Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 Hybrid Video Recorder

Great hardware when coupled with 3rd party software.

Strengths: Flawless OTA HDTV.

Weakness: Remote takes some getting used to.

I am only reviewing the digital tuner here as I don't have a cable outlet in the bedroom where this is being used. That said, the ota hdtv performance has been perfect since I installed a small outdoor antenna. At first I used an indoor Silver Sensor type antenna with poor results. Of course this will depend on where you are situated relative to the broadcast towers. With the outdoor antenna, I...
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I am only reviewing the digital tuner here as I don't have a cable outlet in the bedroom where this is being used.

That said, the ota hdtv performance has been perfect since I installed a small outdoor antenna. At first I used an indoor Silver Sensor type antenna with poor results. Of course this will depend on where you are situated relative to the broadcast towers. With the outdoor antenna, I don't think I've noticed a single hiccup in the signal. I can hardly believe the stunning clarity and detail in the picture.

I did not bother to install the included software and just downloaded the driver for the remote from the website. I use BeyondTv 4.6 and it pretty much turns the pc into a very Tivo like pvr.

The remote is just a little balky. Quite often, a seeming single push of a button may result it 2 commands being emitted.

By dwighttsharpe - Apr 2, 2007

Great Dual Tuner for HDTV and Cable

Strengths: - Works in many other PVR Apps such as Windows Vista Media Center, Beyond TV, Sage TV, and Others - Very fast channel switching - Hardware Decoding

Weakness: - Does not have QAM support

I was surprised with the upgrade from my old Leadtek Winfast xp Deluxe to the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1600 TV Tuner. I first used Beyond TV 4.6 (4.6 is needed to enable the dual tuner support) and it was great. Remote that comes with the card works perfectly in Beyond TV. You can record a HDTV OTA channel and watch a different regular cable due to the dual tuner support. I then tried it in Vista's...
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I was surprised with the upgrade from my old Leadtek Winfast xp Deluxe to the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1600 TV Tuner. I first used Beyond TV 4.6 (4.6 is needed to enable the dual tuner support) and it was great. Remote that comes with the card works perfectly in Beyond TV. You can record a HDTV OTA channel and watch a different regular cable due to the dual tuner support. I then tried it in Vista's Media Center, and was quite surprised with the results. Channel switching was the fastest I've seen in any tv tuner.

Note: You must use the 3.3Bc CD Drivers in vista to enable the remote to work in Media Center. The drivers on Hauppauge's site is only 3.2 and the remote does not work in Media Center.

By ranova - Mar 30, 2007

WinTV-HVR 1600 TV Tuner

Strengths: Easy to install, offers analog and HD tuners in one card.

Weakness: Packaged software is not very user friendly.

This card is replacing my ATI AIW 8500DV and so far I like it much better. The picture quality is superior to the ATI card. I'm using Beyond TV instead of the packaged software. Great deal for $60 after rebate.

By artrock - Mar 25, 2007

Very NiCe Card

Strengths: HDTV supports 1080i and its also vista certified.

Weakness: no sigh on QAM yet

it uses PCI slot in your comp, which is better than some USB.
I heard if you use USB you might run into some incompatibility problems. Pic quality is great, pickin up signal from OTA is easy. and its also great when combined with beyond TV software.

By revivalizt - Mar 11, 2007

HVR-1600: Good hardware, crappy software

Strengths: The card itself is very good, easy to set up, and they actually have 64-bit vista drivers. It integrates instantly with vista media center.

Weakness: The software leaves much to be desired, but MCE picks up most of that slack. Only real problem for me is that while the remote works fine in MCE, for some reason the MCE setup will not recognize it.

I'm very happy with this purchase. Pretty cheap price, and very good quality. Recording looks great, and it's nice to be able to get both the regular cable channels and the HD channels on the air without having to mess with cables or anything. Their WinTV software is really bad so expect to find some third-party software that suits your needs.

By dmhomer - Mar 11, 2007