Home > Consumer Reviews > Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-TD Diversity Dual digital freview USB 2.0 TV tuner stick

Diversity Works Well (but this involves both tuners working together to give the best signal possible) in Dual Mode it can't see any stations under Windows Media Centre. Perhaps this has to do in part with signal strength. No stations found when used in conjunction with included aerials - I don't know where you'd have to sit in order for these to work.

Ok, so it's not as good as my old solution which was two pci Hauppauge WinTV cards, but it's pretty close. Media Center works a treat. As long as you've got a good signal this product is a great way way of getting TV on your Vista Home Premium PC/Laptop, plus you get a remote control too.

Worked instantly on my Pentium M 1.6ghz IBM laptop when given a strong signal from my indoor 'Aerial King - Polaris' Antennae. Uses less than 40% of the CPU while displaying a smooth crisp image but have not tested the recording feature yet.

Purchased this to plug into my little Acer Revo Nettop PC running Vista. Works flawlessly with Vista Media Centre and gives a really good picture (I am using a loft antenna) with 2 tuners so can record two programs at same time. Haven't tried any of the included software as media centre works so well with it anyway.

The short version: If the software that comes packaged isn't Win-TV v7 go to www.hauppauge.co.uk and download it. Install the .Net framework if you haven't already and everything will be superb.

I bought this product some time ago but only recently installed it. The installation went like a dream and I was watching TV on my XP laptop in no time. Recording and using the EPG was a different matter. Lots of problems, the worst being that the recordings were losing about four seconds out of every ten making them unwatchable. The interface was awful, not remotely intuitive and very clunky. A Google search brought me to the .com version of the Hauppauge site which wasn't remotely helpful. It was only when I went to the "contact" page that I saw the link to the Uk version of the site which is way better and has a really helpful forum.

V7 installs and works like a dream. It has a proper intuitive, Vista look and feel. It integrates the EPG and scheduler much better, and the pause/rewind of live tv is a lot more intuitive. Recordings are excellent quality, and the scheduler now allows you to specify recording lengths less than 30 minutes long; a stupid restriction on the old version. This is now the product I was expecting when I made my purchase.

A couple of final points:
The mini-aerials that come with it are insufficient. I have a good digital signal and couldn't pick up anything using them. Additionally when I tried to split my signal with my main TV I needed a signal booster, a normal Y-splitter didn't work( I mention this not as an issue with the product but just so that it may be factored into the potential cost of setting it up )

The installation programme for v7 is much-improved however it waits until it has started the installation before it tells you it needs the .Net framework installed. When you cancel the install it doesn't clean up after itself. I think it tried to create an "undo" log at the start of the installation but failed; either way it was none too slick. After that when you install .Net and start the installation again it suggests uninstalling the existing version of WinTV and gives you a misleading error message, but if you just continue past it, everything works fine.