What is ATSC digital TV,
and how does the
WinTV-HVR-1800 work?
ATSC digital TV is a over-the-air digital TV for North America. ATSC
digital TV typically requires an antenna for reception, and is currently
broadcast in 200 cities, with over 1500 TV stations.
Note: ATSC digital TV is NOT digital cable TV or digital satellite TV.
The WinTV-HVR-1800 cannot receive digital satellite or encrypted
digital cable TV.
Note: Some cable broadcasters send ATSC digital TV on their digital
networks as “clear QAM”. See the section entitled “QAM reception”
for instructions on tuning for QAM channels.
ATSC digital TV is transmitted in several resolutions, from “standard
definition” which is similar to cable TV, up to high definition which
has about 16 times the resolution of normal cable TV. In any resolu-
tion, ATSC digital TV gives sharper pictures than analog cable TV
and near CD quality sound.
WinTV-HVR-1800 has a built-in analog cable TV and digital ATSC TV
tuner. It uses your PC CPU for displaying both analog and digital TV
programs on your PC screen.
The decoding of high definition ATSC is very processor intensive,
and the smoothness of high definition TV programs depends upon
how fast your PC is. Other PC activities that consume CPU resources
might affect the display of ATSC digital TV. Slow video, jerky video
and momentary pausing of video are all results of a CPU which is
temporarily being used by other activities.
For the best ATSC digital TV reception, a roof top ‘Wideband or
Highgain’ antenna is recommended.
TitanTV.com
has a good ATSC
digital antenna selector which can be found under
Resources
.
Installing the
WinTV-HVR-1800
WinTV-HVR-1800
is a PCI Express TV tuner board with an analog TV
tuner, an ATSC/QAM digital TV tuner plus a hardware MPEG-2 encoder.
WinTV-HVR-1800 is designed for
WindowsXP
and
Windows Vista
.
Note:
if you are running Windows Media Center application, you only
need to install the
WinTV-HVR Windows device driver
.
Installation overview
✓
Install the
WinTV-HVR-1800
board in a PCI Express slot in your
PC and connect the TV cables. For the best ATSC digital TV
reception, use a high quality roof top antenna.
✓
After booting Windows, install WinTV-HVR Windows device driv-
er from the
WinTV-HVR-1800 Installation CD-ROM.
✓
After the Windows driver is installed,install the
WinTV applica-
tions
from the
WinTV-HVR-1800 Installation CD-ROM.
Step 1: Install the WinTV-HVR-1800 board and connect
the cables
Turn the power off on your PC.
Install the
WinTV-HVR-1800
into a
PCI Express slot.
Note: You cannot install WinTV-HVR-1800 into a
PCI slot.
Plug your
cable TV
into
TV Connector
. Plug your
ATSC
digital TV antenna
into the
ATSC Digital TV input
.
The S-Video/composite video input can be used to bring video from
a VCR, camcorder, camera, DVD player or satellite TV receiver. If
your video device uses
composite video
instead of S-Video, use the
supplied
Composite to S-Video adapter
. Plug your composite video
connector (normally yellow) into one end of the
Composite to S-
Video adapter
and the other end into the
S-Video/Composite video
input connector
on WinTV-HVR-1800.
The
Remote control receiver/blaster cable
is plugged into the
Remote
control socket
. Use the Velcro
dot (on the back of the Remote
control receiver) to position the
Remote control receiver
where
it will be able to receive infra-red
commands from the
Remote
control transmitter
. Add the
supplied
batteries
to the
Remote control transmitter
.
Step 2: Installing the WinTV-HVR under Vista
Boot into Windows Vista. Insert the
WinTV-HVR-1800 Installation
CD-ROM
in your PC’s CD-ROM drive.
When the
Found New Hardware
box opens, click
Locate and install
driver software
.
Click
Continue
. If you see a message which asks about searching on-
line, click
Don’t search
on-line
.
Click
Next
.
Click
Close
.
Step 3: WinTV-
HVR Software
installation
After the
WinTV-HVR
driver has been
installed, you need to
run
WinTV Setup
to
complete the installa-
tion. Run
SETUP
from
the
WinTV-HVR
Installation CD-ROM.
Click
Install
to start
the application instal-
lation. The installation
may require a file from your Windows CD-ROM, so keep it handy.
After the Setup program is complete, you will see the
WinTV
icon on
your Windows desktop.
Running WinTV for the first time
To run the WinTV application for watching TV, recording videos and
playing them back on your PC,
double click on the WinTV icon
on
your desk top.
When you run WinTV for the first time, a message says
Would you
like to scan for channels now?
Click
YES
.
Click the
Scan button
and WinTV will automatically scan for both
analog
and
ATSC digital TV channels
. The scanning process takes
about 10 minutes. The scanning process for ATSC will scan from
channels 2 to 68.
The ATSC digital channels that are found will appear in the channel
listing box. The
Name
is the name as defined by the broadcaster.
The
Channel number
is created by the WinTV application. For ATSC
digital channels, since each primary channel might have several sub-
channels, the channel number is calculated so that channel 22.2
would be listed as 1222. Channel 7.2 would be listed as 1072.
N
ote: if you do not receive any ATSC digital TV channels, an
antenna signal booster might be needed. After adding a signal
booster, see below for instructions on rescanning and the
Troubleshooting section for information on
choosing an ATSC antenna.
N
ote: When initially installed, WinTV-
HVR-1800 uses a setting which does
not take advantage of graphics
acceleration. If you experience problems
when watching ATSC digital TV channels,
see the Troubleshooting section.
Rescanning TV channels
If you want to rescan for TV channels,
click
Menu / Suite Manager
. To scan ana-
log cable TV channels, under
Sources
,
highlight
Analog source
and click
Auto
scan
.
To scan for
digital ATSC channels
,
under
Input Sources
, highlight
ATSC source
and click
Auto scan
.
During the scan for ATSC digital TV chan-
nels, the
Signal Status
will show a quali-
ty level and the
locked box
will be
checked if a channel is detected.
Setting up the channels
After you have scanned for channels, you
can add channel names and fine tune
analog channels for better reception. To
do this, click the
Menu
button on WinTV,
then click
Suite Manager
. You can also
click and hold your right mouse
button
, then click
SuiteManager
.
Click on the
desired channel
, then
Edit
. Change the
ChannelName
to
the name of the station, change the description or fine tune. Then
click
OK
.
Selecting channels
Click your
right mouse button
on the
Current TV channel
box and
you’ll see a pop list of all channels. Use your mouse to select the
channel you want to tune to.
Selecting an External Video source (VCR or set top box)
Click on
Menu / Suite Manager
and then click the
Sources
tab. To add
a composite video source, click the
Composite
button, give it a
Name
and then click
Save
. To add a S-Video source, click the
S-Video
but-
ton, give it a
Name
and then click
Save
.
To switch to this source, click your
right mouse button
in the
Current
TV channel or video source window
. You will see a list of all chan-
nels. At the end of the list you will see the name of the source you
just added. Chose the source.
Displaying TV full screen
When you click the
Full screen TV
button, TV will appear full screen.
When finished watching TV full screen, click your right mouse button
in the TV window.
If you see video with a black box to the left and right of the TV
image, click the
Pref button
then click
TV mode
tab. Check the box
which says "
Allow resolution change
".
"Always-on-Top" mode:
With
Always on Top
, the WinTV window can always be visible on
your Windows desktop. To turn on Always-on-Top, simply click the
Always-on-top
button
. It will turn green. To turn off Always on Top,
click this button again.
A convenient way to use Always-on-Top is to make the TV window in
the no-title mode small, and to make the TV window in the title mode
larger. Then you can switch very quick from a small window to a
larger one simply by clicking the right mouse button.
Menu button
Click the
Menu
button to open the
TV Setup menu
. Here is the main
control for TV channels, and duplicate controls for other functions:
Suite Manager:
configure the TV tuner (scanning, naming, fine tun-
ing, etc.), setting up 'favorite channel lists' and set an external
A/V source to a TV channel.
Configuration:
duplicate configuration menus for color, audio,
MPEG settings, etc.
View:
for setting the TV window size
Pref button
Click the
Pref
button to open the
Preferences menu
. You will have
tabs for:
View:
these are the settings for the
On Screen Display
of the
TV
channel
and
Audio Volume
, plus controls for the
Toolbar mode
(Title mode)
,
NoToolbar mode (No Title)
and
Full Screen (TV
mode)
.
Movies:
here is where you configure the
video
and
audio
settings.
You can set the
movie record directory
(DVCR Record File
Path), the
MPEG Quality settings
, and the
Audio settings
.
Snap Shot:
here is where you can set the size of your captured
images, plus single or two field captures.
Audio:
your audio settings are configured here.
Color:
adjust the color of your TV picture here.
If you cannot hear audio
If you cannot hear audio when the
WinTV
application is running,
check the following:
- Click
on
the
Pref button
and the
audio tab
and make sure the
Audio Mixer Input is set to Wave.
-
Open Windows
Volume control menu
(double click on the
small speaker icon in the lower right hand corner of your PC
screen). Make sure
Wave
is not muted and the level is about half
way up.
-
If you do not see
Wave
listed in the
Volume control menu
, click
on
Options / Properties
in this menu and under
Show the fol-
lowing volume controls
put a check mark next to Wave. This
will add Wave to the list of devices. Click
OK
and then you
should see Wave listed. Once again, make sure Wave is not
muted and the volume is half way up.
-
If you do not hear audio when playing back a recorded video file
(or do not hear audio when in the Pause mode), then open up
the
Windows Volume Control Mixer
and make sure
Wave
is
listed
and
not muted
.
Watch, Pause and Record TV
There are four buttons to control
Live TV
,
Recording, Pausing
and
Playback
of TV. Clicking on the
Pause
button will cause the
Pause
menu
to roll down from the WinTV application, while clicking on the
Record
button will cause the
Record menu
to roll down.
Quick instructions on recording and pausing your TV
shows
If you want to record a TV show you are watching:
- Click the
Record
button to lower the record and play menu
- In the Record menu, click the
red record button
to start recording
- When you are finished recording, click the
stop button
- Click the
Play button
to play the video you just recorded
- To play a video you recorded earlier, click the
File
button and then
move your mouse and click once on the video you want to play.
Click
Open
and then the
Play button
. For more instructions, see the
section entitled
Record mode
.
If you want to pause a TV show you are watching:
- Click
the
Pause
button to lower the pause menu. After about 15
seconds, your screen will stop and the Time counter will start
counting.
-
To start the video from where you paused, click the
Play button
-
To pause the video again, click the
Pause button
-
To rewind the video to the beginning, click the
Skip to the begin-
ning button
. If your video was paused, click the
Play
button.
-
To rewind the video 10 seconds, click the
rewind 10 seconds but-
ton
. If your video was paused, click the
Play
button.
For more instructions, see the section entitled
Pause mode
.
Record Mode
Click on the
Record button
on the
WinTV
application to open the
Record and Playback control bar
.
Time counter:
The time is specified in a
Hour:Minute:Second
format.
Record timer:
A timed record is started by clicking the
Record button
. Each time
you click
Record
, the
Record Timer
is incremented by 15 minutes.
At the end of the time specified by the Record timer, the record will
stop. Also, clicking the
Stop button
will stop a timed record. The
time is specified in a
Hour:Minute:Second
format.
Record Button:
Clicking the
Record button
will automatically generate a file name and
start recording your audio/video program.
The recorded video file is saved in the directory set in
DVCR Recorded
File Path.
To set the directory, click
Pref
and then the
Movies tab
. Every
time you record a file, a new file is automatically created. The file will be
formatted as
(source)_(Channel)_YearMonthDay_TIme
.
For ATSC digital TV programs, the quality level recorded is the same as
it is transmitted by the TV station. For example, if the TV station is trans-
mitting a high-definition program, WinTV will record the program in high-
definition.
For analog cable TV, the quality of the video recording is set in the
MPEG Configuration Menu
(see the section entitled
“Configuring
the format for MPEG compression”
). Click
Pref
and then the
Movies
tab
. In
Quality Levels
, the highest quality is MPEG-2
12.0
MBit/sec, and
the lowest quality is
DVD Extra Long Play
.
While recording:
-
Live video
continues to play in the
WinTV
window. You can
Pause video while it’s being recorded.
- The
Counter
will display the length of your recording
-
If you had started a timed recording, the
total time for the
recording
will also be displayed
Click the
Stop button
to stop your recording. The recorded audio/video
file is then saved to disk using the automatically assigned file name. The
Time counter is reset to 00:00:00 after the recording is saved.
Pause Button:
Clicking the
Pause button
while Recording will pause your
audio/video on screen
but will continue to record the video to
disk
. Clicking the
Pause button
again will continue to play the video.
Stop Button:
Clicking the
Stop
button will stop the video you are recording or play-
ing back. Once the video is stopped, live TV will be displayed.
Playback video
Click on the
Play button
on the
WinTV
application to open the
Record and Playback control bar
.
Play Button:
Clicking the
Play button
will playback from disk the last video file
created. When playing a video, you can rewind, fast forward, replay
10 sec or skip forward 10 sec using the buttons on the control bar.
When playing video files, you can quickly skip to sections of your
video by hitting the 0 to 9 buttons on the remote (or your keyboard).
When you hit ‘1’ you will skip to 10% of the length of the video.
When you hit ‘2’ you will skip to 20% of your video.
Pause Button:
Clicking the
Pause button
while Playing will pause your audio/video
file. Clicking the
Pause button
again will continue the playing.
Rewind Button:
Clicking the
Rewind
button will play the video file in reverse at
1x
speed
. Clicking the
Rewind
button again will continue the playing.
Fast Forward Button:
Clicking the
Fast Forward
button one time will fast forward your video
at
2X speed
. Clicking the
Fast Forward
button two times will fast for-
ward your video at
8X speed
. Clicking the button again will continue
playing back at normal speed.
Note:
Fast forward is not enabled
when playing a high definition video file.
File Button:
Clicking the
File button
opens the File menu. The last file recorded
is listed in the
File name
box. In the File menu you can:
-
Rename your recorded video file
. To rename a video file, find
the file you would like to rename,
highlight it
with your mouse,
and
click and hold the right mouse button
. Go down to
Rename
and then you can type in a new name. Remember: you
must keep the
MPG extension
on the file.
-
Play a video file previously recorded:
find the file you would
like to play,
highlight it
with your mouse (one click of the mouse
button) and click
Open
. Then click the
Play button
.
-
Delete recorded video files
which you no longer want (and
which consume hard disk space). Click your
right mouse button
on the video file
once, go down the menu and click on
Delete
.
Pause mode
Clicking the
Pause button
or
OTP button
on the
WinTV-2000
appli-
cation starts the
Pause mode
. The
Pause Menu
will drop down.
N
ote: It takes about 15 seconds to start Pause.
Pause buffer:
The
Pause buffer
is space on your hard disk where video is stored
during the Pause mode. The maximum amount of time which your
TV program can be delayed is dependent upon how much storage
space you have set for the Pause buffer and which type of MPEG
format you have chosen. The
Pause Buffer Size
can be set by click-
ing the
Pref
button and then the
Movies
tab (see the section entitled
“Configuring the format for MPEG compression”
).
ATSC Digital TV
connector
Left Audio input
Right Audio input
TV Connector
for Cable TV
WinTV-HVR-1800
Board connectors
Connector
for FM radio
Record
Play
Pause
Stop
File menu
(Save /
Open)
Time
counter
Skip to
End
Skip back
10 sec.
video
position
WinTV-HVR-1800
PCI Express Video Recorder
with dual tuners for NTSC and
ATSC/QAM
Quick Installation
Guide
©
Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc. 2006-2007
Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc.
Telephone:
631-434-1600
91 Cabot Court
Fax:
631-434-3198
Hauppauge, NY 11788
Tech Support: 631-434-3197
[email protected]
Internet addresses:
Sales: [email protected]
Web site: www.hauppauge.com
QI-HVR-1800-ENG-V2.1
July 15, 2007
Pause mode
button
TV mode
button
Record mode
button
Play
video
button
Fast
Forward
File
name
Rewind
Skip
ahead
10 sec.
Pause
Skip ahead
10 seconds
Replay 10
seconds
Skip to
the end
Skip to the
beginning
Skip ahead
10 seconds
Replay 10
seconds
Delay
counter
Video
Position bar
Play
Play forward
slow motion
Fast Forward
2X, 8X
Rewind
S-Video/Composite video
input connector
ATSC
source
Auto
scan
Analog
Source
Auto
scan
Snapshot
Button
Freeze
video
CFG
Configure
Snapshot
Preferences
menu
Menu
Setup Menu
Always-on-top
Audio
volume
Full screen TV
Minimize
Full screen
Channel surf
Channel down
Channel up
Previous channel
Radio
(on some
models)
Close
WinTV
Current TV channel
and channel selector
window
Click your
right mouse
button
here to see the
channel selector
Remove toolbars
Click your right mouse button in the TV
window to remove toolbars.
Click again to restore toolbars.
Record
Pause
Snapshot viewer window
Double click
on each
"thumbnail" to see image
full size.
Click and hold
your right mouse button
to see image options.
Play
Record and Playback toolbar
Contents of the WinTV-HVR-1800 package
●
WinTV-HVR-1800 PCI Express
board
●
Hauppauge remote control receiver and IR transmitter/receiver
cable
(on models with Hauppauge remote control)
●
WinTV-HVR-950 Installation CD-ROM
including Vista drivers and
WinTV v6 application with the WinTV-Scheduler
