This is an analog USB TV Tuner stick,which I have bought very recently through ebay.One can use it both in desktop as well as in laptop.

I decided to install  under Vista Ultimate 64 bit SP1 with Windows Media Center TV pack and  loaded with 4 GB RAM.

I inserted it to the USB 2.0 port of my Dell monitor.Restart the system.Vista Ultimate OS found the new hardware but it failed to detect it’s driver.So I downloaded the latest driver for this device from Hauppauge’s support site.Now the OS got the right driver.I restarted the system.

My next target was to make this tuner card working under Vista Media Center and to do this:-

Locate MCE_Soft_encoder folder present in the CD-ROM and double click on SoftMCE_Encoder_Setup to execute it.After installation you must reboot the system.

Now power on Set Top Box(I used TATATSKY STB),make sure that IR blaster is atttached to infrared receiver’s port.

Now insert the audio-video cables with the tv tuner card.One thing I noticed that this card’s audio connector is bit loose.So I wrapped the junction with a black tape.

1]Now after the restart open Windows Media Center and select Settings > TV > Setup TV Signal.

2]Select Region.In my case it’s India.

3]Put the Zip/Postal Code.

4]Select “I agree” under Program Guide Terms of Service.

5]Wait a few seconds to get downloading TV setup data

6]Select the desired TV signal.In my case it was Cable.

7]Select ‘Yes’ to Set Top Box query

8]Select the desired TV tuner card option.

9]Composite video option will provide the perfect picture.

10]Now a big task-you have to reconfigure the the remote control,so that your Media Center remote control will work with out any hiccup.

11]Just go through the IR learing method which will learn the remote from scratch.

12] Bring the TATASKY/ any other STB remote very near to the IR receiver.The pop up message will ask to press 0(zero).Simply don’t do that otherwise your MCE remote can’t learn from the scratch.So here you press anyother key-like ‘back’ key.Naturaaly it won’t recognize it and ask to learn from scratch.Go for that.

13]Start IR learning.Press 1,2,3…. of the STB remote control and simply follow the onscreen instructions.

14]Now after the learning is over Select Number of Digits for channel surfing.In case of TATASKY it will be Three digits.

15]TATASKY remote has no Enter/OK button,so opt for ‘No,I just enter the channel number,click Next to continue.

16]Now with the MCE remote control or Keyboard try to change the channel numbers and make sure it’s working properly.

17]You can set the IR Speed to either Fast,Medium or Slow.

18]If you don’t have any additional tuner then the configuration is finished and you are all set to enjoy live tv under Vista Media Center.

I have used my MCE remote,but this tuner card comes with it’s own remote.So if you like to use Hauppauge remote you have to install IR32,you will get under IR32 folder in CD-ROM.

And finally I am getting the following kind of picture quality.