Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600 & 1800 from Geeks.com

I've got the 1600 as well. Nice when it works, but it's software SUCKS. Couldn't pull in nearly as many (unencrypted QAM, ATSC was no difference for me) channels as the shittacular Dvico software/my Fusion 5 RT Lite.

I really wish M$ would have told the cable co's to fuck off. I've grown to love Visa MCE for my OTA/ATSC viewing, unencrypted QAM would be a welcome addition, since the Hauppage software blows (perhaps it's improved since I last tried it a few months back). DVICO's software/drivers like dropping out complaining about "no TV tuner installed" sometimes [and can be a bitch to reinstall/get detected as installed].

I'm seriously considering the HDHomeRun for my next HTPC/tuner "card" purchase. I can't really say I've heard anything bad about it, and all you really need to do is hook it up to a router - no install and roll the driver dice like w/ my Dvico.

Hardware encoding? In the case of ATSC, it's just the transport streams, no encoding necessary. I haven't used mine for NTSC, and only once for unencrypted QAM, so beyond that I don't know.

p.s. Hauppauge has multiple SKUs for their stuff, the 1600 at least if not most/all. One with no remote, one that's only good for their software, and another with a Vista MCE remote.



 
Be careful ordering the 1600. It comes in 4 different SKUs and only two of those can get clearQAM. If you have the pci-e slot then go for the 1800.
 
Please tell him to hire some quality contol people then!

I love my HD-PVR when it works, but I've never owned such an unreliable piece of hardware since I had a cassette reader for my Tandy Color Computer 3.

I still bit on one of the 1800s from this deal though for my other system..
 
tempting, don't they make anything with an HDMI input though? component is a pain in the ass
 
Pretty sure the HDMI spec specifically bans recording any high-def (assuming HDCP is used). Component is the only way to get around that.

These don't take component either though, only the PVR does that.
 
darkpaw said:
Pretty sure the HDMI spec specifically bans recording any high-def (assuming HDCP is used). Component is the only way to get around that.

These don't take component either though, only the PVR does that.
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your right, and I just reread it in it only goes to 1080i not 1080p which is what I need. the bad part is I just want to hook up a cable box to my PC for the HD history channel.
 
nice deal. i have the pci 1600, with the remote. it works pretty good with beyond tv :)
 
can you stream videogames that you play on your tv to your computer using this card? for xample i want to broadcast my game sessions through a stream service like justin.tv or ustream
 
There is nothing out there that records 1080p (at least consumer level). The best you can do is 1080i and the only device that records 1080i from out of the cable box is the HD-PVR. These cards will record 1080i, but only from OTA or QAM signals.

As for recording game streams, I doubt it. Tuner cards usually add too much input lag to make the games playable. I've never tried it on either of these specific cards, but previous experiance wasn't pretty.
 
spacetrader said:
can we talk about the HDFURY here?
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I don't see why not, its basically an adapter, and circumventing DRM is not the same a piracy. (if that was the case I am pretty sure 80% of H members would be pirates, anybody that every had to install multiple copies of XP)
 
Yeah mine is pretty unreliable too -- Don't remember which model # I have. It likes to crash WMC a lot, likes to crash other things a lot. In all fairness I tend to use interesting apps -- like having 8 instances of postgreSQL running while playing l4d at max and trying to record damages. Poor card.
 
I've got a 1600 and 1800 (about a year now) and they both work well. I think my 1800 does a little better job with SD/analog, but for the most part they've been the same. I do occasionally drop some analog channels with my 1800 which I never did with my 1600.

kush said:
I really wish M$ would have told the cable co's to fuck off. I've grown to love Visa MCE for my OTA/ATSC viewing, unencrypted QAM would be a welcome addition, since the Hauppage software blows
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I never use the Hauppauge stuff... I just put in the card and let Windows install the driver and let MCE use it. You can get clear QAM with Vista, you just need to find the TV pack. Win7 lets you do it out of the box.
 
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