Hauppauge WinTV-SoloHD model 01589 Freeview HD tuner for PC
Hauppauge WinTV-SoloHD model 01589 Freeview HD tuner for PC, Black
WinTV-soloHD for Plex Media Server
WinTV-soloHD supports Linux and Plex TV for Nvidia Shield.
Live TV and DVR for Android TV and iOS devices, plus your recorded TV shows can be watched on Amazon FireTV, NVIDIA SHIELD and other Android TV devices, Apple TV, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, Roku, Chromecast, Xbox, Playstation and smart TVs.
Watch live TV or play your TV recordings in full screen or in a Window
TV in a window: Watch, pause and record TV on your PC screen. WinTV v8 gives you TV-in-a-window, which can be resized and positioned anywhere on your Windows screen (dual monitors supported, too).
TV full screen: Want to catch the latest news or watch your sports events full screen? Just give your mouse two clicks and you’ll have TV full screen. You can still have picture-in-picture with TV full screen.
Supports Digital TV all over Europe
Plug the WinTV-soloHD into a USB port on your Windows PC or laptop and you can watch, pause and record Freeview High Definition and Standard Definition TV. The WinTV-soloHD can receive Freeview HD (DVB-T2), Freeview SD (DVB-T) and “free-to-view” digital cable TV (DVB-C) on your Windows PC.
In addition to live over-the-air Freeview HD TV(DVB-T2), the WinTV-soloHD can also receive DVB-T. If you live in an area which does not broadcast the high definition DVB-T2 signal yet, you can watch the standard Freeview DVB-T and upgrade to DVB-T2 when it comes to your area.
| Weight: | 29.9 g |
| Dimensions: | 8 x 4 x 2 cm; 30 Grams |
| Brand: | Hauppauge |
| Model: | 01589 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | HAUPPAUGE |
| Dimensions: | 8 x 4 x 2 cm; 30 Grams |
Once you actually get this device installed which was a bit frustrating as several times it couldn’t find my device and had restart the install twice once it did find the device everything went through very quickly even the station scanning, One thing to note and make use of if you have an indoor or loft ariel like I do is to turn on the passive amplifier this gets you a nice clear picture. The remote is not the best and is kind of fiddly to try and use although I am hoping that I can set this up to run on my harmony hub or through my Amazon echo that will make things much easier. What can I say you get what you pay for I bought a 20 USB TV stick and it really sucks the picture breaks up and any HD channels freeze after 15-20 mins this is a quality device worth spending the extra cash on.
I bought 2 of these to build a video recorder rig and I have to say they are the easiest to use T2 decoder I have ever used. Works perfectly with Linux which can be a problem with many T2 decoders. Highly recommended especially for use with Linux.
Use with my Plex server to stream live tv.
The only thing I and prob others don’t think about – TVs are designed to improve the picture of live tv.
Streaming from Plex doesn’t really do that, so I find the picture can be a bit crap if the broadcaster is lower end.
Device works as intended but was a bit of a faff to set up though
Was looking for a TV tuner card for the laptop. I saw a cheaper model advertised but the reviews were not good so I plumped for the Hauppage product. Installation was straightforward despite my browser warning me about visiting a non-htttps site! I left the antivirus running and everything installed smoothly.
Initial tuning took about 30 minutes but it returned a full selection of TV and radio channels in good quality. I haven’t tested all the features yet but the basics – selecting a channel, checking the EPG, maintaining a favourites list, recording and playing back – are all straight forward to use.
The remote can be a bit fiddly if you have larger fingers so I tend to stick to mouse / keyboard operation on the laptop, but overall I am very satisfied with this product.
Got this rather than cheaper TV dongles because of reputation of Hauppage.
Works fine – no issues on win 10 /11
WinTV10 maybe a little flaky for many users but worked for me:
tip – allow it to search all areas. I first tried Winter Hill, our main source but that gave nly a few channels. “All areas” gave a full epg and it managed to prioritise NW over the Welsh transmitter that is close – no idea how or why.
I set it up using a signal from a roof aerial – that worked OK
Easy to install and works well. The remote needs an assistant to operate, it is very complicated! Beware if you have any restrictions on your hand functions, because it is small and has many buttons you might struggle. Some of its software is not entirely tolerated by Windows 11, it interferes with memory management.
I have been using Linux Mint for the last 9 years, various versions as it’s updated, and I have used several types of usb tv tuner such as this one. It says that it works on Linux, which it does, but you need to visit the Hauppauge support page to istall suitable drivers.
We aren’t allowed to post links in a review, so search for:
hauppauge winTV-soloHD set up in linux
and you’ll find the appropriate page, with instructions for installation. After that, it works like any other tv tuner.
The HD channels have great picture quality, the rest have typical quality for this type of device.
Quality can vary from channel to channel anyway. The EPG information is garbled for the HD channels, I gather that this is the case with lot of tuners, so is not a fault with this particular tuner. So check the non-HD channels, same programmes but readable!
Overall, happy to have HD for some channels.
UPDATE, JULY 2023.
The latest version of Linux Mint has just come out, version 21.2 “Victoria”, and the Hauppauge drivers are available via the Software Manager, so you don’t have to muck about with the Hauppauge website.
Bought this for the sole purpose of attaching to my Nvidia shield pro to watch local TV channels inside Plex. However, running the latest version and the beta version of Plex server it was unable to locate any supported devices under Live TV/DVR. I confirmed that the device worked under Windows and Linux and the picture quality was decent, and able to play local Freeview channels. Item returned due to not being supported on my Nvidia shield pro.
Absolutely love this, you can record two channels at once or watch one and record another at the same time. Haven’t quite got the best aerial in my room yet so I might attempt to hook it up to the outdoor one with a splitter. The software it is bundled with is nice but I’d prefer a nicer looking UI so I may try to use another software. The remote is nice but it interferes with my TV, the remote also doesn’t seem to have a guide option so I am required to use my mouse, it might be compatible with another software so I will keep you updated on that. Overall one of my best purchases and definitely would recommend for anyone who would like to record and watch channels on their PC, I mainly bought this because the live tv on my JVC Fire TV stopped working, so I just decided to connect it to my PC instead and it looks brilliant on it. It also doesn’t use that many system resources using only 1% of my ryzen 5 1500x and less than 1mb of ram so you can easily use your PC for other tasks like gaming while your TV software is running.
Simple to install (though slightly more involved than just ‘plug and play’) and does exactly what it says on the tin: Freeview TV on your laptop. The only caveats – first, the device itself runs EXTREMELY hot; and secondly, I’ve found it impossible to expand the playback to full-screen mode without getting an “Unhandled Exception” error message followed by a ton of jargon about ‘debugging’ which makes absolutely no sense to me. Those who are a bit more tech-savvy might have more luck!
The tuner does just what it says and means that one can watch 2 TV programmes at the same time on a single computer. The only thing that lets the package down is the customising of the program. For instance, moving a channel in the channel list is a matter of highlighting the channel and then moving it up and down one click at a time. This is painfully timeconsuming, especially in these days in which drag and drop are the norm.
Using the standard aerial connection it found all the same channels as the main TV but it reports a much lower signal strength – typically 55% when the TV reports 90+%. Can’t be certain if the TV and module are reporting strength on the same scale, and there is evidence of the old frame freezing a common problem when the signal is weak. However this could also be a bandwidth/CPU limitation on the Pi, or a cable issue to be tested further. The module is being powered directly from the Pi as opposed to a powered HSB hub even though it is rated at 5W.
I bought this to add DVB-T2 support to my NextPVR Windows 10 media PC. I had to find the drivers on the Hauppauge web site which is not the most user friendly process – Hauppauge really need to get their drivers onto Windows Update. However once installed the unit was detected by NextPVR and the Rowridge muxes were all detected and programmes configured without problem. This was using a good quality roof TV aerial – unless you are very close to the transmitter the supplied indoor aerial is of little use.
So far it has performed flawlessly connected via a self-powered USB 3 hub to a fairly low spec mini PC which already has three DVB-T tuners running, albeit not on the same hub.
I’ve not tried the IR remote nor have I tried using it on a Linux PC so can’t comment on performance there.
PVRs licensed by FREESAT use the Fresat EPG and are very good at flagging up program clashes that would lead to messed up recordings. They also lock HD recordings to the box that made them.
This device from Hauppauge allows forbidden combinations – the non obvious ones are consecutive programs where a preamble and post amble have been programmed. Both recordings will be messed up – the first cut short and the second abandoned.
The main advantage is that all recordings from free to air channels are recorded as transmitted and can be freely transferred between your computers.
I have a room at home I use as a home office, I have 2 large monitors linked to my laptop. I like to have TV available while I work.
So, I bought the Hauppauge. I downloaded the software from the link given on the leaflet enclosed with the device (Version 8.5) . It installed simply and registered with no difficulty. I then followed the prompts to search for channels, and after a few minutes I was up and running.
Picture quality is excellent. I only really want it for watching live TV, so I have not assessed the interface and recording functions.
However, the channel information is not particularly detailed and I cannot get the EPG to work properly. I have run the routine to update it, but it still only shows some channel info, and other channels it shows blank info, and you cannot navigate to those channels using the EPG. The device is receiving them OK.
One nice touch: it includes a short and good-quality USB extension cable. If you have two USB sockets side-by-side and one is taken up with a tuner like this, the size of the tuner can prevent any other usb-plug being inserted into the next socket. This short extension cable avoids that. I also do not like physically large USB devices plugged directly into my laptop – if they get knocked, it can damage the USB socket of the laptop- this extension cable also avoids that.
For me this device, although not the cheapest, is pretty good, but the overall user interface and EPG definitely needs improvement.
EDIT Feb 2020: Yesterday I contacted Hauppauge via their website and asked if their was a better software for the stick and the EPG available. My stick was reported as up-to-date whenever I tried the “update” function on the software. I had version 8.5.37210.
I got a response from Hauppauge in the UK, after only 15 minutes. As instructed, I uninstalled the software, downloaded a new version form the link they sent (vs 8.5.37283) and installed again. The EPG was then more fully populated, although a couple of the normal free-view channels were missing (Sky News and Dave, although Dave ja vu was there).
The Hauppauge rep was exchanging emails with me, and looking at my post-code and the transmitter I was served by (8 miles away), he suggested changing my aerial. from the flat panel I had stuck on the inside of my window.
I ordered a “One for All” powered antenna model SV9465 which arrived this morning. I deleted the channels database file, and re-scanned for channels with the new aerial. It found the missing channels and generally the reception is massively better than previously.
I am now even happier with the Hauppauge product, and the technical-support was simply brilliant.
I have increased my rating from 3-star to 4-star, but I still think the front-end user interface could be better and more informative. It is sad that Microsoft did not support Windows Media Centre into Windows 10.
Win 10’s constant updates and interference with OEM drivers needs vigilance however.
UPDATE !
Still works perfectly and sorry for not searching thro’ all reviews to see if this has been mentioned before but……..
My Win10 desktop slowed noticeably after installation and eventually discovered that in Task Manager – Services, the “WinTV Server” file takes over 200Mb of memory from boot up. This is shown in Task Manager as “Capture Plugin for usb devices (32bit)”. That may be cause of some of the problems reported. The solution is to create a shortcut to “WinTV Server.exe” and stop it running after boot. The WinTV will still load and run but when finished you’ll need to click on the shortcut again to release the memory.
Probably not an issue for those with masses of RAM but I only have 6Gb.
UPDATE 2
The latest ver of WIn 10 Home (1809 build 17763.253) seems to have corrected this problem. The process now doesn’t run without running the Hauppage dongle and releases the process after closing TV down.
To view the the DVB broadcasts I ran kaffeine (for viewing digital broadcast TV) and from the menus selected ‘television’, then ‘configure television’ , noted that there was a device 1 and device 2 tabs with the name Silicon Labs Si2168, clicked on the first device tab and selected ‘autoscan’ for the source. Repeated this for the second device. Then back to the menus, selected television again then ‘channels’, selected terrestrial as the source and clicked start scan … it found about 160 channels including the HD channels, then click on one of the channels in the right column, CNTRL A to select all then click add filtered. All the channels then move to the left column which is where you want them if you want to view them. Click OK to get back to the main dialog and you should see all your channels.
Overall, if your running Linux this works well with kaffeine. SD & HD broadcasts are view-able but you can’t view what my Samsung TV calls ‘Data’ channels. These are channels that point to multiple internet channels. That may just be a failing of Kaffeine and maybe works with other viewers like Kodi, however I don’t tend to watch the data channels so I’m not concerned about that.
System details: OS Kubuntu 16.04, KDE Plasma 5.8.9, KDE frameworks 5.36.0, Kernel 4.4.0-131201807270420-generic. 64bit, CPU 8xAMD FX8350 8 core, 23.5GB memory. .. Kaffeine version 2.0.12
I’ve dropped one star because the included software, while quite capable, is not as good as commercially available programs.
I haven’t used the included small aerial as I can’t imagine it would pick up and the remote control seems superfluous as I’ll normally be sitting close enough to the computer to manually change settings.
I downloaded the drivers from the Hauppauge website and installed them.
– Unusually, the procedure is to connect the TV tuner first and only then to run the driver installation.
– On the newest computer, I connected it to USB3 for driver installation but have also used it without any problems whilst connected to its sole ‘legacy’ USB2 connector.
I use DVBViewer as my recording software. This TV tuner & DVBViewer work perfectly together on my newest computer, on my 8 year old computer & on my 13 year old computer [Dell Inspirons 7779, 1545, 9300 respectively – all with fully up-to-date Windows 10 {Ver 1709}].
– I have also bought the DVBViewer “Mheg5” add-on that enables “teletext” reception. Screenshot attached. Strictly speaking, we ought always to use the term “Mheg5” not “teletext” any more as that is a term that refers to several foreign broadcast standards similar to those we used before digital TV came along & the term “teletext” can therefore cause confusion in the UK about precisely what is being referred to.
– Whilst my 13 year old computer cannot display HD properly, it records HD without any problems.
– I use VideoReDo MPEG Video Editing Software to chop out adverts, trailers, continuity announcements etc and it works correctly with SD & HD [FreeView] recordings from this TV tuner.
Hauppauge are very US-focussed [even on their UK website] & the system requirements in the pictures at the top of this Amazon product page reflect that.
– I have enclosed pictures of the 3 sides of the box that contain useful info.
– The system requirements in my picture of the side of the box are more up-to-date & UK-focussed than the version in the pictures at the top of this Amazon product page
I also tried their WinTV software
– It was very slow but tuned in to all the channels I had expected it to find
– I could not get it to show any EPG information despite letting it complete its agonisingly slow search
– The user interface seems OK for changing channels [right-click, Find channel, select the one you want from the list that appears].
– According to Hauppauge support, the initial WinTV software activation paired the software with the device so the device can be connected to a different computer and the software can then be installed on it.
– There being nothing worthwhile about the software, I removed it after this brief test. I use my normal DVBViewer software instead.
The Amazon product page says it can receive “teletext”. As explained above, since this is a UK sales site, they ought to refer to whether or not it can receive “mheg5”. Whilst the hardware is fine with that, the supplied software is not. I was already using DVBViewer software [which costs 20] so I bought their mheg5 add-on for 14 and it handles mheg5 well [screenshot attached].
Until I learnt about using the correct terms I was confused about why I could not get “teletext” despite this Amazon product page & the box it came in & the user manual saying I could. I asked Hauppauge support and they told me a load of old rubbish –
1 They explained that “teletext” referred to foreign TV standards but they were allowed to supply the product in the UK with the claim about handling “teletext” because the box has a disclaimer saying they can modify specifications. Arrogant codswallop.
2 They said no USB TV tuners can receive “UK teletext” [i.e. “mheg5”]. Ignorant codswallop.
I replaced it with the August T-210 and what a waste of time this has been. It was extremely hard to load and get my PC (I’m running Win7 64bit pro) to recognise the drivers. Then its tuning list was a jumbled mess and the EPG was always in Chinese, in spite of me selecting “English” during installation. It then decided to not work (twice) having software conflict problems that Windows asked to “shut down”! I then had to re-install it again (twice), still getting the software conflict problems (and Chinese EPG!), so eventually I gave up and binned it. Oh, and it ran very hot.
I then bought this unit, which installed with no problems whatsoever and when installing the channels, it even asked me which transmitter I wished to use. It picked up and listed all the stations (incl all HD, using rooftop aerial) with their correct UK channel numbers. Note that it records in the *.ts format (good) and even lists the program name as the file name – the others didn’t. The EPG works and records with no problems. Whilst I never thought I’d use it, to have two channels, with one on each of my twin HD monitors, so I can watch them both (shades of “The Man Who Fell To Earth”) and even record one of them is brilliant, so if you want the bees knees in TV tuners, just buy it.