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IR component no longer included in bundle, MCE remote no longer linux compatible

Customer Rating:
This card works great under linux, which is the only reason that I ordered it. I paid extra for the bundle which included the remote. Unforunately, this version of the bundle no longer includes the MCEUSB IR receiver. The combo now includes an IR receiver cable that connects to the main card. This change in hardware has driver support in windows, but not yet in linux.

If you are buying this item in order to build a linux DVR, I would recommend buying the card by itself, plus a separate remote. Don't try to save money with the card + remote combo, because you'll need to buy an additional MCEUSB IR receiver (which is no longer included as part of this combo kit). :(

The words "and receiver" should probably be removed from this product's title, description, and technical details since it no longer accurately describes the content included in the box.

So, you are looking at Hauppauge 1213 and Hauppauge 1229... what is the difference? Let me tell you.

Customer Rating:
Hauppauge 1213: Same PCI card w/ Remote control
Hauppauge 1229: Same PCI card wo/ Remote control

easy enough, right?


Wrong!

I purchased 1213 because it has a remote control and of course you need to watch TV with a remote.

The remote included works fine but IT WILL NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS 7, XP, VISTA MEDIA CENTER. The TV card works fine but you won't be able to use a remote.

Order 1229 with a Microsoft MCE remote... it will cost you a couple of bucks more but you will have full functionality.

Product Review

Customer Rating:
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 TV Tuner has signal quality below digital TV. It did not recognize most channels -- as stated in the documentation describing what standards it is compatible and not compatible with, does not work with digital set top boxes, and Windows 7 crashed during its use (could have been a Windows issue). Seemed like it was built well and came with all the necessary hardware -- personally, I will wait for the technology, hardware and software, to catch up to digital cable quality before buying again. I will buy from Hauppauge when "better" products come out.

A couple of issues

Customer Rating:
I put this into a 64 bit Vista Dell machine. I thought I would be able to get BOTH over the air and cable QAM chanels since this has two tuners. I saw in the photos that it had two inputs for the cables. When I got the card, I was disappointed that I had not noticed that one of the inputs was for FM and the other was for a cable. I tried using both with a splitter and a combiner, but could not get all the channels to show. After some playing around, I was able to get two of the over the air channels to show up along with the QAM channels. My bad for not noticing.

The card does everything it says it will and the software was easy to work with. The other issue is that Windows Media Center refuses to see the card or setup the card to use with it. I have researched this and the problem seems to be with windows (go figure) and not the card. The fixes were too much trouble to mess with and I use the software that came with the card anyway.

It is awesome to be able to watch TV while working on the computer and the card does not tax the resources of the computer.

I highly recommend this card!

Good Card, OK software, Useless remote

Customer Rating:
This setup took me a little while to get going in my system (Intel® Core 2 Quad Processor Q8300, 2.50GHz with 4GB of RAM running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit)I never could get the IR remote to work. Don't know if I got a bad one or what.
1. I installed the drivers from the CD
2. I installed the trial version of Beyond TV (worked ok but picture was very jerky)
Had to research and found that I had to turn off my anti-virus software to get the picture to be OK.
3. Tried Sage TV - didn't like that nearly as much.
4. Uninstalled Sage TV
5. Installed WinTv from CD and latest version and drivers from Hauppauge site
6. Remote still wouldn't work and didn't like WinTv as much as Beyond TV
7. Bought Beyond TV and Firefly Remote
8. Installed software for Firefly Remote. Love it!
9. Attempted to uninstall WinTv -- no luck -- log files were absent. Had to manually remove all components of WinTv and IR remote.
The picture is pretty good with this card. My source is basic cable and sometimes, using my Tivo, the picture would pixalate, especially on action scenes. It is much smoother with this card.
I get FM radio through this card clear as a bell using an external antenna. So I can record NPR broadcasts.