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(More customer reviews)Wow, I really dont know if I should give this product a one star or five star. I'll settle for a three for the pain it caused me.
First, my system: Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz, 4GB DDR2RAM, 256MB ATI graphics card w/HDMI out, 640GB HDD, Vista Home Premium 32bit. I am located in the mountains of SoCal, where OTA doesnt quite work, and so ClearQAM from TimeWarner is my only option.
Let me start off by saying if you are looking for a dual-tuner for digital/analog viewing, this is one of your best choices. However, expect to spend a night or two of surfing forums, updating drivers, installing hotfixes, etc... The problem is that Vista Media Center (initially) doesnt recognize the ClearQAM tuner, only the analog tuners. How to fix this? Well, my 8 hours of pain can be your simple gain.
Disclaimer: you will be adding a value to Vista's registry if you follow this review, so anything you do is on you alone!
1) If you've been trying to get the tuner to work, wipe all the tuner's drivers off utilizing the utility on the CD (select total and the checkbox below it) and restart Vista.
2) Update Windows.
3) Install the HVR-2250 and the BETA drivers from Hauppauge's USA website.
4) Install TV Pack 2008 (search online for it)
5) Install PC Ready Play (from MS download site)
6) Install the 2 hotfixes (KB951585 and KB950754 from MS download site)
7) Update Windows. (there will be a cumulative update for TV pack)
8) Open the registry (run/regedit)
9) Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\hcw89
10) Add a new Folder (key) and name it: Parameters
11) Add a new DWORD to that and name it: AllowQAM_PowerToy
12) Make that value for the new string: 1
13) *Repeat 10-12 for: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\hcwPrx89
14) Reboot Vista
15) You should be good to go. When in Media Center, the automated set-up might still tell you that it found two analog tuners, which you then select manual set-up and go through the steps. You should see a choice for ClearQAM!
*Notes: the hcwPrx89 folder did not exist in my registry, so I had to create the folder and then add the DWORD.
For $130, I would expect Hauppauge to have either better drivers or better support. Scouring the forums will result in similar fixes like I describe above. I guess something similar to this works for Windows 7.
Oh, the good: it works like it's supposed to (after forementioned).
Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!
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Product Description:
The 1213 from Hauppauge is a HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Bundle. It is a PCIe TV Tuner board with dual (two) hybrid tuners. Both tuners have analog and digital reception that allows recording of two channels at the same time. Each tuner has hardware MPEG2 encoding for recording analog channels. Each tuner has ATSC clear QAM for receiving digital cable TV channels. Watch and record two channels of analog cable TV or ATSC high definition (HD) TV on your PC. Comes complete with a Microsoft certified Media Center remote control and receiver.Includes hardware MPEG2 encoders for recording cable TV with Media Center. Compatible with Vista Home Premium or Ultimate and XP Media Center Edition.
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