Reviews on Hauppauge Cordcutter Tv Dual Network Tv Tuners
A Quick Disclosure
It'south our policy to always permit readers know upwards-forepart if nosotros're reviewing devices we got for free. In this case, Hauppauge was kind plenty to ship us a free device. As always, this won't affect our objectivity.
The Device
The WinTV-dualHD tuner itself is a footling USB stick with a coaxial jack on 1 side. There'southward a fleck more in the box, though, including a USB extender (in case the little stick doesn't fit in your setup), a small antenna (10 mile range), a tiny remote (information technology's the size and shape of a credit carte) with a battery, and an installation CD.
The petty antenna is pretty underpowered (more than on that later on), but the residue of the hardware is great and looks pretty good, if a bit utilitarian. The USB extender is a dainty touch, and the remote was really convenient when watching Telly.
User Experience
Setting up the WinTV-dualHD tuner is very easy, though information technology'southward very much an old-school Windows installation and not one of those crisp one-click affairs that many cord cutters may have grown used to. You plug in the device and antenna, pop in the CD, and click showtime to install the drivers and and so to install the WinTV program. In both cases, y'all'll just follow some simple prompts (and perhaps negotiate with your overzealous anti-virus software).
Then you lot open up up the program, scan for channels (over again, a pretty automated procedure), and enjoy!
Flipping channels is easy through either the on-screen controls or with the included remote. The program automatically saves the video from the channel you're watching as it comes in, and so y'all tin can rewind to a point if you've missed something. Yous can also set manual recordings – and, since this is a dual tuner, you can watch one aqueduct while recording another. For similar reasons, the program comes with picture-in-picture functionality.
Accessing recordings can exist done through the awarding – y'all click a button and information technology opens up a file browser, but similar you were opening a new document in Discussion or something like that. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, and it doesn't measure up to the nice interfaces you lot'll detect on some OTA DVRs, but information technology'southward perfectly functional.
Broadcast/Streaming Quality
The little antenna included in the box has a range of about x miles, which did pretty much no good in my testing environs. Information technology's definitely a depression-powered little matter, then unless you alive about the middle of a metropolis, you should assume that you'll accept to provide your own antenna. Hauppauge recommends a large rooftop antenna, which is easy for them to say, because they're not the ones paying for it. In my tests, I used a Mohu ReLeaf and everything worked only fine.
Circulate quality through the tuner is just equally proficient as what you'd get through your Tv. The just minor difference is a slight buffering filibuster when changing channels, but it's really a very pocket-size inconvenience to swap for the ability to rewind and tape your live Tv set.
Price
The model we tried out retails for a cool $99.99.
That'south not inexpensive, but information technology compares favorably to the OTA DVRs that this device almost directly competes with.
Verdict
It's not hard to see why PC Tv tuners like this aren't exactly dominating the market with cord cutters. The WinTV-dualHD felt kind of techy and clunky every bit I set information technology up, and to go it to some other screen I'd have to utilize a divide media server app.
Still, the more than I used this matter, the more I felt like it was a cracking undiscovered cord cut tool. If yous have a media center PC attached to your master screen, this is a cheaper way to get OTA DVR functionality on that screen. If you're willing to invest in a media server like Plex, this no-frills OTA DVR tin can do simply well-nigh everything that its well-branded competitors can exercise. It's a uncomplicated merely brilliant petty device that works very well, and it comes in at a very competitive price point. I recommend it.
Source: https://cordcutting.com/devices/hauppauge/hauppauge-wintv-dualhd-tuner/
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