Hauppauge WinTV Nova TD500 TV Tuner Card ReviewBuying and reviewing the Hauppauge WinTV Nova TD500 DTV tuner, which during installation into my PC seems like I broke the power supply!
Finally, I can watch TV again! With the digital TV taking over and the old analogue signal being turned off soon, I decided to get on the digital bandwagon before it's too late!
I've decided to buy a digital TV tuner card for the PC so I can watch TV from my desk as this is where I spend most of my time. Many years ago, I had a Hauppauge WinTV on Windows 98. However, this stopped working on XP, and they didn't release a fix for it. Having looked around and compared various models, I got another card from Hauppauge.
I purchased the PCI bus version, and installation was simple, although whilst cleaning the insides of the PC, I must have blown some dust into the power supply, which then shorted and blew up. Anyway, with a suitable replacement fitted, I could continue and start playing.
Unfortunately, I was slightly less pleased with the software. The WinTV7 application is buggy and crashes when I use a dual monitor, change the channel or use the TV guide. After a lot of searching on the internet, I found that this is a common problem that Hauppauge does not address. Most solutions involve ditching the Hauppauge software and installing a third-party TV program. There is Windows Media Centre, MythTV, but I have been using GB-PVR.
With GB-PVR, the Nova shines - full digital TV with AC3 audio, pause and rewind live TV, and with Nova's dual tuner, I can watch one channel and record another. If only I could find two programmes worth watching...
For £60, this is a good piece of kit; it just needs the software support from Hauppauge.
Update: This hardware does not appear to work on Windows 10, nor does it work on any Linux or MacOS platform.
