Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1850 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder

This is a full height, single slot PCIe X1 board, which means it fit perfectly in the top slot on an nVidia 680i mobo with 2 8800 cards configured in SLI.

The 1800 installed in my Vista 64 Bit system flawlessly despite that the enclosed CD only had drivers for XP. Didn't even need it because Vista installed the drivers from on line automatically. Slick!

Integration with Vista 64 Media Center was automatic.

I'm just hooked up to analog cable and FM so I can't speak about the digital qualities just yet, other than to say the analog picture looks fantastic. Somehow I'm not too worried. The tuner just feels right and solid, not like some funky finicky A*I kludge.

The IR Media Center Remote Control is a real remote control and though some of the buttons are incredibly small I can't complain too much. It comes with batteries and works well with the USB Remote Receiver. Vista 64 installed drivers for this as well. I'm stunned.

And so far very, very happy with this purchase.

Just a heads up, ANTonline shipped me a white box and not a retail package.

Easy Setup and installation with Vista Home Premium! Hooked up a VCR to copy VHS to DVD! It worked great! Remote works perfect with Media Center. Remote is a plus to have when watching DVD's or listening to music on the computer. Have yet to set up satellite but should seem painless after hooking up VCR. Very little instructions given to set up TV or VCR. See manual TV setup in Media Center.

Buy Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1850 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder Now

I picked this card up to record HD channels on our local cable provider. When I tried it with the Windows Vista Media center, it would not decode the digital or HD channels. I grabbed a copy of the Snapstream (snapstream.com) Media Beyond TV software and I was able to pick up the digital channels. The resolution and clarity of the picture is excellent. The included remote and receiver work very nicely. Snapstream provides it's own remote that works with the Beyond TV software and allows control of all the functions that the Hauppaug remote provides. Together, I was able to build a HD PVR for under $200!!

Overall, I am very satisfied with this product. The picture is great, it provides me with the ability to record Digital and HD programs and replay them on my 52" big screen.

Read Best Reviews of Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1850 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder Here

Purchased this card for a new Vista 64 Ultimate workstation. Windows did not see the card to install it. I borrowed an XP machine and it installs in that one fine, but since it isn't mine, I can't use it in the XP.

Update: sent the card to the hardware vendor, who had the same experience. He was finally able to move cards around in the machine and make it work, sending me the configuration, which works here as well. The trick may be that this card needs to be the first PCI-e card in the stack. Hardware vendor technician believed it was related to the card's ability to maintain identity across various bus-to-bus bridges.

If I could edit the rating I'd raise it at least to 3 stars; but installing it in the right slot without any guidance is a matter of luck.

Want Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1850 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder Discount?

If you use this product with Windows Media Center (WMC), there is a problem with the FM Radio Tuner. When you try to use the FM Radio, it may go into an infinite loop telling you that you must set up the TV signal in order to use the FM Radio. If you are using just an ATSC antenna, the TV setup will find the one antenna (ATSC) and FM Radio will still not work (and once again tell you go through the TV setup). You MUST lie to WMC, going through the manual antenna setup and tell it that you have BOTH an ATSC and an NTSC antenna. After doing so, the FM Radio will begin working. The downside is that when watching TV, you'll have the NTSC channels (analog static) in your listing. I need to try to figure out how to get rid of those. You still will have your ATSC channels, too.

The other downside is that the ATSC seems to only tune in the primary channel. For example, on my HDTV, I can tune to 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 (primary, weather, RetroTV Network, respectively). On this card the subchannels do not get tuned.

It seems to work reasonably well for what it does pick up, but if you're expecting to be able to get through setup without trouble, and tune to all of the available ATSC channels, you'll be disappointed.