Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 Dual Tuner CableCARD Receiver

So far so good but its working out well but I have only had it up for one day. It's to be noted that I originally bought this so that I did not have to rent a DVR from Comcast and to that end it works well. However, the 2650 needs a PC running Win Media Center 24/7 so really I am not sure that I am saving much because now I have two devices plugged in 24/7. So after the additional cost of Building my HTPC and the electricity used to run it 24/7 it's probably a break even on renting the DVR. In contrast however, I am only limited on storage by the Hard Drive that I installed and it did add a second tuner and Picture in Picture with my setup I will update the review as I get some more use out of my new toy As far as the install...... I had some similar install issues with Comcast Cable in MD. I picked up a Cable card at the local office then called the Card Activation Center and got the card activated though the Comcast Cable Card Activation Department. That in of itself was a feat because I kept stumbling around in Windows Media Center trying to find where my Host ID was, and after getting there trying to figure out how to refresh that screen to find out if my Cable Card Activation was working. There was a huge learning curve for me and Media Center because I opened media center once like 2 years ago and then never revisited it. That is until I went to the manufacture website and found this utility under the product support page WinTV-DCR-2650 Diagnostic Utiltiy. This utility will give you all the info you need give to the Cable Techs activating and pairing your card as well as the status of our Card Activation and Lock. This is huge because you don't have to deal with media center while activating and pairing the Cable card also there is a refresh button in the application that will refresh the values so you can test to see if whatever the tech did successfully activated and paired your card. It makes it so much easier to troubleshoot activation. Also it works outside of Windows Media Center so you don't have to guess if the card is activated. Also, I was initially having trouble with the card so I downloaded and installed their Beta Firmware form the manufacture website. I am not really sure that it made a difference because the release notes indicated something about logging. Follow the directions on the Quick Start sheet Step by Step and make sure to run the digital cable diagnostic and Windows Media Center activation or you will have some issues latter. After activating the card I was only receiving the lower channels not the higher ones and so I had to call the 1-800-comcast number. (Once the Card is activated the Card Activation folks are done with you.) Well after several signals sent by Comcast the net result was that I stopped receiving any channels at all. I put the project to bed and the next day after doing some googling I called Comcast back and had them Send a Initialization signal and then a refresh signal to my WinTV-DCR-2650 30 seconds later I started receiving all the channels. Be sure to Close and reopen Media Center if you don't see the new channels right way. I think that setting up this card should be considered a 3 Phase approach. 1. Setup the PC you are going to use for a DVR. Just follow the directions on the quick start guide to run the Windows Digital Cable Advisor to make sure your PC is compatible with the WinTV-DCR-2650. And Activate Windows Media Center. 2. Use the WinTV-DCR-2650 Diagnostic Utiltiy to establish if and when the Cable Card has been activated and locked. If you go to the manufacture website then under utilities you will find a link to download it as well as a picture of what everything should look like the card is activated and locked. It you have an item displaying in Red something is wrong. Do not even bother going into Win Media Center to see if you have cannels until the utility is showing that the card is activated and locked, you will just be wasting your time. Do not remove and reseat your cable card unless of course it is backwards or you're not getting the values you need to give the cable company. If you have to remove and reinstall the card you MUST pair it again because you will get a different host ID. Again do not proceed unless the card is activated and locked according the Diagnostic Utility. 3. Once the Card is activated and Paired then go to Win Media Center to verify your that you have all your channels. If you are missing some you will need to call the 1-800-COMCAST Number to have them troubleshoot. In my case I did not get any HD channels so I had them send an Initialization signal and then a refresh signal to my WinTV-DCR-2650

A few years ago comcast switched to this new all new digital network, and all my tuner card would no longer work, as they did not have cable card adapters. At the time this effectively put the home PC DVR, out of business, as tuner cards with Cable card adapters were about $250 to $350. I stumbled apon this card here, and was quite excited. I have owned a hauppauge card in the past, the video quality was nice, however getting the thing to work was a challenge. Some things never change, I didn't read the directions right, did not check the clock on the computer, windows media center windows 7, did not work the first time. SO I reinstalled windows 7 (my fault, not theres). Then I spent the better part of 12 hours trouble shooting the device. Everything seemed by the book on the installtion, untill I got to the windows media center Portion of the installtion. Every time windows media center would try to connect to the tuner the USB connection light would go from green to red, the only way to fix it is to restart the computer. After hours of trying to fix it I finally did something that worked (what it was I dont know). Video quality is just amazing, when compared to digital cards I had before the cable card, there is just no comparison. It is just like watching tv right out of the cable box. Con's There is a diag. program that you can download from the website, but you have to have .net frame work installed, of course that is not mentioned untill you go to install the app (when it fails. For most people this may not be a problem but if you only use your computer to record tv, and are having many more problems, this is really annoying. There are 2 outrageous problems. I have horrible stuttering on recorded video playback, I just use the device as a recorder and stream the video to other PC's in the house. This computer is running more than enough horse power for this application, a AMD phenom II quad core with 4 GB ram. To make matters worse about once a day, the Tuner card Stops working and the PC connection light turns red, and the computer needs to be restarted before it will work. Most reviews that I read said they did not have a problem with this so this is the reason I purchased this card. And for my use, it is impractical to go to the computer and look at the tuner. Im going to get a USB 3 card and see if that fixes my problems, as this seems to be the weakest link on the computer if not the card might go back. Other thoughts: did not effect my rating Windows Media Center Sucks, with cable card tuners this is your only option. There are a lot of other much better programs wont work, as they can't or don't handle encrypted content (more or less). So you have to use crappy Windows media center. If you want to see what a good Program looks like look at Snap stream's Beyond TV. This is a great program that offers so much more flexibility: DRM free Video recording, Streaming over the internet, Customization recording quality settings (I miss this the most), Built in commercial skip, the ability to stream live TV to other PC's, something that people have wanted in windows media center but Microsoft has never thought it important to put in (perhaps maybe because they are the only company in this market now?) Bottom line: I like the brand, when it works video quality is just amazing but just too bugie for me right now, I am giving it the benefit of the doubt score right now, if I get the USB 3 card and it fixes my problems it will get a 4 out of 5 if not Its going back with a 1 out of 5 (i will up date my review)