Hauppauge HVR-2200 - What a fantastic PCIe Dual Digital TV Tuner

[Dream]

Originally Posted by Gemdarwen

I understand Analogue TV, but analogue inputs? Is this something like a VCR connection or old handycam connection?

S-video and composite is what they normally have, you can use those for capturing from an external source like a camera, a VCR, etc.

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by Gemdarwen

I understand Analogue TV, but analogue inputs? Is this something like a VCR connection or old handycam connection?

Yep, but don't get too excited about them in Media Center. Only Pay TV set top units are supported & they need to be configured so that Media Center actully controls them.

You can't use them as a simple AV1/AV2 type input.

Justin

[CX23882-19]

Does the main Philips/NXP chipset do the MPEG2 encoding?

What demodulators is it using - are they the newer TDA10048?

[Mark1]

I have never cared much for the anologue input/encoder side of any of the TV cards I have ever tested. I have only ever wanted a Dual Digital card that worked.
These are the cards I have used, and over time, either rejected by returning them, or sold.
(In order)
1. Dvico Dual Digital PCI,
2. Digital Now Dual Digital PCIe(think it was the discontinued one - about a year ago),
Went back to the Dvico for a while running on XP MCE.
Upgraded to Vista - Found the PCI Dvico unstable/signal issues.
3. Compro E700 PCI,
4. Dvico Dual Digital PCIe,
5. Hauppauge HVR-2200. ***JACKPOT***

Personaly, I only had the DigitalNow card for less than a week, before I requested a refund. It just wasn't coping well for me with my signal at the time.
When I upgraded to Vista and wanted to change the PCI Dvico, first I tried the Compro and the second tuner barely had any signal. So I quickly exchange that for a PCIe Dvico.
Well, I was never satisfied with that one. It had a serious issue with handling the channel 9 stream, and would constantly stutter. But I lived with it for 4 months.
The HVR-2200 is a dream.

Like I said, its sold as an OEM package. In this case its a fancy way of saying it comes in a white box and has the bare essentials for system builders.
Contents;
- WINTV HVR-2200 PCIe board,
- WINTV Installation CD-ROM (I used latest downloaded drivers),
- Antenna IEC Female (for radio I think - not using),
- 1xFull and 1xHalf height bracket,
- WINTV for Media Center Quick Installation guide.

Installation is a simple 3 step process;
1. Fit the card,
2. Install driver,
3. Begin setting up Media Center.
Thats pretty much how the manual explains it - simple.
It does go into a little more detail if you need it, it even tells you the steps to take in Media Center to setup your channels.

This is what I have noticed since using it;
- Channel changing 'is' super fast,
- resume from S3 sleep is no problem,
- Very stable. By that I mean, you don't notice any lack of strength when recording with both tuners. You can be recording 1 channel, and the second tuner will change channels with ease. With previous tuners I have had, you just noticed a difference in performance when 1 tuner was in use.
- Maybe its just me, but the picture looks better (is that possible?)

[Mark1]

Originally Posted by CX23882-19

Does the main Philips/NXP chipset do the MPEG2 encoding?

What demodulators is it using - are they the newer TDA10048?

Here is a Fact Sheet, I think it answers your first question. Not sure about the second.

[ahornby]

Any info on running two - so four tuners?

Anthony

[Mark1]

Originally Posted by ahornby

Any info on running two - so four tuners?

Anthony

I guess that is a question that someone who has tried 2 cards together can only answer (or Newmagic/Hauppauge support).
But, I would love to say based on my single card use so far, I reckon Media Center (I have Vista) would love you for it

[bushwalker]

I must concur with Mark1 on this one. HVR-2200 is really very good when it comes to seamless integration of a DVB-T card with VMC. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the limitations to the analogue side, which weren't clearly described in the documentation pointing to a well known sales tactics where some imperfections are hidden to potential buyers. To put it simply this card as a hybrid is useless due to the limitations in VMC and for around $200 people will have to make their own choice whether it's worth dishing that amount of money for a card that delivers only a part of its functionality it is suppose to.

[vbap]

Originally Posted by ahornby

Any info on running two - so four tuners?

Anthony

Hopefully info by this weekend. I botched up an attempt earlier this week!

[logifuse]

Any info on running two - so four tuners?

Had my 2 arrived today as expected.....

[vlad]

Originally Posted by logifuse

Had my 2 arrived today as expected.....

Is it a bad thing?

[logifuse]

My pair of these arrived today. Getting one card working was fine. Getting two cards (4 tuners) hasn't been quite so easy......

I'm working through the issues (had to clean out the old entries from my 3 TinyUSBs for a start), so hopefully I'll have some good news later on.

Justin