Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR-955Q USB TV Tuner For Notebook

This review is for the most recent revision of the 950Q, purchased in January of 2012. It's worth pointing out that this is a different package than that sold previously, with the same model number. The back of my stick reads as follows: NTSC/ATSC/QAM HD TV receiver 72001 LF Rev B4F0 4311. (It also lists a unique MAC address, which you may need if dealing with your local cable company) The box this shipped in is a smaller box than shown in the images, above, and instead of the white styrofoam insert, there's a brown corrugated cardboard insert. The stick is present, as is the little AV patch cable, and the antenna, as well as a remote. I say "A remote" because the remote provided is NOT the remote shown in the images above. My remote is not the type with a membrane switch face, and would not slip into the card slot of a laptop (and since those slots are not even included anymore, that makes sense). The new remote has the same raised rubber buttons most remotes have, albeit in a small and portable form factor. It seems as though there are a couple of buttons on the other remote which aren't present on this one, but since I can't see a close-up of the other remote, I can't be certain. The remote I was provided with seems to work fine, but there's a significant "lag" between using it and having the WinTV 7 software respond. (By the way, this package came with the latest version of WinTV7, v2.4d, on CD, which leads me to conclude that this is a newer release, not an older one, though there's no way to be certain). The antenna seems to work better than I'd have expected, and should be more than servicable for my "travel use" needs. I need to get a slim coax cable to travel with to patch into cable TV as well, and that's not provided here... only the antenna is provided. But the antenna works nicely... I was able to get 16 channels here in Austin, TX, while the FCC's site suggested I could only expect to receive about ten. It's worth noting that I get more channels using the provided WinTV application than I do when using Windows Media Center. I fail to see why the provided application would receive more, but it does. I get about ten channels using WMC, with the rest being "below threshold." The antenna provided is acceptable, but a better antenna will undoubtedly improve overall reception. I plan to obtain a "leaf plus" antenna (which should be easy to carry when traveling) which will, if reports hold true, double the number of receivable stations for me. We'll see. Of course, a real, outdoors directional antenna would be a huge benefit, but that's impractical for a device whose main reason for existence is to be PORTABLE, after all. As several others have mentioned, the device becomes warm. Not "HOT" (ie, you can still touch it) but it clearly draws a lot of power. Your best bet, long-term, is to use it with an external, powered USB hub. However, it works just fine off my little netbook's internal power. The install guide recommends not using it with a hub, but that seems clearly to be more about power than about "lag," and going through an externally-powered hub should cause no problems. (I plan to obtain a new 8-port powered hub later tonight, and I'll revise this review if this changes.) The remote isn't "ideal" but is acceptable. However, I strongly recommend trying a little device made by a Chinese company called "Riitek." You'll find several variations of that being sold on Amazon right now, and often using different names (usually the exporter selling it into the USA, not the original manufacturer, though). I have this little device in both BT and 2.4Ghz radio versions. Unless you find the idea of using a "dongle" undesirable, I actually prefer the 2.4Ghz version overall, though they're effectively identical in most ways. Here's the one I bought... though the name it's listed under on Amazon has changed since I bought it. http://www.amazon.com/FAVI-Entertainment-Wireless-Keyboard-TouchPad/dp/B003UE52ME/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t And here's the Blutooth version... which is nicer, overall, but nearly identical... and which has the minor drawback of occasionally dropping connection in "blutooth-heavy" environments (like, say, airports). http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Cellphones-touchpad/dp/B0042VF30U/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1326141350&sr=1-3 You'll find these sold by a number of folks on Amazon. ALL are made by Riitek. They're GREAT devices, frankly, and are of high-quality (unlike so many Chinese-made-and-designed objects I've dealt with over the years). I'm very happy with them, and strongly recommend them. Using this as a "remote mini-keyboard and mouse" easily replaces your little Hauppauge remote, especially when working with Windows Media Center.

Todo muy Bien y rapido

Compre esta placa para poder ver y grabar los programas de la TV en mi ordenador y también para pasar los VHS a DVD, En esta ultima opción deja muchísimo que desear, no es optimo sus resultados. Configuración compleja, y baja calidad en el resultado. No lo recomiendo ya que tiene un alto precio.

950Q is a solid tv tuner and recording device. I use it for broadcast tv and the included mini antenna picked up almost all the channels that my larger antenna did. The device allows you to plug in any antenna or cable TV source. HD quality on the computer is great. Compared to PCI devices, this USB one obviously can be switched between computers or used with a laptop at home or on the go. 950Q does not have hardware MPEG2 encoding like others (most PCI and HDPVR) though, which means recording action sports in HD, for example, may suffer. I bought this mainly to time-shift NFL games, and the record quality is a little disappointing (quick camera pans on a pass play are mostly lost to blur and slow encoding). Watching live football does not produce the same problems, ie. blur, dropped frames. And no other shows I've seen so far do it either. 950Q does all software encoding. So the speed of your computer may determine your ability to record and watch shows happily. The new Wintv 7 works well on XP. But, when watching recorded shows, it is a resource hog compared to VLC player for example. Despite its flaws (occasional crashes, cpu usage) Wintv works well to schedule recordings and record in the background. The Wintv scheduler works great with [...] program guide. Go on the website, click on your show, click 'record' and it downloads a tvpi file which is automatically recognized by Wintv and the record schedule is set. Call it two-click recording. Or go into Wintv and schedule the old-fashioned way: channel, time, date. Also set it up to record every day/week. 950Q also works through Windows Media Center, without the Wintv program. I would like to try that, but have not yet. Media Center offers some added features, such as options to control the file size/quality of recordings. Wintv doesn't do that. Wintv also doesn't have a video library to organize video files, which Media Center does, I believe. Bottom line: if you want to watch TV on the computer, this thing works great. If you're serious about recording HD shows, you may consider the built-in PCI devices or the HD-PVR, which have dedicated encoding chips to get the best resolution. Also Hauppauge makes PCI devices that allow you to record two channels at once, (or watch one, record another) if you are really serious and have no tv. (Computer disclaimer: the video problems I encountered were on a newer AMD X2 chip, 2GB ram, integrated video chip. Not an old machine, or cutting-edge quad core. Maybe a discrete display card would eliminate problems.)

Purchased this after my faithful ADS Tech finally gave up. Like this very much as a TV Tuner; and use it on both my desktop computer at home, and on my laptop computer when away from home. Very good set of supplied cables are included; also included is the programing CD, and a small antenna (Read the review on the supplied Antenna below). Also supplied is a trail version of a streaming TV program; "filmontv" that works on Mac or Windows. Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows Vista are supported by this device. Did not test it on Mac, my installation is Windows 7 64bit. Installation: Very straightforward with this device; follow the instructions supplied; however, before using for the first time I recommend you do a restart on your computer. Install the WinTV-HVR-950Q first, then load the supplied software second, and then do a computer restart before using. Ease of tuning: Great; it has a supplied remote control, and you can pre-load channels to have the ones you watch most often readily available. I don't bother using the remote; once your local channels are scanned, click on them onscreen to bring them up. Picture quality: Depends on local channels signal strength; but outstanding on strong ones. Antenna note: None of the small antennas supplied with these TV Tuners are really good, unless you are close to the local stations; it is an antenna size thing; larger size equals better signal capture area. You can find reasonably small "Amplified Antennas" at your local electronics stores or on the web; Amazon.com also sells them. You can also hook to an outside antenna at home as I do; which gave me one really interesting signal that should not have been there, note is below under "reception". Channels available: I found 50 in my local area; almost all major local channels also broadcast over the air, and almost all the majors broadcast on more than one channel, including PBS channels. In addition, in some local areas, there are small local broadcasters that can be found with this device by scanning it (educational channels, and other micro-broadcasters); leading to the fun sport of "Find the micro-broadcasters". Reception: Old fashioned NTSC channels (Yes some are still out there, and some are used for other than commercial TV broadcasting). ATSC broadcasts (Digital TV, your present 1080 broadcasting system) QAM (Cable) On scanning I found some interesting over the air non-cable channels, and some duplicates of ATSC signals. Have fun if you like to find new signals; one was a satellite signal.