TV Card - Not quite a TV.

Alex53 · 2007-07-09, 09:04

I suppose my expectations were a little high, but I am finding the whole TV card in PC solution a little disappointing.

I bought a Hauppauge HVR-1300 MCE edition.

Aside from the remote not working because the driver supplied (and the one on the site) won't install, the whole software is unstable and full of issues.

The WinTV 2000 program works, only just, but it runs into issues and slows down or crashes as soon as you flick channels, or pretty much do anything other than leave it on a channel and watch.

It doesn't find all the channels available either. I get my TV through a cable, and my standard TV finds about 70 channels. WinTV managed 20.

I tried third party software that supports this card. Beyond TV and Mediaportal. Mediaportal is the better of the two, but it won't resize to full screen, just windowed mode, and I cant even maximise it or resize it larger. If I try, the whole program layout goes pear shaped and you can just hear the channel.

Sometimes when any of the programs starts the bottom quarter of the TV screen is cut off and showing something other than what should be there. You have to restart the PC and then its gone.

Overall its all just too fiddly compared to switching on your TV set and watching. The potential for the functionality I expected is there, it just doesn't work well enough. I am glad at this stage I didn't invest on a whole media centre PC based on a TV card, and just stuck the TV card into my existing PC as a stepping stone.

The saving grace is recording works well once I get to the channel I want to record. It is the main reason I got the card for, to record to hard disk without having to get a new DVD recorder/player and throw away the player I have.

Has anyone else tried to get this card to work on Windows XP SP2 with 3rd party programs rather than Windows Media Centre 2005? I'd be glad to read about the solutions you found if any, or whether there's better software and drivers out there that I could use.

ThaClown · 2007-07-09, 11:10

What are your system specs?
My TV works great, amazing quality, fast channel changes and jest a great overall look.

See my system to see what I use, maybe you can try my setup?

We need more info before we can help you, so post some info about your system and exact codec's and stuff.

graemef · 2007-07-09, 11:32

I think the main problem you have is that you just stuck a TV card in a PC. I have made 3 HTPC's so far and they are all 100% better than any commercially available solution I have seen for a TV DVD recorder combination.
If you can spare a new hard drive then just install XP, your card drivers, what you need for MP and MP. This should work like a charm and impress you. When you have this working you can start splashing out on remotes, infrared transmitters etc.
Best of luck, stick with it, it is definately worth it.

Alex53 · 2007-07-09, 11:47

I will give my spec later when I'm at home. I know what you mean graemef, but I was hoping the TV card would work without having to be the exclusive use for the PC.

It is a very recent installation, and I do keep my installed programs minimised. Just the one game I am playing at the moment, office, one video editing software, winamp, little more. You might know, video editing software tends to be very unstable unless the PC is really running fine, so I'd say my PC is fine. At least I dont think its what causing that maximize/full screen issue.

Reading the forum I have found references to that problem I just havent got home yet to try the fixes mentioned.

Anyway, what I find a little disheartening is maybe I had unrealistic expectations that this was going to be more or less plug and play.

2007-07-09, 09:04	#1 (permalink)
Alex53 Portal User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	TV Card - Not quite a TV. I suppose my expectations were a little high, but I am finding the whole TV card in PC solution a little disappointing. I bought a Hauppauge HVR-1300 MCE edition. Aside from the remote not working because the driver supplied (and the one on the site) won't install, the whole software is unstable and full of issues. The WinTV 2000 program works, only just, but it runs into issues and slows down or crashes as soon as you flick channels, or pretty much do anything other than leave it on a channel and watch. It doesn't find all the channels available either. I get my TV through a cable, and my standard TV finds about 70 channels. WinTV managed 20. I tried third party software that supports this card. Beyond TV and Mediaportal. Mediaportal is the better of the two, but it won't resize to full screen, just windowed mode, and I cant even maximise it or resize it larger. If I try, the whole program layout goes pear shaped and you can just hear the channel. Sometimes when any of the programs starts the bottom quarter of the TV screen is cut off and showing something other than what should be there. You have to restart the PC and then its gone. Overall its all just too fiddly compared to switching on your TV set and watching. The potential for the functionality I expected is there, it just doesn't work well enough. I am glad at this stage I didn't invest on a whole media centre PC based on a TV card, and just stuck the TV card into my existing PC as a stepping stone. The saving grace is recording works well once I get to the channel I want to record. It is the main reason I got the card for, to record to hard disk without having to get a new DVD recorder/player and throw away the player I have. Has anyone else tried to get this card to work on Windows XP SP2 with 3rd party programs rather than Windows Media Centre 2005? I'd be glad to read about the solutions you found if any, or whether there's better software and drivers out there that I could use.

2007-07-09, 11:10	#2 (permalink)
ThaClown MP Donator Join Date: May 2006 Location: Amersfoort Age: 27 Posts: 673 Thanks: 130 Thanked 14 Times in 12 Posts Country: My System	What are your system specs? My TV works great, amazing quality, fast channel changes and jest a great overall look. See my system to see what I use, maybe you can try my setup? We need more info before we can help you, so post some info about your system and exact codec's and stuff. __________________ Work PC: Lian Li V2100 B Plus II Black, Asus P5E , Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, 250 GB, 3x 500 GB, Tagan TG480 480W, GeForce 8600GTS Silent, 4096 MB DDR2, Vista Ulitmate x64. Server PC: Some black Midi case, MSI K9AGM2, Athlon XP 3200+, AC CPU Freezer 64 lp, CM Silent Case Fan, 512MB DDR2, HighPoint RocketRAID 2320, 4x Samsung HDD 1TB 32MB SATAII in RAID5, FireDTV-C, Windows XP pro. My second build...

2007-07-09, 11:32	#3 (permalink)
graemef Portal Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perth Age: 39 Posts: 76 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	I think the main problem you have is that you just stuck a TV card in a PC. I have made 3 HTPC's so far and they are all 100% better than any commercially available solution I have seen for a TV DVD recorder combination. If you can spare a new hard drive then just install XP, your card drivers, what you need for MP and MP. This should work like a charm and impress you. When you have this working you can start splashing out on remotes, infrared transmitters etc. Best of luck, stick with it, it is definately worth it. __________________ Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic.

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2007-07-09, 11:47	#4 (permalink)
Alex53 Portal User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	I will give my spec later when I'm at home. I know what you mean graemef, but I was hoping the TV card would work without having to be the exclusive use for the PC. It is a very recent installation, and I do keep my installed programs minimised. Just the one game I am playing at the moment, office, one video editing software, winamp, little more. You might know, video editing software tends to be very unstable unless the PC is really running fine, so I'd say my PC is fine. At least I dont think its what causing that maximize/full screen issue. Reading the forum I have found references to that problem I just havent got home yet to try the fixes mentioned. Anyway, what I find a little disheartening is maybe I had unrealistic expectations that this was going to be more or less plug and play.