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Hauppauge adds extensive Vista support & diversity USB stick

by Bob Crabtree on 30 January 2007, 17:48

Tags: Hauppauge (NASDAQ:HAUP)

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Vista drivers press release


Hauppauge plugs Vista Media Center gap with widest TV range

London, England - 30 January 2007 - Hauppauge Digital, the world leader in PC TV technology, today announced its entire range of TV tuners, for desktop and laptop PCs, is compatible with Media Center in Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system. Owners of PCs running the new operating system can install a Hauppauge tuner to watch live TV full screen or in a resizable window on their PCs.

The new software drivers will be included with all Hauppauge product shipped from today, and existing owners of Hauppauge products who are upgrading to Vista can download the drivers free from http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/Promotions/vista.html.

Owners of PCs running Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate will see the message "tuner not installed" if they select Live TV without first installing a compatible TV card.

"With the introduction of Media Center as a standard part of the most popular versions of Windows Vista, the demand for TV cards is going to multiply," said Yehia Oweiss, European VP of Sales, Hauppauge Digital. "We can offer Vista users the widest range of TV tuners to give them live TV on the desktop or laptop, expanding their entertainment experience."

Hauppauge is offering a total of 13 TV tuner models for Windows Vista Media Center, priced from £49.99 inc. VAT. Options include plug-in PCI card or USB; analogue, digital or hybrid; single, twin or triple tuners; and the newly-introduced Antenna Diversity technology for improved Freeview reception.

Hauppauge tuners supporting Microsoft Windows Vista immediately are:

Analogue TV

WinTV PVR-150 (PCI)
WinTV PVR-250 (PCI with MPEG encoder)
WinTV PVR-350 (PCI with MPEG encoder and radio)
WinTV PVR-USB2 (USB with MPEG encoder)

Digital Freeview

WinTV Nova-t (PCI)
WinTV Nova-t 500 (PCI dual tuner)
WinTV Nova-t Stick (USB2)
WinTV Nova-TD Stick (USB2 Antenna Diversity dual tuner)

Digital Satellite

WinTV Nova-s (PCI)

Hybrid

WinTV HVR-1100 (PCI analogue + digital Freeview)
WinTV HVR-1300 (PCI analogue + digital Freeview with MPEG encoder)
WinTV HVR 900 (USB2 stick analogue + digital Freeview)
WinTV HVR-3000 (PCI analogue + digital Freeview + digital satellite triple tuner)

About Hauppauge Digital
Hauppauge Digital, Inc. is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. The company is the world leader in desktop TV products, with a range covering PC and Mac, analogue and digital, satellite television broadcast, teletext, FM stereo radio, Dolby surround and video capture. Prices range from £30 to £130 including VAT.

WinTV Product is available online and on the high street, from Amazon, Comet, Currys, Dabs, Dixons, eBuyer, Insight, Maplin Electronics, MicroDirect, MicroWarehouse, Micro Anvika, PCUpgrader, PC World, RS Components, Savastore.com, Scan, Staples, Tesco.

Hauppauge UK - http://www.hauppauge.co.uk.


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HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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Posted by cubiq - Tue 27 Feb 2007 11:45
Any news on the group test of diversity USB TV tuners that the news mentions?
Posted by Bob Crabtree - Tue 27 Feb 2007 15:56
cubiq
Any news on the group test of diversity USB TV tuners that the news mentions?

Big problem we've had is that in the area where we'd intended to test (our NE London offices), we are getting zero reception with any of the products we received when using the pairs of aerials that come with each.

:-(

Reception is fine using a large main aerial (that's in the loft of the building) but we get absolutely nothing with the supplied aerials.

This is largely to do with geography and the fact that our lab is north facing and the signal is coming from Crystal Palace in SW London and having to pass through the entire depth of the building - which has VERY solid walls.


So we're doing a bit of a rethink!

What I reckon we'll probably do is a straight test of each using the main aerial and then take them out on the road in a car.

I don't currently have any timescale on this, cos other products have sort of come in for review and displaced the TV tuners.
Posted by cubiq - Tue 27 Feb 2007 16:25
Thanks for the quick update.

There seems to be a number of tuners that I suspect all share the same underlying chip for the diversity reception:

Hauppauge WinTVNova-TD
Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Diversity Stick
Terratec Cinergy DT USB XS Diversity
and for the Mac Elgato Eyetv Diversity Dual Tuner DVB-T

That been the case it probably comes down to the one that has the best drivers - any opinions on that from past products from the above manufactures?

I specifically want one that works well in windows media centre and offers dual tuner functionality - I will be using a rooftop aerial so will also need to split that for the two inputs. Which tuners provided the necessary cabling to do this? The diversity functionality is secondary but maybe useful when travelling.

I also hear that the Hauppauge remote works in media centre and would like that confirmed.

Thanks again.
Posted by Tropi - Sun 15 Apr 2007 17:34
I would be extremely interested to see a thorough comparative review of twin tuner USB sticks.

I archive a lot of TV using a Sony domestic HDD/DVD recorder for Analogue and a Humax 9200T for digital transmissions. In all cases, I transfer to PC, using a RW DVD with the Sony, or a notoriously unreliable and incredibly slow USB link with the Humax. Then I edit and transcode to avi for compactness. Final results are excellent, but the time taken in transferring to a PC is horrendous.

The answer seems to be to record straight to a laptop or other PC. USB is ideal for laptops and also available to pop into any other machine, as needed.

I have absolutely NO interest in watching TV on a laptop, but simply and exclusively to record in highest possible quality, as good as my present Sony and Humax.

And here we hit the huge problem; how to select a twin USB tuner that will definitely provide that recorded quality. I don't mind spending up to £100 IF it does the job. But I can find no one to advise me which, if any, of the current options would fill the need satisfactorily and, at £60-£100, I really can't afford to take any chances with this purchase.

HELP! :)

Afterthought: Although I definitely want USB connection, it doesn't actually have to be a ‘stick’, in fact a box on a wire with hardware encoding would be even more preferable, even at slightly higher cost.
Posted by directhex - Sun 15 Apr 2007 18:29
“hardware encoding” doesn't exist for digital - the signal is already mpeg2 when it arrives

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