Hauppauge1178 WinTV-HVR-1600 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder

I bought this card to use with my Vista Home Premium (Media Center) PC. I wanted to be able to record and watch over-the-air HDTV programs and pretty much use the PC in the home office as a TV. It works very well.I installed the card and let Vista find the driver automatically on the included CD from Hauppauge. The drivers installed well... I hooked up an inexpensive HDTV antenna to the ATSC digital tuner input on the card and was up and running with awesome quality HDTV and Digital TV in Vista Media center within a few minutes (after the Vista Media Center setup). At first, I did not install any of the software on the CD at all (except the driver which Vista found). Worked great just using the keyboard of the PC. Next I wanted to use the remote, so I installed just those tools from the Hauppauge set-up CD. Again, worked great with no messing around.This is where I found one very small issue that I guess has caused me to go 4 stars instead of the 5 it probably deserves. The dumb cord for the remote control receiver is way too short.... it does not reach from the back of the PC (sitting on the floor) to the monitor (sitting on the top of the desk) - a configuration I assume is very common. I have to mount the IR receiver on the front of the PC but most people want to point the remote at the image on the screen, so it doesn't work that well. Would have been SO much nicer if I could have put the IR receiver on the monitor. Small gripe, yes... but one of those annoying little things. But, don't let that stop you from buying it.UPDATE 10/19/07 - If you plan to use a set-top box with this tuner (say for DirectTV or something like that), you will need to buy the Microsoft Media Center remote control. The IR receiver in this unit does not work for Media Center. Well.. the remote works, but Vista does not see the hardware for the purposes of DVR from a Set Top Box. Quite frustrating and another forty bucks. BUMMER!

I'm setting up a PVR to gradually take the place of my multi-VCR system, and to be able to record some of the broadcast digital HD channels. The 1600 lives in the same system with a Hauppauge 950Q, on a WinXP dual-core system. WinTV 6 has trouble tuning the digital stations and won't handle multiple tuners (i.e. the 1600 + the 950Q). Hauppauge has a newer version of WinTV that is supposed to handle multiple tuners. Though it recognized both tuners, it wouldn't let me do anything useful with them and was overall pretty buggy. Since I was intending to use the setup with Sage Media Center, the WinTV software was just for testing anyway, so that was OK (though more usable software would have helped.)The tuner on the 1600 seemed somewhat less sensitive than the tuner on the 950Q, which makes a difference, since only one station brodcasts loally, while all the others are about 30 miles away. I have an attic antenna, not a large rooftop one. You have to be careful about the antenna-orientation or you get unwatchable video, but if it's set up right, the HD video is beautiful. The analog cable tuner works fine, and I can record 3 shows at once with the 1600+950Q combination. Since I sometimes need to record 4 shows at once, I may buy an additional 1600.There are a few other dual-tuner products, but this was the only one that was a PCI interface. Others are PCI-express, which I don't have.

The card is for ATSC/Cable (NTSC), but if the hardware level matches a certain version you can download an update from the manufacturer's web site and QAM is made available. This is good since in 2008 the transition to digital will happen. However, not sure whether this is my cable company's fault or the QAM drivers, but I do not get more than 13 QAM channels. Having said that, the card works perfectly with ORB 2.0 and I was able to set a show to be recorded from overseas. I just hope QAM gets better, but even without it, the card is worth it.UPDATE 10/09/2007: Some incompatibility with ALL video streaming software I tested: WINDOWS VIDEO ENCODER, VNC, etc. When Video shows up, no audio. ORB seems to be the only video streaming method that works. If you try to serve the signal directly from your computer, it seems to not work.The good news is that the QAM issue is resolved, many QAM channels including HD are working now. Video accelerator settings are key to get it right. The only issue still worth to note is that the card is more sensitive to the SNR signal than the Set Top box or the built-in TV tuner. Anyhow, this is still a good buy !!!

This TV card works great and the remote control that comes with it is very easy to use. I have basic cable and running the coaxial from a splitter direct to the card with no cable box. You can program and record TV programs just by clicking on TV guide time slot. It's so easy and the reception is like watching Youtube videos. Not bad for under $100. The only problem I had was getting the remote control cable inserted into my computer. At first I thought it was all the way pushed in and my remote control did not work. Somehow the alignment of the input is close to the metal on the computer case and touches it which makes the remote control cable seems to be properly inserted, but actually needs to be pushed in further. I had to kind of push the cable into the input in an angle to get it to click right in due to the mini plug not being inserted all the way in. After that I got it to work fine and with no problems at all. I would rate this card as an excellent product and comes in handy when the family takes over the other 2 TV's I have in the house. I am running Windows Vista and it works fine with both the supplies WinTV software and Windows Media Player which I use more often to watch and record TV shows. You can also instantly delete the TV show once you are finished watching them to save on computer memory space. I'll give it 5 Stars out of 5 for price, ease of use and convenient use of the remote control.