Home > Consumer Reviews > Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q TV Tuner Stick/Personal Video Recorder with Clear QAM and Remote Control (Black)

Before I bought this item I read some reviews that it is changing channels very slow, crashes a lot after watching the hd channels, some ppl couldn't even get hd channels somehow.

The product turned out pretty awesome! I did notice some slowness when i first connected it to my pc (vista-32, q6600, 8800gt, 4gb ram) through a pci usb hub. I was wondering why since i definitely have the horse power for the device to be running pretty fast. I hooked it up to one of the standard usb ports and it got a lot faster. Actually now it is perfect. I am able to watch atsc channels no problems whatsoever.

I also tried it on my aspire one and it worked perfectly there as well!

This is a great product! Thanks Amazon!

This is a great tuner/ video recorder. It is fully compatible with Vista and Windows Media Center. The remote control is convenience and works great with Windows Media Center. It virtually transforms your desktop/laptop into a HDTV plus a digital recorder system. Powerful hardware configuration (CPU, memory and hard disk) is strongly recommended. Recording 1 hour of HD contents (720p/1080i) in Windows Media Center requires 6 GB of hard disk space. The software package is good but I prefer Windows Media Center.

Hauppauge 1200 WinTV HVR-850 HDTV Tuner Stick
Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR-950Q TV Tuner Stick/Personal Video Recorder with Clear QAM and Remote Control (Black)

I checked the previous reviews here and tried both 950Q and 850 (purchased locally), I ended up return both units. The HW seems to be OK, the issue is with the software, it freezes and crashes way too often. I think if you have a WinXP system without MCE, you don't want to consider this brand. The software is written poorly: - On Analog or Non-HD digital channel, it takes 40-50% of CPU power on my Vaio S560, 1.8Ghz Pentium M + 1.5G memory. On HD digital channel, it takes 70-80% CPU power. Switching from Analog to HD would crash the WinTV version 6, Switching from Analog to Non-HD digital then to HD is the way to workaround it, but if you kill the app when it was at HD, the app crashes every time it launches, to workaround it, you'd have to unplug the cable (so there is no signal) before launch, annoying!! Isn't it?

Pctv HD Stick USB Hd Atsc Ntsc Clearqam Tuner
I've bought Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick since and this is the one I will keep, the PCTV user interface is very well done, the main window can be resized to really small, the channel switching is faster, it also takes up less CPU power on Analog and Non-HD digital at around 20% (70%-80% for HD). The software does lock up a couple times, however, this rarely occurs.

The reason I picked this is because it works BOTH on Mac and PC. On Mac, Elgato's EyeTV is just the best piece of software. It just works. Install the software, pick HVR-950Q, connect your cable's coax, and scan the channels. It picks up all the Clear QAM as well as analog ATSC from your cable company.

The include antenna is, indeed very cute. It picks up all those big local channels that matter (ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS that kinda thing). Using it on a laptop (in my case, MacBook Pro) is absolutely delightful. In fact, I'm getting another antenna for my desktop, so I can interchange my source between cable and off-air antenna (sometimes, off-air antenna has better quality than cable, not to mention some broadcasts that are only available off-air).

On a PC, it works with Vista Media Center if you're planning to use analog cable and digital off-air antenna. Vista Media Center won't recognize the clear-QAM. If you've ever heard of TV Pack 2008 for Vista Media Center, I tried that too, but not working with HVR-950Q (not yet, hopefully, we still need proper drivers from Hauppauge). I have a HVR-1800, and it works on Vista Media Center with TV Pack perfectly, picking up all the clear QAM. So, for Vista, your option is the crappy WinTV (speaking of which, has never picked up and clear QAM channel AND show them properly on my HVR-1800), or one of those other 3rd party options (SageTV, BeyondTV and so on, but I tried both, none of which could pick any clear QAM. Not sure what the problem is, maybe just me). You might also want to check GB-PVR, an open source software. That was what I have been using for my HVR-1800 up until I installed TV Pack 2008. But then again, it's still buggy as h*ll, not as elegant as Vista Media Center, and not really consumer-friendly.

Anyway, if you plan on using this on a Mac with EyeTV, it's PEERFECT. But if you want to use it on a PC with Media Center, it only supports off-air antenna for digital signal (unless you want to use WinTV or other 3rd party software)

The antenna and remote control are junk right out of the box. The end fell off the antenna and the remote control worked some of the time and then quit all together. That is the reason for the 4 star rating. On the up side the tuner stick and software work great. The unit also works great with Windows Vista Media Center. I have eliminated the TV set in my motor home and watch TV exclusively on my laptop. I can record programs or schedule programs to be recorded, then put my laptop to sleep. The computer will wake up and record the program. The best part is I can shrink the screen down to any size I want then set it for always on top and stick it up in the corner of the screen. I can surf the net or write a review while watching TV. As I am writing this review I have eight windows open and all is working fine. My laptop is a lower end Compaq ($500.00 range) with Windows Vista and 2 gig's of ram. If you open the box and throw the antenna and remote away you then have a 5 Star product. Changing channels is a snap, just click on the TV screen then use your number keys to select a channel.