Hauppauge WinTV-HVR4000 HD digital satellite DVB-S2 TV Tuner

Very powerful card but the supplied Win7 software is absolutely rubbish. However I use this card with Windows 7 Media Center and it is excellent. Needs a very strong TV signal especially for the 5 channels though.

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money

Hauppauge lie about this product when you phone them up, they tell you it will not tune satellite in Media Center... but it does.

This product (DVB-S and DVB-T tuners) is supported on Windows Vista Media Center (x86 and x64). You just need to install only the drivers from the website (don't bother with the dodgy app they bundle with it!) and Microsoft's "TV Pack 2008" to get the satellite channels.

It's better with Windows 7 as the drivers are on Windows Update and the setup process is easier in Media Center.

You should do a full transponder scan after initial setup if you want some of those odd world channels. It tunes the HD (DVB-S2) channels nicely and even sees the FM tuner on W7 too.

If you want to record and watch something else you will need two of these and a quad (or at least a dual) LNB for your dish or renumber the DVB-T channels so either tuner can be used for recieving them.

Great product.

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money

I agree EPG choices can be a bit buggy, hopefully fixed in time. You don't need to manually enter satelitte frequencies. If you use the Hauppage-tweaked special version of PowerCinema that comes in the box you will find it all done automatically with a channel scan. The picture quality is first rate on all inputs. BBC transmit a free HD channel and I found this just by connecting the feed from my old Sky digibox into the HVR-4000 card. BBC HD is there for free. It looks fantastic, truly. My pc is very powerful with a Quad-Core Extreme processor and 8800GTX card so I get silky smooth playback. You will need a powerful CPU to get the best from HDTV on a pc, I recommend you go for a Core2-Duo E6600 or above (from trawling various forums). The luxury of true HDTV on your pc makes the expense of upgrading your pc for this card satisfying and justified. Why pay Sky for HDTV?

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money

I bought this card about a month ago and while the hardware has performed flawlessly, the software has a couple of bugs.

The EPG part of the software takes a full 4 seconds to appear once selected

Once up and running the EPG displays channels and current programmes fine with the rare entry having text doubling back on itself making it impossible to read, however highlighting it will show the entry in full on the bottom so it is not much of an issue.

A more annoying bug is when in the EPG you see a show you want to watch, click on it and select 'view channel'.. the software will then bring you to a completely random channel with the wrong epg entry displayed!

Those wanting to use this for satellite TV be prepared to spend some quality time manually entering in channel frequencies, symbol rate and Vertical or Horizontal orientations as the software cannot scan for satellite channels and you have to add them in manually.

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money

This gizmo appears to do what it says on the box. It is, however, the most complex of the four Hauppage cards I've used over the years, and I am still getting to grips with it. Installation was trouble free. I mainly view Astra TV channels, and it picks up far, far too many so one has to be selective. I have a new Cube Perseus desktop, with more Gigabytes than most and awesome graphics, which help. We are wading slowly through the multi options available, so this is an interim report. Overall? Good so far, but one needs to concentrate on each function to understand it. The 83 page guide is a great help to understanding the various functions. Value? Probably good, so just four stars now. Watch this space!

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money

This hardware does exactly what its supposed to. I am using this on a fairly decent HTPC using VMC and the new TV Pack 2008. I can receive all the free satellite SD channels and BBC HD, which looks amazing and without any problems. I have also managed to get ITV HD working, not that they really have any content yet! The bundled Cyberlink software though is rubbish and has never worked. Saying that I dont care as VMC handles it almost perfectly!

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money

Hardware works fine, found and install great. But, forget about using the DVB-s tuner with and EPG...better and cheaper to buy two freeview tuners as at least you cant set them to record in advance. directs you to epg.com Have a look at what channels you get ob the guide before you purchace this product.

• Overall
• Ease of use
• Value for money