box and connect to the pvr150 over svideo (admittedly you would have to pay for the box but you still would ahve the advantage of being able to use the pvr to record/timeshift without paying for dvr service).

it's not something we use that often (maybe 10x out of the year) watch a few sports games while bbqin
my htpc is not in my main setup it's actually our home theather room mainly for movies using a projector
(I really didnt want to pay for a cable box dont use it enough to be worth it)

 

[jkresh]

SpeedEng66 another option would be just to pick up a new card that can deal with qam (unencrypted digital cable, check avsforum.com for good info on cards and a listing of what channels your provider has unencrypted right now)

 

[cubby1223]

If it's not out of your budget, I'd go with the HVR-1600 card. Then you can add a splitter and pull off both analog and digital channels off the incoming cable. You won't pick up all the digital channels, pretty much just the major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, both their regular and HD channels.

I think your video card and/or cpu may be underpowered to record the digital channels (should be improved in further software updates), but with the HVR-1600 you do have the analog input to always record from while you play around with available digital channels.



And, if you do get a Hauppauge card, use the WinTV2000 application, not the WinTV6 application (both are on the driver cd). I think the WinTV6 version uses no hardware acceleration to display the video, it performs like crap.

 

[imported_NOTORIOUS]

Now I have a question.

How can I get to view and record the channels higher than 125. Like HBO and such.
Does the new Hauppauge cards do this?

 

[SpeedEng66]

Originally posted by: jkresh
SpeedEng66 another option would be just to pick up a new card that can deal with qam (unencrypted digital cable, check avsforum.com for good info on cards and a listing of what channels your provider has unencrypted right now)

:beer: thats something I look into when they cut the analog off
since technology keeps changing I pick one up if I see a good sale (I still have at least a year 😉 with my 150 )

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: jkresh
SpeedEng66 another option would be just to pick up a new card that can deal with qam (unencrypted digital cable, check avsforum.com for good info on cards and a listing of what channels your provider has unencrypted right now)

If the OP's cable co is like mine, there are no unencrypted QAM channels...

... and because this is Canada, not the US, and we don't have good regulators, we'll probably never see CableCARD, either.

 

[jkresh]

NOTORIOUS, hbo and other premium channels are always encrypted (or almost always) so you can only view them with a cable box (connect svideo from cable box into the tuner, hauppauge is supposedly releasing a tuner soon with component in which will let you view/record hd encrypted channels from the component out on your cable box but there is no firm release date for that (supposedly March/April))