Product Description

WinTV-HVR-950 brings analog cable TV and over-the-air ATSC digital TV to your PC or laptop! Watch and record TV in a window or full screen using high quality MPEG-2. Use the WinTV-Scheduler to record you favorite analog or digital TV shows. Play your TV recordings back to your screen any time.WinTV-HVR-950 is easy to install. Just plug it into your PC or laptops' USB 2.0 port and connect a cable TV or a TV antenna. Load the software from an installation CD and you're ready to start watching analog or ATSC digital TV on your PC or laptop screen. WinTV-HVR-950 also includes a portable digital antenna, so you can receive digital TV while you travel!ATSC digital TV brings you sharper pictures and enriches your PC's multimedia experience with near CD quality sound. WinTV-HVR-950's ATSC digital TV receiver adds great features to your TV viewing: high definition TV reception, automatic identification of channel names plus records high-definition digital TV programs to your PC's hard disk in an MPEG-2 format without losing quality.You're prepared for the future. If you live in an area where you can't currently receive ATSC digital TV, the WinTV-HVR-950 can still be used to watch and record analog TV from cable TV or a TV antenna. But you are prepared for the future! When ATSC digital TV comes to your area, WinTV-HVR-950 will also receive the new digital TV channels.Digital video recorder, too! Record your favorite analog or digital TV shows with one simple click. You can also use the WinTV-Scheduler to schedule your TV recordings on a daily, weekly or once only schedule.

Product Details

• Brand: Hauppauge
• Model: 1139
• Dimensions: .64 pounds

Features

• TV tuner allows for viewing and recording of television on PCs via USB 2.0
• Compatible with both digital and analog television signals
• Accepts video feeds directly from a camera or satellite box
• Small size makes it easy to carry and ideal for laptops
• Includes Personal Video Recorder software for scheduled recording of programs

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description The Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder will bring high-definition television directly to your PC. This handy device lets you watch your favorite TV shows through your computer, and record them digitally for future playback using high quality MPEG-2. More economical and versatile than a DVR, or digital video recorder, this PC Video Recorder, or PVR, gives you virtually unlimited options for saving and playing back your favorite TV broadcasts and clips.

The Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder offers: Ability to watch television on your PC in a window or full screen. Portable, small size for on-the-go television viewing on your laptop. Compatibility with digital and analog signals. Acceptance of video feeds from a camera or satellite box.

The small, pocketable size lets you easily take it everywhere. View larger.

Play and Record Television Digitally
The WinTV-HVR-950 is a simple-to-use device that brings over-the-air high definition ATSC digital TV as well as analog cable TV directly to your PC desktop or laptop. With the additional included antenna, it can also receive analog TV broadcasts, and it can also accept video feeds directly from a camera or satellite box.

More versatile than a DVR, the WinTV-HVR-950 is a pocket-sized device that simply plugs into your PC's USB port. It features a built-in digital ATSC over-the-air TV receiver. If you live in one of the more than 200 cities in the United States that receives ATSC digital TV, you'll have immediate access to as many as 1500 digital TV stations. ATSC digital TV 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.)

A portable digital TV antenna, which can be used to receive digital TV up to 10 miles from an ATSC transmitter, is included with the PVR . (To check the ATSC digital transmissions in your area, input your zip code at titantv.com) If you live in an area where you can't currently receive ATSC digital TV, the WinTV-HVR-950 can still be used to watch and record analog TV from cable TV or a TV antenna. (The WinTV-HVR-950 cannot receive digital cable TV or digital satellite TV.)

Once the WinTV-HVR-950 is connected, you can begin to record your favorite shows in high-quality MPEG-2 directly to your hard disk using the Hauppauge SoftPVR MPEG-2 encoder. Television recordings will typically consume 5 GB of disk space per hour for ATSC high definition, while analog recordings will typically consume 1.5 GB of disk space per hour. You can also use the included WinTV-Scheduler to program your compute to record your favorite analog or digital TV shows for play back at any time.

The WinTV application offers an elegant interface to watch TV in a window or full screen. View larger.

Compatibility with Microsoft's Windows Media Center means that you can watch TV as well as your recordings with Windows Media Center. The included WinTV application also lets you watch your shows in a window or on full screen.

More about PVR Technology
PVR stands for PC Video Recorder. The WinTV-HVR-950 is a PVR that allows you to play television through your computer and record the broadcasts digitally. PVR doesn't use standard videocassettes; instead, it uses your computer's hard disk to store the broadcasts.

Once you record a television show to your PC's hard drive, you can burn a CD or DVD that will allow you to play the show back on another computer or on your television. With video editing software (not included with the WinTV-HVR-950), you can even edit the shows. This is a great feature if you want to save clips from movies or sitcoms, or keep your favorite player's grand slam or TD kick-off return for posterity.

And just like a typical VCR, the WinTV-HVR-950 offers you several recording options, depending on your play back needs. If you want the highest quality recording for playback through your HDTV, all you need is enough hard drive space to support high-quality recording. By using the lowest recording option, you can use your WinTV-HVR-950, along with an inexpensive video camera, as a low-cost on-site video surveillance system. In fact, the possibilities of how you can take advantage of the WinTV-HVR-950 are endless.

What's in the Box
WinTV-HVR-950 USB 2.0 TV stick with cable TV or ATSC antenna connection; USB extension cable; portable antenna; software on CD-ROM; and quick installation guide.

From the Manufacturer
NTSC cable TV and ATSC high definition TV receiver for PCs or notebooks. In a small, easy to carry, "stick" package!

WinTV-HVR-950 hybrid TV stick features

• Watch analog cable TV or the new ATSC HD digital TV on your PC or laptop screen! ATSC HD is the over-the-air high definition TV standard for North America.
• No need to open your PC: just plug into your USB 2.0 port. (Note: will not work with USB 1.1)
• Includes Hauppauge's WinTV2000 application to watch and record TV, in a window or full screen. If you live in an area where you can receive both digital and analog TV, you can switch between analog and digital channels automatically.
• Includes WinTV-Scheduler, so you can record your favorite TV programs on a daily, weekly or once only schedule.

Digital ATSC HD TV features

• ATSC over-the-air digital TV receiver built-in. Supports all ATSC formats, up to the high definition 1080i format!
• Record ATSC digital TV to your PC's hard disk using high quality MPEG-2. ATSC digital TV recordings will typically consume from 1 to 5 Gb of disk space per hour, depending upon the TV broadcasters ATSC format.

Analog TV features

• Analog cable TV receiver built-in. Will also work with TV antenna.
• Record analog TV shows to your PC's hard disk using our SoftPVR™ MPEG-2 encoder. Analog TV recordings will typically consume 1.5 Gb of disk space per hour.

WinTV-HVR-950 brings analog cable TV and over-the-air ATSC digital TV to your PC or laptop! Watch and record TV in a window or full screen using high quality MPEG-2. Use our TV scheduler to record you favorite analog or digital TV shows. Play your TV recordings back to your screen any time.

WinTV-HVR-950 is pocket sized and easy to install in any PC or laptop. It’s the perfect traveling companion for road warriors or college students who carry a notebook computer. To install, just plug it into your PC or laptops’ USB 2.0 port and connect a cable TV or a TV antenna. Load the software from our installation CD and you’re ready to start watching analog or ATSC digital TV on your PC or laptop screen. WinTV-HVR-950 also includes a portable digital antenna, so you can receive digital TV while you travel!*

ATSC high definition digital TV brings you sharper TV images on your PC screen with near CD quality sound. Watch TV at up to the high resolution 1080i format on your PC screen. WinTV-HVR-950’s ATSC digital TV receiver adds great features to your TV viewing: automatic identification of channel names plus will record high-definition digital TV programs to your PC’s hard disk in an MPEG-2 format without losing quality.

You’re prepared for the future. If you live in an area where you can’t currently receive ATSC digital TV, the WinTV-HVR-950 can still be used to watch and record analog TV from cable TV or a TV antenna. But you are prepared for the future! When ATSC digital TV comes to your area, WinTV-HVR-950 will also receive the new digital TV channels.

Digital video recorder, too! Record your favorite analog or digital TV shows with one simple click. You can also use our WinTV-Scheduler to schedule your TV recordings on a daily, weekly or once only schedule.

System requirements

• Minimum processor recommended: 2.2 GHz P4 or 1.8 GHz Centrino or equivalent (minimum); 2.8 GHz processor for analog TV recording with MPEG-2 (minimum)
• Microsoft Windows XP/XP Pro/XP Media Center Edition, with Service Pack 2
• Graphics card with 64MB of memory (minimum)
• USB 2.0 port (will not work with USB 1.1)
• CD-ROM drive (for Software installation)

Customer Reviews

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