Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder for PC Reviews

• Great tuner & PVR functionality; resource intensive on some systems

  
  By A21U5BKBGTV349 on 2006-10-12
  I purchased one of these new USB tuners earlier this week and have been playing with it for about 2 days now.
  
  For reference, I have an AMD 4000+ single-core system with 1 GB RAM and an nVidia 7800 GT video card.
  
  Install was a breeze. Included documentation was minimal but sufficient to get you "up and running".
  
  GREAT video quality, but taxes your CPU if you can not use video hardware acceleration. Must use a dedicated USB2 port for best results. Do NOT use a hub if you can avoid it, especially if you have a USB WLAN adapter already connected to it! Using video card hardware acceleration causes image corruption and I have not been able to resolve this issue with drivers, etc. Still working on it. However, the CPU is able to handle the load (barely) with excellent image quality. PVR function is awesome. The ability to use TitanTV scheduling is very helpful. Recorded image quality exceeds that of what is displayed "live" on my machine, at least in full screen. Works for both analog cable & ATSC (OTA HD).
  
  The included antenna for ATSC is not very good - invest in a better, amplified antenna for best results. It would probably be great for sitting in a big city airport terminal, though.
  
  Overall - very pleased with the purchase.
  
  12/22/06 Update regarding hardware acceleration: I still have not been able to successfully make hardware acceleration work with the combination of an AMD 4000+ processer and nVidia 7800 GT or nvidia 7950 GX2 video cards. This does not impact standard def programming at all, but HD programming can get a little choppy using only the CPU. However, hardware acceleration works PERFECTLY on my older Dell XPS2 laptop with a 2 GHz Pentium M and an nVidia 6800 Ultra video card.
  
  

• Very Good for High Def, Not so good for Analog

  
  By A1AXTY1G1C409O on 2007-02-06
  The antenna provided can pick up a fair number of ATSC channels in the Greater Boston area. The picture quality for those channels -- especially the HDTV broadcasts -- on my laptop is stunning. The programs I have recorded also look very good, though I can notice dropped frames here and there -- which is probably due to limitations of my laptop as well as antenna reception.
  
  When I connect the coaxial cable from my Comcast Digital box, the picture quality is worse than what I get directly on TV. I wouldn't recommend it for recording Cable Channel programs using this device or software.
  
  The WinTV software that comes with the product is very basic. I downloaded trial versions of softwares from Beyond TV and SageTV, and had better experience with them. I also noticed better picture quality for analog cable channels when I used Beyond TV software instead of WinTV.
  
  For better experience with this product I would recommend: (a) More powerful HDTV antenna, and (b) Better PVR Software like Beyond TV or Sage TV.
  
  I have a dual core laptop (XP Home) with 1 Gig memory and a decent ATI graphics card, so I didn't face any major performance issues -- except perhaps when recording.
  
  

• Great tuner if you're willing to invest

  
  By A1FUY3E9STY8W5 on 2007-05-15
  This is a great tuner. I've been using the Hauppauge 150 (an analog tuner) for over a year now which worked pretty well for me, i just wasn't happy with the picture quality. So i decided to get a new computer and buy this HD stick. My computer, in case it helps, has 2 GB of RAM and the Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz processor.
  
  I installed this for the first time and it didn't work, so I decided to take out my Analog tuner (the 150) and try again, and after restarting it worked pretty well. I found that if I touched the antenna, the reception was better and it didn't miss frames, which was a pain because I wasn't about to hold on to the antenna the whole time it recorded. So I went to radioshack and bought a better antenna for 25 bucks which works WAY better. Almost perfect reception now.
  
  Everyone says that the program that comes with the tuner is buggy and crashes a lot and stuff, and I assumed that with a new computer it would be ok. It's NOT. The program that comes with the tuner is not great. I've been using it for my analog tuner, and it was alright, but definitely not what i was looking for since it doesn't automatically record favorites or anything like that. It also lays out the channels weird, and sometimes on startup doesn't even show the tuner at all. So I decided to try out one of the trial programs. I tried BeyondTV first, and found that the image was really dark. Then i tried SageTV which works great. The only problem I have is that it crashes every now and then while I'm watching a previously recorded show and taping something at the same time. It works just fine when it's only recording.
  
  I found that using these third party programs is the only way to use my analog tuner at the same time as this HD tuner, so I guess I'm gonna have to upgrade from the trial.
  
  As for using my computer's resources, it doesn't slow me down (although my computer is pretty fast to begin with). Right now I'm recording two shows, one on each tuner and my CPU usage is at 3% and my memory is at 38%, which is only slightly higher than when it idles.
  
  So, if you want a good picture quality and don't mind spending extra $$$ on a new antenna and software, this is definitely a great tuner. Just don't expect it to work great out of the box.
  
  

• not good enough for me

  
  By A1UU7KQDN1UQ9B on 2007-04-30
  This is the first and only TV tuner I've tried, so I have no basis of comparing it with others on the market.
  
  1. The TV stick does not fit snugly into any USB port on my computer. It seems like it's going to come off if it gets nudged the wrong way.
  
  2. The antenna that came out of the box was too weak to pick up any signals inside our apartment building, and it's beyond me how to set up another antenna on the roof. So instead, I unhooked the cable connection from behind my DVR and used that. (You can see it in a photo I uploaded at the top of this page.) Using the cable company's signal gave me a very good image on my computer.
  
  3. Whereas you can record two TV programs at a time on most dual-tuner DVRs from the cable company, you can only record one program at a time using this WinTV-HVR-950. (Hauppage must have other products that are dual tuners.) So it hasn't made me want to watch TV on my computer on a regular basis; I only use this TV tuner when I need to record a TV program onto the computer. I suppose you could ask your cable company to have another cable line put in, so you could have one line for the DVR and one line for this TV stick to use with the computer.
  
  4. When you install it for the first time, it uses a setting that does not take advantage of graphics acceleration. (The image is not as good as it could be.) You have the option of running their Primary.exe program to optimize graphics performance. It did give me the best image quality possible, but it messed up the rest of the programs on my computer. I've had to uninstall it and do a System Restore.
  
  5. It uses a lot of computer power. I would recommend 2GB of RAM memory. Anything less, you better not be using the computer for other tasks while it's recording, because the image will become jerky.
  
  Note: Before you begin installing, decide which USB port is going to be convenient for you to use. If you plug the device into a different USB socket later, you will need to reinstall the driver.
  
  

• MCE 2005 support?

  
  By AW4GC20Q3F1ZA on 2006-12-26
  I received the HVR-950 for Christmas. I had hoped to use it in a MCE 2005 machine (the box says MCE support on it). However, I've been unable to get the MCE software to recognize it (MCE 2005 does recognize my Hauppanauge PVR-250 card so I know my configuration works). I can run the software that came with the HVR-950 and see that the hardware works - though the software that comes with it is amazingly unpolished and clunky. I guess Hauppanuage wants you to buy their ReplayTV PVR software instead.
  
  I've check the Hauppanuage support website and the support area doesn't include the HVR-950 as one of the supported products for MCE 2005 and offers no advice for resolving this issue. At this point, I'm giving up on getting the stick working on my MCE machine.
  
  Now I'm using it on my laptop (a XP Home machine). The hardware and included software do work on my laptop. Digital channels seem to work fine with the included antenna. So I'm giving the product 3 stars - meaning it isn't a total bust. Had real MCE support worked out of the box, I'd have given it more stars.
  
  
  
• A skeptic, I was...
  By A47UD7WKN7STZ on 2007-03-15
  I've been looking for a USB HDTV Tuner mainly to watch TV from my laptop and I came across this one. I was choosing between this Hauppauge WINTV HVR-950 or the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick. The PCTV seems to have more accessories as it includes an A/V adapter cable and a Mini remote control. It also seems as good as the WINTV HVR-950 in terms of performance, basing that opinion solely on Amazon and CompUSA reviews. However, the price difference swayed me to take the plunge and try the WINTV HVR-950. The A/V adapter cable and a Mini remote control would have been nice BUT I did not think it was worth the extra cost.
  
  I wasn't expecting much from this USB Tuner but it blew me away! It is awesome! I connected this tuner to a 1.6MHZ Intel Centrino M with 1GB of RAM. I was expecting the picture to be choppy but it pulled in 31 digital over-the-air channels in my area and stations broadcasting in HDTV came in very clear. The tuner is software-based and there is a noticeable lag when switching channels. Since my expectations were not very high, this wasn't an issue for me. It would be sweet watching HDTV from the airport while waiting for my next flight. Overall, I'm extremely impressed with this product and I recommend it.
  
  
• Might work with your older laptop as well...
  By A1CEXCXR72PZU0 on 2007-06-09
  I bought this tuner in preparation for a two-week long camping trip down to Denver & back.. Didn't end up using it at all (given the choice between mountain biking in Moab and watching TV, I think you can guess which one won out), but I did experiment with it quite a bit before the trip and thought I should share my experiences.
  
  My laptop is a Fujitsu S2010 that I've had for several years now. The processor is an Athlon XP 1700+ and I was very concerned that it wouldn't be able to handle the picture at all. Turns out I had a bit of reason to be concerned, but not as much as one would think. Everything in standard def worked flawlessly; hooked up to a powered antenna in the trailer, channels came in clear and everything looked great. Better still were the 480p digital channels that the tuner picked up; several local stations broadcast their standard broadcast in digital format and these were the best in terms of picture & sound quality. Once things stepped up to the true wide-screen high def format, though, all bets were off. The audio would still come in perfectly, but watching the show was like watching a slideshow as it was only every 10th frame or so of the video that would be displayed.
  
  In short, this unit does work exactly as advertised, but keep in mind that it may or may not work for your older laptop/desktop depending on what you want to do with it. For me, it's a keeper as I get to watch all the standard def programming now and I'm sure I'll get a new laptop by the time all broadcasts get switched over to digital.
  
  One last note: be sure to get the latest software install kit from the Hauppauge website! I did and didn't encounter a single problem with the install or the software.
  
  
  
  
• Excellent tuner
  By A29IQYIK8OF3WW on 2007-02-22
  I bought this tuner with a lot of misgivings after reading the user reviews. And more importantly with a nightmare experience with an ati tv wonder usb 2 (DONT BUY one of those) including having it literally melt.
  Note i'm a truck driver and have two specific uses for the card. To watch while parked over the road and to record cable at home to watch later. Not looking for "flashy" ie sagetv etc.
  
  Im using a Toshiba l35 with a 1.6ghz processor and 798m ram (700 available). pros: The picture is excellent (compared to prev card). The cute little analog antenna actually works ok (for what it is). I tested it inside a house whos wiring even devastates my cellular net card and it picked up local channels ok. A little snowy but a tv would do the same. Hooked up to cable and it quickly finds all the channels. It is recording as type this. There is a tiny amount of snow in the two tiny recordings ive made so far but nothing to worry about for what i use it for. It is likely that will be solved once i tweak the card/drivers etc. There is No lag for me while watching and recording to a usb drive.
  
  It uses BDA drivers which means in theory it should (soon) be available to all pvr software once it has been around a while. Unfortunately as we speak none of the free pvr software (gbpvr etc) can use it.
  
  Handles widescreen natively. On a widescreen laptop this is nice.
  
  The tuner software is good. Note that is the live view/record software, not pvr. It is simple, clean, easy to understand though it doesnt have any bells and whistles. If you're one of the people all about appearances (want a big pretty pvr screen that fakes being a tv guide thing you wont love it). But it is very functional.
  
  Cons: Some problems with drivers. Had to reinstall drivers to get sound to work. Then when fiddling lost video but this was solved once by unplug/replug of card and the second time (after i fiddled with settings) by running the hauppauge "primary" app.
  No pvr software that i can find. It has a scheduler etc that seem to be set to work with titantv but no docs on it, doesnt install automatically i dont think and the xp service crashes when you try to start it. Probably an unusual problem.
  PVR software support - this is a new card and support for it in third party apps is virtually nonexistant. However because of the drivers that will probably change soon as opposed to the cards which will never be supported (hello ati).
  
  Conclusion: this card is perfect for my uses though ill need to buy beyondtv or sagetv. With the circuitcity deal for $[...] after rebates you get an hdtv ready card with good low processor capture. It is nearly headache free which is rare in capture cards. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. Imho the only product that compares to it is the hauppauge tvusb2 for about 30% more that doesnt apparently do htv but has a hardware encoder.. and so far that doesnt even seem to be needed. If you want a card to watch tv on, want hdtv capability and a usb card get this. If you are a video purist who demands stunning clarity.. you may want to stick with pci cards or check out the ultra high end usb cards, though i dont know of one that compares to this unique feature set.
  
  
• I did not expect much and was amazed
  By A38ZTUVG3QUYNQ on 2007-01-09
  I was recently thinking about getting cable for our HTPC/Projector setup. Until recently, we were just watching DVDs, but that does not allow for high-quality live TV, like sports. However, I was not interested in the additional 150+ channels of nonsense, clunky hardware, three additional remotes and price that comes with cable or dish. So I saw this gadget and thought ok, lets give it a try for $100... I only set it up with the small antenna it comes with on a 2.8GHZ pc and a 1280x1080 dlp projector. The results were better then expected, to say the least. Now we got 25 digital channels, all the HD programming of the major and local networks and the reception is great. It is way much better then anything on ntsc, including cable or dish! If you think about getting an HDTV receiver for cable, better try this first. We are three miles from a TV Tower, but with an external antenna, you probably get good results even from a distance.
  I just got the unit this weekend, so I am still learning about aspect ratio, resoultion, etc. The documentation is unfortunately very basic.
  We had friends over for the footbal game this weekend and they were all impressed to see HD on a 7 x 5' screen with 5.1 speakers.
  
  
• I now have a 100 inch HDTV and pay no monthly charges.
  By A22B0VHFURQUIG on 2007-03-02
  When I first saw this, I thought there was no way that little thing could put HD-TV on my tablet PC. In my apartment, I already have an old LCD projector, which I got pretty cheap, projecting a 100" image on a screen. This little device allows me to watch free HDTV on a 100" screen for a very reasonalbe price. I was originally going to buy a dedicated media center computer and to put in a more expensive hardware encoding card to get HDTV on my projector, ( even this would have been cheaper than getting an HDTV half the size.) I thought I'd give it a shot, and it works pretty much flawlessly. I am glad I gave it a chance. I even got rid of my tv in my bedroom, and now watch nothing but HD. Just make sure you have a newer laptop to run this, to get good quality, you will need core duo and a dedicated graphics card of some sort.
  
  In summary, for less than 100 dollars, I added a 100" HDTV to my living room with no monthly fees.
  
  
• WinTV-HVR-950
  By AOQAOBNBA717N on 2007-09-11
  This is a great product!!! The ASTC channels (all 6 of them in my area) come in crisp and clear!! on my laptop. I also use satellite...Perfect as well! As for the OS I use this on: Vista Home Premium & Vista Ultimate.
  
  Installation is a breeze as long as you disregard the CD it comes with and download the drivers and Media Center encoders directly from the manufacturer's web site... I have always used Hauppauge. Have one in my desktop that has lasted through the lifespan of 3 different computers...7+ years...
  
  Cannot beat Amazon's price!!
  
  PS Most of the bad reviews in my opinion are from:
  
  a. Improper installation
  b. Poor screen resolution to begin with
  c. PC performance issues
  
  
• Pretty amazing
  By A2AH4W5U8S9EYG on 2007-12-10
  Purchased this from Radio Shack for $50 and was pretty impressed on how well it worked. The were some issue installing the software and actually shut down my computer but it did recover. I got about 10 HD stations around the Philly area. This thing also included an extra set of cables for me to hook up by old Hi8 Camcorder and I can now tranfer the tapes to my computer hard drive. Overall, a great product that works well so far.
  
  
• Good enough...for the price
  By A146VOQYL7KY99 on 2008-01-01
  I bought this on the Amazon.com Black Friday sale, so after rebates (which I hope comes through) it will be $34. That's not bad for an HD and analog tuner.
  
  It comes with the USB 2 dongle (aka the tv card), a roughly 6 inch usb extension cable (which works wonders if your usb hub is jam packed with other usb devices, like mine), an antenna that receives both HD and analog, and this component cable that allows you to use this as an HD tuner on an HD tv. I haven't tried out the last one, so I cannot speak to its quality.
  
  The picture quality on my non-HD monitor is great. I love watching HD football and HD programming (did you know there are four HD PBS stations in the Bay Area?!). I don't even bother with the analog stations anymore, but it is nice to know they are there. The video record mode is great, too. I recorded the Patriots/Giants game in HD and it was like watching it live, except I can skip all the jibber jabber and commercials. The last 3 quaters took roughly 1 hour. Downside is when I recorded at highest resolution, the 2.5 hours took up 17gigabites. But hard drive space is cheap these days and I deleted the video. And if you want to keep it, I'm sure there's a video encoding program out there that can shrink that down to something more manageable.
  
  The antenna has about a 6 foot cable and I don't think most people know this, but the antenna can be pulled to extend up to about 1.5 feet tall. The antenna looks very natural at it's 5 inch "compressed" height, and the only reason I know that the antenna could be extended is because I wanted to pull the cap off, but the antenna elongated, instead. Reception is very picky on where you place the antenna, so have patience. If it doesn't work at all, you may want to look into an amplified HD antenna.
  
  Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna for Off-Air HDTV Reception ^This one seems to have very high reviews.
  
  A couple bad things:
  -I tried installing this on Vista Ultimate with software downloaded directly from Hauppauge's website, and it was very confusing. They don't clearly label which file is for which version of tv card and which file the drivers are and which the program itself is in. Took a couple of tries before I got it.
  
  -No Closed Captioning.
  
  -I can't do screen captures, and the only error message is some vague 3 word thing that doesn't tell you how it might be fixed.
  
  Overall, even at full price of ~[...], very much worth it for some HD.
  
  
  
• Impressive TV
  By A1P2N6BRM0D49R on 2007-01-04
  I bought this item with some hesitation because other products like this have had their problems. However, the installation was quick, and soon I was looking at dozens of analog and hdtv channels from stations some 20 miles away. I did use a HD1 Terk antenna instead of the tiny antenna provided. This an impressive product. No fuss or bother. My laptop ia an MCE Acer 3690.
  
  
• Very Good HDTV Tuner for PC
  By A1P9BC0H53E6DN on 2007-01-14
  If you are looking to tune in HD, SD, or QAM from you cable hookup, then this not the product for you. If you are looking for an excellent ATSC tuner for your PC, this product works very well.
  
  I did have some difficulty getting it working right, but I don't blame this product. I already had a PVR-150 MCE on the machine. Just had difficulties getting them both working correctly. I suspect it will install without a hitch on a PC with no other tuner already installed.
  
  The wizard and advanced setup controls make it quite easy to get everything the way you want it. It will automatically look for all available channels though this takes a little time to complete. Picture comes in great, easy to use.
  
  One thing to note is that this card takes a fairly decent machine to run. I've got it on an AMD64 3400+ w/ 1GB RAM and a 7600GT. When I first installed I was using integrated graphics as I hadn't yet installed the 7600GT that I recently purchased. It didn't work. After installing my 7600GT my machine didn't even boot. I ended up putting in a 500Watt power supply replacing the stock one. After that, this tuner worked great. Don't know if newer integrated graphics chips will be enough or not. I figure I pretty much running at about the minimum needed for this tuner.
  
  All in all, a highly recommended product. Only reason I didn't give it a 5 is I believe it could be a little easier to setup and it doesn't include capabilities for HD, SD, QAM from cable. I don't have need for this, but it would make it a completely rounded product.
  
  
• Maybe it's me
  By A17AJ2N1HF8NCT on 2007-02-08
  We tried to pick up local channels with the antenna, we even bought another antenna but it didn't work well for us at all.
  
  
• Great, but make sure your PC is powerful enough
  By A1YELVG03O68F8 on 2007-09-13
  I have one, and it's great -- a HDTV replacement for my battery-powered back-up TV once analog signals go dark (2009). Just make sure your PC or laptop is powerful enough to run it (my 1.7MHz Centrino laptop just cuts it.) Also, it takes quite a bit of power and runs quite hot, so you may need a larger laptop battery. Still, it's a fascinating product!
  
  
• Works really nice with Windows Media Center
  By ANTN61S4L7WG9 on 2007-09-23
  My PC has Vista Home Premium, and I needed a tuner to utilize the Media Center application. I read the reviews on this card and decided to buy one. Fortunately for me it did the job really well and my expectations were fulfilled. Media Center is configured without problems and HDTV reception is acceptable (even with the provided little antenna), however I'd recommend getting a better antenna for a smoother experience.
  
  Cons:
  - The provided TV application does not work well (some of the channels are squeezed to %50 height) -- you may need it if you don't have MC.
  - Hardware acceleration is not enabled by default, yet you don't have to care much if you have a fast enough CPU.
  
  I'd recommend this device if you need to complete your media pc for a good value with low price, without opening your box. For other uses you may need to work out some configuration.
  
  
• Causes my laptop to freeze
  By A38QGMDADM1UHU on 2007-05-05
  I've installed this thing, it worked. Shut the WinTV2000 and brought it up again, it freezed my laptop. I have a laptop with Intel Dual Core in it and no other application running.
  
  
• excelente
  By ASVMTOLGEPRJP on 2007-05-12
  Si a alguien le sirve un review en español, pues solo puedo decir que es un excelente producto, yo vivo en mexico df y agarro los canales de HD de televisa y azteca sin ningun problema... es mejor usar el software que viene incluido en el disco de instalacion porque si usas el media center edition hay que configurar manualmente los canales y es algo latoso, porque las frecuencias de HD son especiales.
  El funcionamiento es muy bueno aunque se ve mucho mejor el HD que el cablevision por ejemplo, pero la verdad no lo queria para ver la antena normal ni cable.
  Se calienta y hace un ligero zumbido, pero nada de que preocuparse.
  
  
• An overall good buy
  By AEQZ05TYT813I on 2007-07-24
  I'm using the tuner on my laptop running windows vista ultimate. After downloading the Media Center patch from Hauppauge's website [...] the tuner works great. Over the air ATSC signals come in great while standard cable comes in much like you would expect an hd tv to receive (standard cable just doesn't have great resolution). The one problem I have noticed is that if the tuner is located in a warmer area (ie. close to the fan of my laptop) the tuner will overheat causing a scrambled picture; however, since moving the tuner to the opposite side of my laptop (no heat) the tuner works fine and doesn't overheat. This product is an overall good buy.
  
  
• Failed to install
  By A2WQJ5X78P4XU1 on 2007-10-29
  I have attempted to install this product several times on a Vista laptop and an XP desktop. The installation has failed at every attempt. There is lots of information on the website and new drivers. However, these fail to install as well. I am awaiting a reply from their technical support (it has been 24 hours with no response.) Unless you have a lot of patience I would recommend you look elsewhere for a PC ATSC tuner. I will repost if I eventually get this working.
  
  
• Worth it with the right setup (HDTV +Vista Media Center + Fast system = AMAZING)
  By A2QDZTGMXYZH08 on 2007-11-30
  - GENERAL -
  Get the latest drivers, etc. here: http://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr950.html#drv
  
  NOTE: Newer versions of this card actually show up on device manager as version 980, instead of 950.
  
  My Setup: Vista Home Premium, Windows Media Center (built into Vista Home Premium and up), Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz (E6850), 2GB RAM, nVidia 256MB 8400GS
  
  Overall, the card is a pretty good deal when you compare it to PCI cards. If you get a discount or rebate you might get it for less than 50.
  
  - HD V. ANALOG -
  This card really shines in ATSC HD mode (using an antenna). The difference between analog and HD is almost like night and day! It's amazing how much better HD looks, even in the exact same computer.
  
  You should also know that with HD signals you either get the signal and it looks awesome or you don't and you don't see anything. With regular over the air TV you would get fuzzy channels if you don't get a good enough signal, but with HDTV you will either don't get the channel at all if the signal is too poor or you will get dropped frames (or skipping) if the signal's almost good enough. The dropped frames can be very distracting - it reminds me of fast forwarding or a scratched DVD, so you will probably need to get an antenna to actually get a good HDTV experience.
  
  THIS CARD WILL NOT RECEIVE CABLE HDTV, it only works with over the air HDTV using an antenna.
  
  On the other hand, analog reception (from cable at least) is good or "OK", but a little washed out and grainy/snowy when compared to the WinTV-HVR-1800 (PCI), which I've used side by side. The analog reception would be good as a secondary unit, or a good primary card if your computer's not very fast or you don't care too much about analog quality.
  
  - SOFTWARE -
  I haven't used the bundled software because I used previous incarnations of it and the reviews indicate it hasn't improved much. It's supposed to work with XP Media Center and all sorts of other programs, but I can't attest to that.
  
  The card works amazingly well in HD mode with Vista Media Center, but you need to install an encoder if you plan on using it in analog mode (look for "MCE software encoder" here: http://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr950.html#tips). Also, you can only use it as analog OR HD mode in MC, but apparently you can switch between modes with the WinTV software. That's not a problem for me, since I'm using this as a secondary card, but it's a downside if you want to use it as a primary card in Vista MC.
  
  - OTHER THOUGHTS -
  Again, you might need to get an antenna to receive HDTV over the air, but if you're close to HDTV transmitters the included antenna might get you a good enough signal. I'm only a few miles (around 5) from transmitters and the included antenna gets me:
  - 3 channels with a good enough reception (no skipping or dropped frames)
  - 3 more with spotty reception (a few frames get drop every now and then)
  - 2 more channels that are scrambled or don't have a good enough signal to be viewed
  
  - FINAL THOUGHTS -
  I strongly recommend this card for HDTV. The quality is just amazing and the price is difficult to beat (particularly if you get a discount). In analog mode, this is a good secondary card if you already have one, or a good primary card if you're on a tight budget or if your computer is older or not very powerful. Fortunately, my computer's fast enough and I didn't run into performance problems. As with any hardware upgrade, you should consider your system's performance before getting it.
  
  If your system's good enough, it's hard to go wrong with this card
  It gets a 4 because compared to the WinTV-HVR-1800, the analog signal's not as good (but still good) and it requires software not included in the Disc to work with Media Center - it took me a while to figure this out. If I didn't compare it to the WinTV-HVR-1800, it would probably get a 5, but if I had to use the included software, it would probably get a 3.
  
  
• Works like a charm
  By A5JUD209QFV4Y on 2008-01-08
  I got this to use with windows media center on my laptop, so that I could watch and record HDTV shows over the air. I followed some peoples suggestion and didn't bother installing anything that came on the installation disk, and instead downloaded the latest greatest straight from the manufacturers website. First time I hooked it up it worked great. Windows media center recognized it and after setting up my channels I was watching tv like a pro. If you haven't tried it with media center, I recommend you do. The channel guide and record functions are fantastic.
  At home I use a better antenna, but on the road I use the supplied one, which works surprisingly well, given the size and simple design.
  
  
• Easy to use, cool product
  By A2ALOP2O5M8TZD on 2007-04-03
  I am very pleased with the Hauppauge Wintv HVR 950. I was looking for something simple to record shows from my new HDTV and I could not find a product that would do what I wanted. Radio shack was the last place I checked, and then the sales person told me to check out hauppauge.com. This very small tv tuner stick is awesome. Now I have the coax cable from my antenna split so I can watch shows on my HDTV, or record them on my computer. Very cool product.
  
  
• Good TV Tuner
  By A2CIQYI7A3PR5A on 2007-05-19
  This is an amazing TV Tuner. I live the HD TV quality over the air with this device and I highly recommend it if you are in range of HD antennas. If you are over 15 miles, it doesn't work as well, but it is worth the money.
  
  
• Needs a fast computer with good graphics
  By AHLJS790VGKNE on 2007-06-04
  The product documentation mentions needing a fast computer with good graphics. Take this seriously. It works OK on my 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 system with an nVidia 7600 GS graphics card. It does not work OK on my laptop (dual core Intel 1.8 GHz with integrated graphics). I think the graphics card and drivers matter a lot. The HVR-950 may not work well even on new computers if they have low-end graphics cards.
  
  When it does work, the HDTV picture is clear and of good quality.
  
  The software is not as stable as that of other Hauppauge products I have tried, in particular the PVR-150.
  
  There appears to be a new version of the hardware out. The box refers to it as the HVR 950 version 2.3-us. The driver refers to HVR-980. The HVR-950 beta drivers on the Hauppauge web site did not work with the new hardware. All in all, this product appears to be a work in progress.
  
  
  
• Didn't quite meet my expectations
  By A2DMDIXGQSEOLF on 2007-06-28
  All I wanted was a ATSC tuner to use with Windows Media Center 2005. I am using two of them, actually. I'm not using the software, nor have I tried the antenna that came with it.
  
  It does an okay job, but I think the ATSC tuner is not picking up the signal very well on some local stations. I'm using an antenna in my attic that splits between this and my TV. My TV picks up the ATSC station just fine (so its not an antenna/signal strength issue), but I can't get a reliable signal when I tune to the same station using this device.
  
  Also Media Center can't display the signal stregth for some reason. For every ATSC station that it finds it shows zero signal strength. My TV tuner reports mid 80% range on most.
  
  I've not even tried the NTSC tuner abiltiy so I can't comment on that.
  
  Bottom line with regard to the ATSC ability, I think it does okay, but not great.
  
  
• Good hardware, crappy software - buy only if you are technically adept
  By A1WR227BL79AP1 on 2007-10-20
  I purchased this for use with my XP Media Center 2005 machine to pick up Digital TV (DTV) over the air signals only - I was not interested in analog TV or Cable use.
  
  Driver installation was confusing but I muddled through it. I have not been able to get the proprietary WinTV software working. I was, however, able to download and install the hardware driver and the Media Center encoder update use Media Center to watch TV - all using the included stubby antenna (which, by the way, telescopes).
  
  Because of the difficulty I had with getting the drivers and software loaded, I would recommend this product only to the technically adept. Novices and Intermediates will be thoroughly confused by the software installation.
  
  
• Low Spec Computer Review
  By A2AEO7SKJLVYPE on 2007-12-02
  I have an old 2.26 GHz Pentium 4 system with 1 GB RAM and a 128 MB ATI Radeon 9700 Pro graphics card. When I bought this tuner I wasn't sure if high definition content would be watchable, or too choppy. I've tried Windows Media 9 files encoded at 720p before on the system - they stuttered badly.
  
  I'm happy to say this tuner not only picks up all of my local HD stations with the small included antenna (~15 miles to the stations), but displays true HD content smoothly. The picture looks gorgeous on my LCD monitor. I can run the picture in full-screen mode without a noticeable loss in framerate.
  
  I do have to be careful about running other applications at the same time, however. The WinTV program seems to get higher priority on system resources than other applications - I'm watching TV smoothly now in a window, but the text I type lags slightly in Firefox.
  
  I was curious how much of the good performance was due to my video card, which was very good in its day. Using the included 'Primary' application I turned of video hardware acceleration. The performance took a definite hit, but TV was still watchable. The framerate was probably around 15-20 fps.
  
  Finally, unbelievably, I am able to record HD video while watching HD content. The resulting video is smooth, with only a few very slight jerks here and there, and looks fantastic. The WinTV app records at the original content resolution - not scaled down to 480p like most DVD recorders. I tried it out today for a short time on a CBS HD football broadcast. Windows Media reports the created file as having a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, a 16:9 aspect ratio, AC3 audio and MPEG2 video compression, and 27 seconds of video - all for a total file size of 59 megabytes. Considering the minimum recording specs listed for the product in analog mode, I am amazed that I can record digital HD content on my low-spec PC.
  
  Overall, I am very impressed with the hardware performance of this tuner. The included software works, though it isn't great. The newest version of WinTV, available on the driver website, is reasonably clean and stable.
  
  Hope this helps!
  
  Ranjan
  
  
  
  
  
  

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