Hauppauge WinTV-HVR850 TV stick

Comment:
I bought this product to watch TV on my laptop but the anntena is about worthless. Only got 2.5 channels (one was very fuzzy). Picture was coming in and out and was very jerky. Called Hauppauge customer support and they told me to buy a better anntena, so i got a $40 amplified anntena which got me a couple more channels but not the ones i wanted like ABC, NBC, CBS. Disappointed considering I live less than 20 miles from the local TV stations.

Comment:
Supplied Software Does Not Finish Loading With Win7x64 Works with Media Centre OTA Analogue And Local Cable Must Select A Country To Receive HD Channels But Does Not Provide Any HD Channels In Canada

Comment:
Easy set up, tiny size, nice choice if you don't want to open and install a PCI card. The included WinTV software did a good job scanning and locking HD and analogue signals from my UHF antenna but it froze and crashed repeatedly on other simple operations, like changing channels. Other software drives the unit fine however (I used the free gbpvr)

Comment:
Plugged into PC, Windows 7 Ultimate x64 detected and installed drivers automatically, ran Windows Media Center setup, watched TV.

Comment:
Ordered product to use in Afghanistan for Armed Forces Network(AFN)cable. Seemed like a good idea to use on laptop. Product will not work at all. No ability to check or adjust settings other than selecting different countries. Afghanistan not available. Sent two different requests for assistance to customer service and three weeks later still no response. Buyer Beware. Purchased a similar product in local bazaar made in China for $25 and seems to work adequate.

Comment:
Sounded like a good idea: I have plenty of disk space so why not use it to record TV. Trouble is, more often than not, the recording quality is extremely poor. The images are jerky at best, usually no sound. Could be my computer is too slow. Watching live TV is okay usually, but I have a 40 inch. That's not what I bought it for.

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This TV card cannot run in windows 7 ultimate 64 bit system. In windows XP, it can run, but it will stop if you enlarge the window. Moreover, the antenna from the packing box is very terrible worse signal receiving.

Comment:
The Hybrid Volar Max ($80 from Tiger) picks up FM, which is what I want it for mostly. It also works on Ubuntu and LinuxMint.

Comment:
my antenna is good so it works fine so far over 10 channels

Comment:
Very cool little device. I live in a rural area and the antenna did not pick up any channels at first. I added several feet of coax cable between the tuner and the antenna and set the antenna on top of a tall piece of furniture and the tuner immediately picked up several channels. Over-the-air digital channels look great. Interestingly, though the antenna is telescoping, it seems to do better in the retracted position. The software works well enough. I like the ability to pause and record live television.

Comment:
Got this for my son for Christmas. Loaded the software on his laptop(Vista). Loaded easily, and with their external antenna found 6 stations (30 miles outside Pittsburgh) which is average for antenna usage around us. The laptop did bog down when running, but it is an older, slower laptop, so not too surprising. Picture quality was very clear on the digital channels. Included software isn't as good as Media Center, but works fine.

Comment:
I bought this product so I could stay mobile as a Contractor. The product is hard to evaluate if it actually provides the picture quality when you are using mil cable tv. There may be a problem with my coax cable (considering the environment), my NEW D laptop (dual processor, 4GB RAM, integrated 128MB video card), perhaps I need to alter my video memory if possible, and environmental issues. I recommend this as a last ditch effort if you don't have the space for a TV but don't expect same quality as a real TV connection.

Comment:
Plain and simple, if you are running a newer system with Win.7 and want TV this is your ticket. I connected it Win. 7 recognized and installed it. Media Center was easy to configure and 5-10 mins later I was watching over-the-air HD channels. I did not ever bother with the included software. Very easy set-up.

Comment:
Works perfectly on my laptop and PC, easy to install and use with a cable connection or with a digital cable box. You can even browse the web or work on a document & watch your favorite show at the same time.I highly recommend this product.

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worked great right out of the box had no problem loading even the small antenna worked great,but no remote control.

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It works really well. I use it as a replacement for a TV since I didn't bring one with me to college. The quality is okay but that's probably because it's not high definition cable. The program that comes with it works well, but the audio is off for a few seconds when the channel is changed. Don't worry, though. It catches up pretty quickly.

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This was an impulse purchase and I'm happy to report that it works expertly in Windows Media Center, Windows 7 (64-bit). Just plug it in and enjoy!

Comment:
It has a good selection of different options and features in the included software. It takes about 15 minutes to scan for channels, but after that it works great. It uses about 100 to 150 MB of RAM and about 15% to 20% the CPU power of a Phenom 9600 Quad Core @ 2.3GHz while watching live TV. There's small lag between the PC and my flat screen LCD TV, and when changing channels, but the quality is great. With he included software you can have a window similar to a media player with all the options of a regular TV on the sides, or just the video (like a PIP), or complete full screen.

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Works great on XP, but I'm disappointed it doesn't work out of the box in Ubuntu! But thats normal. All in all, its a great value!

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I've connected this device to my linux fedora 10 laptop and it simply works... Great.

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Returned. Tried on 2 different Newer laptops, both froze.

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Bought this on a whim, as it was on sale, to use on my laptop for travel, etc. I installed it on my Windows 7 Beta laptop, and didn't even need to use the install disk - was picked up instantly, downloaded the drivers, and runs perfectly via Media Center. And while your mileage may vary, I know I am getting reception from beyond 10 miles away, all crystal clear, with the included antenna.

Comment:
Excellent product!! When connected to outside antenna picks up all my local stations with great picture. Included antenna dosent work well at home but closer you get to source works better, dont expect much from it inless you live really close to station!! Software that comes with is ok but i prefer just to run media center!

Comment:
Pass on this tuner stick. Running on XP SP2, the software is very buggy and tempermental. The tuner itself works well, but the included antenna is terrible. I ended up nailing it to the side of a cabinet and rigging a tin foil reflector dish just to pick up channels in town. WinTV6 is hard to work around, not user-friendly and regularly gets audio and video out of sync. Hauppauge customer service is slow and generally unhelpful.

Comment:
I use this on my Asus 1000H pc running vista(2gb ram, 120gb hard drive). I tried it with media center and had no problems, but like the included software better. Reception is very good and it picks up all of my local digital channels ,without any problems at all. So far this is a grat product.