WinTV Nova USB Review (Hauppauge WinTV Nova-USB)

Member Name: chrisrivers

Product:	Hauppauge WinTV Nova-USB
Date:	04/07/03 (2510 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Handy internal unit - doesn't dumb decoding requirements on your PC., Fantastic broadcast and recording quality., Easy setup.

Disadvantages: Software is slightly inadequate for some operations.

So I finally made the jump and opted to purchase a Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T USB Digital Receiver. Admittedly I didn't purchase it online, but rather from my local Argos store for £99. I did do a bit of searching and www.Ebuyer.co.uk have it for around £82 online (inc. VAT)

I was a little apprehensive when I got it home and opened it up. The box was worryingly insubstantial content wise. The unit itself, a small USB cable, a power adaptor, an installation CD-Rom, and a minute operation manual.

Initially I tried to get it setup with an indoor aerial - big mistake. While running the "Channel Scan" the unit was unable to pick up anything. But having discarded the indoor aerial and hooked it up to my rooftop aerial the stations were found straight away and I was in business in no time.

The automatic scan makes tuning the unit a doddle (no manual aerial movement required), and the software is pretty good for browsing through your new Freeview 30 channel line-up.

The quality is absolutely amazing - the resolution is good (720 x 576 - DVD), and the bitrate is significantly higher than analogue TV (450 - 500 kbps - SVHS). And no Lip-Synch issues.

The unit is definetly the option for those who don't want their normal computer use interruped (as is the case with internal decoders), because all the decoding is done in the unit, and the result is simply transmitted to the PC (having a good graphics card is always good to keep the pressure off your processor - it MUST be DirectDraw enabled).

The software included is basic but comprehensive and is a great introduction to TV on a PC, and the inclusion of WinDVD for recorded video playback is great. I would recommend grabbing the updated bundled software from the Hauppauge website (www.hauppauge.com), which is currently v2.15 (mine was 1.46), as this greatly improves TV watching ergonomically wise.

I would also recommend maybe getting some third part r
ecording/scheduling/capture software so you can record programs without having to physically be at your machine.

Definelty worth the money.

Summary: