Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 user reviews

Pros Slip in the card, install the software, hook up the cable, start watching and recording

Cons None..very simple to install and use!

Summary I have recorded over 100 hours of tv shows from HBO, ABC, NBC, and ESPN. Then burned them to a DVD to watch in another room. Very simple and easy.

Pros Hardware encoder

Cons off color, choppy video, confusing and buggy software

Summary I originally had an ATI all-in-wonder 7500, but the tv is a little messed up so I decided to get a new, stand alone card with hardware encoder. I narrowed my choices down to the Hauppauge PVR-150 and the ATI TV-Wonder Elite based on reviews. I bought the Hauppauge instead because it was cheaper. Disapointed.

Not only does the card not live up to all the hype and reviews, the video quality doesn't even measure up to my all-in-wonder tuner. The color is a bit off, the video is choppy at times (possibly my graphics card or cpu?), and the software was horrible. It was very counter intuitive and it doesn't correctly respond to my multimedia keyboard either (logitech mx duo). I am disapointed, will return the card and upgrade to the ATI TV-wonder-elite to see if any better.

Pros Little system resources used.

Cons Difficult to install if you dont have Media Center OS

Summary I have been running this card almost 7 hours a day for almost a year. Picture quality is so good that I'd rather watch TV on my PC than TV. The only problem I have had with this card was the install. Be prepared for running an array of executable included on the CD if you don’t have a current version of Media Center. For those who don’t like to read install files, (like me) you would expect a single auto run CD to do everything for you but it’s definitely the opposite. This piece of hardware is great for windows media center. No configuring necessary. The OS automatically detects and installs on its own. The best part of this unit was the little resources it requires to operate. Seems like most of the video processing is done on the card instead of the CPU.(ALL RIGHT HAUPPAUGE) Full screen on an AMD X2 3800 requires about 18 percent CPU usage. Unlike the trash Radeon pushed out, which renders your computer in-operable while running their included software. I’m not even going to talk about those generic cards you see on New Egg and Tigerdirect for under 50 dollars. This card is much better than any I have bought and returned (LOL). I play graphic intense games while watching TV on my dual displays. For those who are bad mouthing this, Read up on the product before you buy it!! I’m tired of wasting my time online reading users opinions that bad-mouth products because of their lack of research and expertise. Also, no manufacturer can produce products with 100 percent success. What I mean to say is that there will be bad apples that make it to store shelves because of human or other errors. Don’t write an opinion online about a products that DOA! It happens! Could you mass-produce thousands of tuner cards with no errors what so ever? Probably not. So please try to include insightful and useful information. This is only a single tuner card so don’t complain about no picture-in-picture, or the useless FM radio. Anyways…. I will recommend this to anyone seeking a single tuner card, it’s cheap, reliable, and looks great. I like Hauppauge so much, I plan to buy their PVR-500 which has the dual tuner inside. That way you are able to record TV shows while watching a different station.(A LITTLE WARNING!!) Once you are able to watch TV on your PC – Be prepared to spend every wake moment at home, on the computer.

Pros Absolutely none

Cons Crashed my computer repeatedly

Summary Tried to install this POS on a Win2K PC, which the packaging claims IS a supported platform. During driver install, BAM! My computer just shut off (NOT gracefully) and started booting up. Without so much as a by-your-leave. This happened multiple times, even after getting the latest drivers from their website. After much trial-and-error, I finally got the basic drivers to load, or so it seemed. At the least, the install finished without crashing my computer again. But the joy was short lived. About 45 seconds after every reboot, whether I logged in or not, BAM! the computer shut down and started booting up. That was pretty darn scary because it reduced my $2000 computer to so much junk. Fortunately I was able to get in using safe mode and uninstall their buggy software.

Support was nonexistent. I called, waited 10 minutes, then their machine takes a message and says support will call back. I left my name, number, and description of the problem; they never returned my call.

They should put on their packaging, "Do not attempt to use this product on our supported platforms."