Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder for PC

Manufacturer : HAUPPAUGE In Stock : 1 List Price : $ 83.93 Quantity : 1

Features

• TV tuner allows for viewing and recording of television on PCs via USB 2.0
• Compatible with both digital and analog television signals
• Accepts video feeds directly from a camera or satellite box
• Small size makes it easy to carry and ideal for laptops
• Includes Personal Video Recorder software for scheduled recording of programs

Product Description

WinTV-HVR-950 brings analog cable TV and over-the-air ATSC digital TV to your PC or laptop! Watch and record TV in a window or full screen using high quality MPEG-2. Use the WinTV-Scheduler to record you favorite analog or digital TV shows. Play your TV recordings back to your screen any time.WinTV-HVR-950 is easy to install. Just plug it into your PC or laptops' USB 2.0 port and connect a cable TV or a TV antenna. Load the software from an installation CD and you're ready to start watching analog or ATSC digital TV on your PC or laptop screen. WinTV-HVR-950 also includes a portable digital antenna, so you can receive digital TV while you travel!ATSC digital TV brings you sharper pictures and enriches your PC's multimedia experience with near CD quality sound. WinTV-HVR-950's ATSC digital TV receiver adds great features to your TV viewing: high definition TV reception, automatic identification of channel names plus records high-definition digital TV programs to your PC's hard disk in an MPEG-2 format without losing quality.You're prepared for the future. If you live in an area where you can't currently receive ATSC digital TV, the WinTV-HVR-950 can still be used to watch and record analog TV from cable TV or a TV antenna. But you are prepared for the future! When ATSC digital TV comes to your area, WinTV-HVR-950 will also receive the new digital TV channels.Digital video recorder, too! Record your favorite analog or digital TV shows with one simple click. You can also use the WinTV-Scheduler to schedule your TV recordings on a daily, weekly or once only schedule.

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description The Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder will bring high-definition television directly to your PC. This handy device lets you watch your favorite TV shows through your computer, and record them digitally for future playback using high quality MPEG-2. More economical and versatile than a DVR, or digital video recorder, this PC Video Recorder, or PVR, gives you virtually unlimited options for saving and playing back your favorite TV broadcasts and clips.

The Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick External TV Tuner/Video Recorder offers: Ability to watch television on your PC in a window or full screen. Portable, small size for on-the-go television viewing on your laptop. Compatibility with digital and analog signals. Acceptance of video feeds from a camera or satellite box.

The small, pocketable size lets you easily take it everywhere. View larger.

Play and Record Television Digitally
The WinTV-HVR-950 is a simple-to-use device that brings over-the-air high definition ATSC digital TV as well as analog cable TV directly to your PC desktop or laptop. With the additional included antenna, it can also receive analog TV broadcasts, and it can also accept video feeds directly from a camera or satellite box.

More versatile than a DVR, the WinTV-HVR-950 is a pocket-sized device that simply plugs into your PC's USB port. It features a built-in digital ATSC over-the-air TV receiver. If you live in one of the more than 200 cities in the United States that receives ATSC digital TV, you'll have immediate access to as many as 1500 digital TV stations. ATSC digital TV is the over-the-air HDTV standard for North America. ATSC broadcasts range in resolution from standard definition up to the high definition 1080i format. (To check the ATSC digital transmissions in your area, input your zip code at titantv.com.)

A portable digital TV antenna, which can be used to receive digital TV up to 10 miles from an ATSC transmitter, is included with the PVR . (To check the ATSC digital transmissions in your area, input your zip code at titantv.com) If you live in an area where you can't currently receive ATSC digital TV, the WinTV-HVR-950 can still be used to watch and record analog TV from cable TV or a TV antenna. (The WinTV-HVR-950 cannot receive digital cable TV or digital satellite TV.)

Once the WinTV-HVR-950 is connected, you can begin to record your favorite shows in high-quality MPEG-2 directly to your hard disk using the Hauppauge SoftPVR MPEG-2 encoder. Television recordings will typically consume 5 GB of disk space per hour for ATSC high definition, while analog recordings will typically consume 1.5 GB of disk space per hour. You can also use the included WinTV-Scheduler to program your compute to record your favorite analog or digital TV shows for play back at any time.

The WinTV application offers an elegant interface to watch TV in a window or full screen. View larger.

Compatibility with Microsoft's Windows Media Center means that you can watch TV as well as your recordings with Windows Media Center. The included WinTV application also lets you watch your shows in a window or on full screen.

More about PVR Technology
PVR stands for PC Video Recorder. The WinTV-HVR-950 is a PVR that allows you to play television through your computer and record the broadcasts digitally. PVR doesn't use standard videocassettes; instead, it uses your computer's hard disk to store the broadcasts.

Once you record a television show to your PC's hard drive, you can burn a CD or DVD that will allow you to play the show back on another computer or on your television. With video editing software (not included with the WinTV-HVR-950), you can even edit the shows. This is a great feature if you want to save clips from movies or sitcoms, or keep your favorite player's grand slam or TD kick-off return for posterity.

And just like a typical VCR, the WinTV-HVR-950 offers you several recording options, depending on your play back needs. If you want the highest quality recording for playback through your HDTV, all you need is enough hard drive space to support high-quality recording. By using the lowest recording option, you can use your WinTV-HVR-950, along with an inexpensive video camera, as a low-cost on-site video surveillance system. In fact, the possibilities of how you can take advantage of the WinTV-HVR-950 are endless.

What's in the Box
WinTV-HVR-950 USB 2.0 TV stick with cable TV or ATSC antenna connection; USB extension cable; portable antenna; software on CD-ROM; and quick installation guide.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating of 4.00 out of 152 reviews

Rating :
Works great - LOURDES ARIAS-GREEN, Jul 27, 2009

I can watch HD in my computer, even with the channel changes of June 12th. Easy to set up and operate.


Rating :
works great with Linux! - willie, Feb 27, 2009

Purchased this unit four years ago to explore digital broadcast tv reception on desktop and notebook computers. This usb tuner stick came with a handy small portable antenna and several CDs of software for Windows (which I promptly threw away).

This tuner stick will work out of the box under Mac OS X using the EyeTV software client. But even better, there is good support for this stick under Linux using the Video4Linux driver suite and KDE's Kaffeine media player. Simply extract the stick's firmware from a driver file (available on-line), copy the firmware file to /lib/firmware, then download, build, and install the latest v4l source from linuxtv.org. Next, launch kaffeine, select the stick dvb device (which appears as an LG Electronics dvb frontend), scan for your local channels, save your channel file, and start watching TV!

I don't know why this unit is currently listed as $6 more than the newer 950Q (which supports viewing of cable clear QAM stations) or $10 more than the other 950 model with remote control - curious pricing structure!

This stick is a good investment for a Linux-compatible device, and can also help save you money if you can only afford OTA broadcast TV. Many other free software packages can be used with this stick to build inexpensive media centers, set-top boxes, or personal video recorders (I currently use my hvr-950 on my Asus Eee PC 1000 to watch digital TV - works great!).


Rating :
Excellent tuner! - K. Davis, Jan 15, 2009

This item made my Windows Media TV player work! Also made another TV program work too!


Rating :
It works - Eric Babcock, Jan 06, 2009

The installation went well. It actually works with Vista's Window Media Center too. The picture quality is not so great with my cable connection, but the digital over the air reception is excellent. I don't fault this device for the poor picture quality for cable channels, it's probably the cable. I like this product.


Rating :
failed and bad tech support - bill, Jan 02, 2009

The tuner failed to work on digital channels. It would lock up when I went from an analog channel to a digital channel. I emailed their tech support. I downloaded and re-installed drivers several times. I returned the tuner by mail and they sent me a new one. It did the same thing. I had been asking for my money back from the first email. But by now three months had passed. He said he could only give me my money back if I had bought it in the last 30 days!

I'm sure this thing works on some computers, however it does not work on mine. I will not buy this sort of thing through Amazon again, and I will certainly not buy anything from Hauppauge.

I drove to Best Buy and bought a Pinnacle tuner.

Tech support that wastes my time and is indifferent to failure is worse than none at all.

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