HAUPPAUGE WinTV-DualHD Dual USB 2.0 HD TV Tuner for Windows PC 1595,Black

I have been using a HTPC for years now, but I have always had Avast Tuners because they cost less. They still deliver HD and seem to work just fine. I bought a HAUPPAUGE tuner for my Xbox-One, which I highly recommend, and noticed immediately that the quality was better, and I received more channels even on the little tiny included antenna. So I decided to buy this tuner for my computer to see if I would get a better signal on a few channels that had been dropping out. Not only did I get stronger reception on those channels, but a few channels that never scanned at all on my other tuners now came in.I still use WMC as my primary means of scheduling and recording, and it works great with these tuners. The included software however was a big plus for me because of the ability to have two side by side streams. This is an excellent way to watch sports. I will say however that having two channels running in 1080 display on the screen at the same time side by side is fairly taxing on your CPU but I never saw any lag issues. I may buy another because having two of these as 4 tuners is much easier and less clutter than having 4 individual tuners.** For anyone who has never owned something like this **This is a simple USB adaptive tuner for your computer. You install it and it allows you to watch and record local over the air (OTA) programming. This generally includes CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC, CW, PBS and whatever other local stations you may receive.Almost all versions of Windows prior to windows 10 included Windows Media Center which is a program that allows people to watch, record and schedule recordings of shows. If you have a new computer that no longer includes this software this tuner includes a software key to install Hauppague's own software for watching and recording shows. It's not quite as nice or easy to use visually, but it works just fine. (The major distinction is that WMC was designed to work on a TV and with a remote, while WinTv is a legacy software program designed for use with a mouse and keyboard)This is a dual tuner which means you can watch two channels at the same time, or watch one and record another, or record two channels at a time. There is a small antenna included in the box which will work if you live in an urban area. For the best reception however use a larger antenna like the Mohu leaf (or any other decent antenna).Final note, if you are recording shows in HD (as almost everything is now) you will need a very large amount of space. I don't know the file sizes for the included WinTv software, but the files for WMC are on average 2-3 gigs for a 30 minute show. A 3-4 hour football game will take up between 20-25 gigs of space. It will almost be essential to have an additional hard drive dedicated to recordings. Of course this depends on how much you want to record and keep.

This Hauppauge tuner is great, and I was thrilled to see that the company supports Linux users. This was the only tuner I could find that didn't still require you to have internet at home. I had cable internet and watched all my shows on my laptop in HD online, but with a huge price increase, I couldn't afford the internet bill anymore. Most of the other tuners still require continued internet connection for program guides and what not, so this was the only one that would work for my needs. So I dropped the internet and got this tuner. After some quick installation of the Linux drivers (prior to dropping my ISP) from the Hauppauge website, I just had to run a quick channel scan, and now I can watch and record all my favorite shows over the air. And (depending on the range/reception of your antenna), the quality of digital broadcast is BETTER than watching shows online. Once you've installed the software, you just plug the coax end of the tuner in to an antenna, plug the USB end into your computer, open whatever TV watching app you're using, and you're ready to go.I do have to say that the included antenna probably won't work for a lot of people. It's short range only, and while in theory it should have worked for me since I'm not far from a ton of TV stations, the old pre-war construction of my home has too much heavy plaster and brick for the antenna to work. But I was able to buy an inexpensive (maybe $15) antenna from Best Buy that works well for me. If you're in a rural area, you'll definitely need something with much longer range. But heck, for $65 for the tuner and $15 for an antenna, it's paid for itself after a month.Linux users: this tuner works great with Kaffeine.

I have had this for almost one year now and it's been working well. Only have a couple times when the recording was corrupted and failed. I was impressed today with their customer service when I needed to install the software on my new computer (Windows 11) and had lost my activation code. They actually have a little program that comes with the device that scans your device and give you all the information about it. I was able to get the model and serial number from running the program and with a short "chat" with customer support was given my activation code and WinTV is running well now on my new computer. I had used Homeworks version of TV before but it had way too many crashes so I recommend WinTv but it will have a failure once in a while so no five stars, guess that's just the nature of this kind of device. Hope this helps :-)

Works well.I am using it with Windows Media Center.The Hauppage software, WinTV 10, is not very useful. Listings only go out a day or so. With extended listing it would be worth trying.It's big. If I don't use the included USB cable, it blocks other ports on my computer.