# TV tuner - hauppage 2250 - do i need graphics card too?



## christopherdude2222 (Jun 8, 2014)

I've ordered the tv tuner hauppage 2250 to install in my hp 8000 which only has an integrated graphics.  

Do I need a graphics card as well (it specifies that I need graphics card with at least 64Mb) but will the integrated one be okay?


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## TRWOV (Jun 8, 2014)

It'll be fine


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## christopherdude2222 (Jun 8, 2014)

Thanks.  Even with HD signals?  
I suppose I would need a dedicated graphics card when I want to play the saved hd shows (ie the world cup) on a 39" tv.  Or even then would it matter?


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## TRWOV (Jun 8, 2014)

oh, sorry, I read that as hp dv8000 but I see you're referring to the Compac Elite 8000... mmm... those are 775 CPUs with GMA 4500 graphics... still you should be fine, Hauppauge doesn't even list any level of DX support so I guess that the tuner does all the heavy lifting and only uses the GPU for display.

As for playback, as long as your CPU isn't too slow it should be fine too.


EDIT: hp list the slowest CPU as being a Dual Core Celeron E5200. Even with that, playback should be OK.


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## christopherdude2222 (Jun 8, 2014)

Great thanks for the reply.  Not going to shell out the $$ if i don't have to for setting up my computer as a PVR.
Yes the hauppage 2250 is all hardware encoding no software for relieved pressure on the CPU.  So looks like recording in high def shouldn't be a problem.


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## christopherdude2222 (Jun 8, 2014)

I'll update to let people know how things are going.  I want to record all the world cup games in hd.  The HP 8000 elite has a 500gb hard drive but I have a extra 1Tb hanging around to pop in for more space and I'll likely need a tad more space.  A typical 2hr high definition show will consume about 10Gb and considering there will be ~64 matches I'm going to need 640 Gb of space.  .. running out of time card is supposed to be in, in a couple of days.  Strangely lots of stores are out of stock of the Hauppage 2250 which makes me think everyone is starting to set up their computers as tv's.  Not to mention it was rated as #1 on the toptenreviews.com and is known as the gold standard in the tv tuner world.


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## Xzibit (Jun 9, 2014)

I got the kit version which includes the remote control a couple of years ago. I have it running under Windows Media Center. You can put your PC to sleep and it will wake up to record and go back to sleep if your at work or out.


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## Vario (Jun 9, 2014)

I have a Hauppauge 1250 1196 but it isn't reliable. The svideo died on it a few months ago which is unfortunate because I use it for N64 sometimes.


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## Xzibit (Jun 9, 2014)

I don't use mine as much as I use too since over the years my services has provide multiple DVR/Replay and On-Demand if I miss something or just want to watch it.

Make sure you have a good signal as you should always have be it Over the Air or Cable.  All the channels that will be picked up have to be transmitted Open/Clear through air or cable.  It wont be able to unlock locked channels.


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## christopherdude2222 (Jun 11, 2014)

Ugh.. ok picked up the hauppage 1250 instead, no stock on 2250 - on order (will not be in before world cup starts and wanted to start recording .. anyways)

Loaded drivers and WinTV software.  I'm in Canada so I chose a US zip code (doesn't matter which one - just one so I could continue with channel setup) and picked ATSC digital to scan OTA with my old style aerial antenna (coax hooked into the card).  Scanned nicely and picked up a few channels except the one I wanted CBC for the World Cup coverage -- the CBC signal was weak and choppy but viewable through my Tivax box to my old CRT tv. 

Of the channels I get, pictures are great.  Slightly choppy on one channel but I think that's because I am not using a video card (just using the on board graphics)

I decided to use WinTV because it could record to MPG files right away.  The card won't pick up channels that were registering weak on my Tivax signal strength of of 5 to 10.  The only problem I'm having now is getting the signal monitor to work.  It says "Did not find supported ATSC/DVB demodulator, or device is not powered on HCWSigMon."  There was someones solution here I have to check out http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/forum/sh...ngth-Indicator-v.28026-DOES-NOT-WORK-HVR-2250

I suppose if I got a graphics card, that it would clean up any hesitations in the video.  Also if I had the 2250 instead it is hardware encoding as opposed to the 1250's software encoding which would also speed things up. 

I'll have to climb my antenna and manually move my broken rotator antenna to try to pull in a good CBC signal.  All in all though looking good. 

I'm just going to throw this question out there ... Should I keep the Hauppage 2250 on order and buy it, or cancel that and purchase a good video card instead?  - to fix the small jerky video on one channel - maybe recording the show with a buffer will erase any choppiness?


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## TRWOV (Jun 11, 2014)

I'm not sure that the stuttering is due to the GPU. Since Hauppauge doesn't list any DX support as a requirement I thing it uses overlays to show the video (take an screen shot with the Print Screen key and paste into Paint, is the video window black?). If that's the case any GPU from the last decade should be able to handle it.

As for the encoding, Hauppauge once again doesn't seem to use GPU acceleration (or at least they don't mention it). You could pick up a cheap GPU and try anyway. GT610/520 (same card) or an HD6450/ R3 240 (same card too) should do the trick and even if they aren't useful for that they're way better than the GMA4500 and would help with playback. 

Watch your CPU usage when encoding and see if the GPU makes any difference.


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## christopherdude2222 (Jun 13, 2014)

Able to record with WinTV 7 excellent picture quality on the Hauppauge 1250 recording.  No frame drop outs.  However for those interested, the automatic conversion of the .ts file mpg worked ok, although the playing of the mpg every 10sec. skipped a frame or two and my guess is WinTV 7 was dumping the data to the drive at that point.  It would probably work better if you converted the .ts file fully after complete rather than on the fly.  

As for the graphics card, since it's working well I'm going to skip it for now.


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