Support: WinTV v8 TV watching application

WinTV v8 Download

WinTV v8 application and TV tuner driver download package

This is WinTV v8, which can be used if you have a WinTV v7 CD-ROM. If you have a WinTV v8 Activation Code, you can upgrade to WinTV v8.5 at no cost.

Installation notes for WinTV v8:

WinTV v8 is primarily for the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850, WinTV-HVR-950, Colossus (not Colossus 2), HD PVR model 1212, WinTV-HVR-1150, WinTV-HVR-1500 or WinTV-HVR-1600. WinTV v8.5 does not support these products.

Activation for this version of WinTV v8 is done with your WinTV v7 CD-ROM or WinTV v8.5 Activation Code.

WinTV v10 Activation Code: If you do not have a WinTV v8/8.5 Activation Code, you can purchase the new WinTV v10 Activation Code on the Hauppauge webstore for $12.95. This can be used with all products supported by WinTV v8 and WinTV v8.5

WinTV v8 installer
For Windows 10, 8, and 7

File name: wintv8setup_35167.exe | File size: 108 MB | Date: June 23, 2017
Release notes | Backup download site

This download is a complete installation package, including drivers for supported WinTV products plus the WinTV v8 application and utilities.

To install the WinTV v8 application

  • Download the WinTV v8 installer to your PC. After downloading this file, it's normally saved in the Download directory on your PC
    Note: If you see a message Run or Save?, click Save.
  • Have your WinTV Activation Code ready or insert your original valid WinTV v7 CD
  • Run wintv8setup from the Download directory on your PC
  • At Activation required, click Check WinTV CD if you have a WinTV v7 CD or click Enter Serial Number and then enter your WinTV Activation code.

This will complete the driver and application installation for your WinTV.

To install WinTV v8 on a PC or laptop without a CD-ROM drive

If your PC or laptop does not have a CD-ROM drive, do the following:

  • At the conclusion of the installation a dialog box will pop up saying "Activation required"
  • Click Enter Product Code
  • You will find the Product code on your WinTV v7 Installation CD
  • Enter the Product code including dashes and dots

To find your Product Code

Look at the following guide for finding your product code

Note: If you have a WinTV v7.2 CD-ROM with Extend, the latest version of WinTV v8 with Extend will also be installed.

WinTV v8.5 Download

New product installs:

If you have recently purchased a new WinTV product and your WinTV v8.5 Activation Code has never been used, you can install WinTV v10 with this code. This only applies to unused WinTV v8.5 Activation Codes.

Installation notes for WinTV v8.5:

If you have one of the following products: a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850, WinTV-HVR-950, the original Colossus or HD PVR model 1212, you must use WinTV v8 or WinTV v10. WinTV v8.5 does not support these products.

A WinTV v8.5 Activation Code will be needed to install this WinTV v8.5 version. If you do not have an Activation Code, but you have a WinTV v7 CD, you can install the WinTV v8 application.

If you do not have an Activation Code: If you do not have a WinTV v8/8.5 Activation Code, you can purchase the new WinTV v10 Activation Code on the Hauppauge webstore for $12.95. This can be used with WinTV-HVR, WinTV-dual and WinTV-quad products, as well as the HD PVR series of HD recorders plus USB-Live2 and the ImpactVCBe.

Note to WinTV v8 users: If you have a WinTV v8 Activation Code, you can install this WinTV v8.5 version. This only is for WinTV v8 Activation codes and will not work with WinTV v8 or WinTV v7 CD-ROMs.

Extend: If you have an Activation Code for WinTV v8 or v8.5 with Extend, the latest version of WinTV v8.5 with Extend will automatically be installed.

Installation on multiple computers: the WinTV application can be installed on as many PCs as needed as long as you use the same Hauppauge device. We link the serial number of your TV tuner (sometimes it's the MAC address) with the Activation code. So as long as you use the same Hauppauge device, you can install on more than one computer.

WinTV v8.5 application and Windows driver package

This download is a complete WinTV v8.5 application, including Windows drivers for supported WinTV products plus utilities.

WinTV v8.5 Installer
For Windows 10, 8, and 7

Version: 37352 | File size: 103 MB | Date: Dec. 25, 2019
Release notes | Backup download site | Previous version

To install the WinTV v8.5 application

  • Step 1: Download the WinTV v8.5 installer by clicking the download button above. The WinTV v8.5 Installer is normally saved in the Download folder on your PC
  • Step 2: Run wintv85setup from the Download folder on your PC. Halfway through the installation, a message will pop up asking for you to enter the Activation Code.
  • Step 3: At the Activation required screen, click on Enter Activation code and enter the activation code which was emailed to you, is printed on the WinTV v8 activation card or printed on your WinTV v8 CD. You do not need to enter the dashes, and you can use upper or lower case characters.
  • Step 4: When the installation is complete, you will find the WinTV icon on your Windows desktop. Double click on this icon and the WinTV application will run. On the first run of WinTV, it will automatically go through the TV source selection and will scan for channels.

WinTV installation video

The WinTV manuals can be found here

WinTV v8 Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard Control in WinTV

  • Next Channel Plus (+)
  • Previous Channel Minus (-)
  • Increase Audio Volume 'Page Up'
  • Decrease Audio Volume 'Page Down'
  • Mute 'Ctrl + M'
  • Enter Preset Number '0 - 9'
  • Show Channel List 'Ctrl + L'
  • Make Snapshot 'Space Bar'
  • Show Now/Next 'Ctrl + O'
  • Display Stream Details 'Ctrl + D'
  • Subtitles on / off 'Ctrl + S'
  • Change Aspect Ratio 'Ctrl + A'
  • Pause Live TV 'Ctrl + Q'
  • Continue Live TV 'Alt + P'
  • Skip Ahead 'Ctrl + F'
  • Skip Back 'Ctrl + R'
  • Jump to Live Position 'Ctrl + C'
  • Full Screen 'Ctrl + W'
  • Exit Full Screen 'Esc'
  • Start TV 'Alt + T'
  • Start Recording 'Alt + R'
  • Stop Recording / Playback 'Alt + S'
  • Open File for Playback 'Alt + F'
  • Open WinTV Settings Dialog 'Ctrl + I'
  • Exit Application 'Alt + F4'

WinTV v8 Beta

None at this time

WinTV Application for Windows: Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find the manual for WinTV?

In WinTV, right click your mouse in the live TV window, and go to Help. You will see our online manual.

You can also find the manual on our website in the Support -> WinTV v8 under the Manuals tab.

What do I need to upgrade the WinTV application from the Hauppauge website?

In order to upgrade to WinTV v8.5, you must have your WinTV v8 Activation Code. If you do not have an Activation Code , but you have a WinTV v7 CD, you can install the WinTV v8 application (look in the Support -> WinTV 8 Download tab).
If you do not have either a WinTV v8 Activation Code or your original WinTV v7 CD-ROM, you can purchase a new WinTV Activation Code on the Hauppauge webstore for $12.95. The WinTV Activation Code can then be used to activate the latest version of WinTV.

How do I rescan channels?

In WinTV, click on the setting button (Gear) in the lower left of the application. Then click on the Devices tab and highlight your WinTV device and click Tuner Setup (see the first picture below).

In the Device Setup Wizard, you will see a list of TV formats which your Hauppauge TV tuner can support. Depending upon which Hauppauge tuner you have, you will have a choice of analog, digital or external inputs (see the second picture below). You can also select all formats and let the WinTV application show you what it finds in each format (if anything).

Click Next and Next and let WinTV scan for channels. The results should look like picture 3 below.

Settings -> Devices

click to enlarge

Device Setup Wizard

click to enlarge

Scan Complete

click to enlarge

I selected a channel but I just see 'buffering' in WinTV. Also there is no TV, just a blank screen

Buffering and no TV video can be caused by a few things:

  • If there is a problem with your TV signal. Check your antenna or coax cable going to the Hauppauge product.
  • If your anti virus software is preventing the WinTV application from making a temporary video buffer. If this is the case, you'll need to either disable the anti-virus software or create an exception for the WinTV application in your anti-virus exception list.
  • If you using a cable TV or satellite box, make sure the box is turned on.

I scanned for channels, and some were found, yet I do not see any channels listed in WinTV's channel list. What did I do wrong?

If you see channels during the scan, but no channels are listed in WinTV channel list (to see the channel list, right click your mouse on the live TV window, then select Find Channel), then something went wrong in the WinTV TV channel database.

Solution:

  • Uninstall WinTV completely: go to start/control panel/ and look for Program and feature and uninstall Hauppauge WinTV.
  • After that please restart the computer.
  • When the system comes back up please browse to the following folders and if you see a WinTV folder, delete the folder.
    • C:\Users\Public\
    • C:\Program Files or Program Files (x86)\
    • Also please go to this folder which is a hidden folder and delete the Hauppauge folder: C:\ProgramData\
      Information on how to show hidden folders in Windows: Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 7, 8.x, 10, or Vista http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-vista/
  • Once you do this you can reinstall Hauppauge WinTV with latest version from website.
  • Now if you scan for channels, you should see them in the WinTV application.

Our local TV channel switched frequencies today. I've been unable to get the rescan to work. I can find all the channels on the rescan but can't seem to save them in the database.

We recommend that you delete the WinTV channel database before you re-scan for channels, especially if you think that your channel line up has changed. To do this, close the WinTV application and then run this program:
c:\Program Files (x86)\WinTV\WinTV8\WinTV8.exe -emptydb

I'm trying to schedule a recording with TitanTV, but the scheduled recording does not show up in the WinTV Scheduler

The channel list in TitanTV must match the channel list in WinTV. If, for example, you scanned WinTV with an over-the-air antenna but selected a cable TV line up in TitanTV, your channel line will be different and scheduled recordings will fail.

To understand why this happens, lets look at how the process of clicking the record button in TitanTV and how this turns into a WinTV Scheduled recording. When you click the red 'record' button in TitanTV, Titan delivers a .tvpi file to your PC which contains the details of the recording (channel number, channel name, time, date, etc.). But if the channel number doesn't match a channel which WinTV can tune to, WinTV ignores this attempt to schedule the recording and you will not see this scheduled item in the WinTV Scheduler.

There is a log file saved at c:\users\public\hauppauge wintv\logs\wintvtvpi.txt which shows the details of an attempt to schedule a TitanTV recording. Click here to see a sample of this information.

Can I record while my PC is sleeping?

Yes.
Make sure your PC is in Sleep and not Hybernate. In Windows 'sleep' mode, WinTV recordings will cause your PC to 'wake up', start the recording and when complete, go back to Sleep.

How can I save my WinTV Channels database?

To avoid having to rescan for TV channels, you can save the list of channels you are using. This is called Saving the WinTV Channels database.

To save your channel database go to:

C:\Users\Public\WinTV\Channel Database (Windows 7 and Vista)

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\WinTV\Channel Database (Windows XP)

Copy the  hcwChanDB_5 file to a place  for safe keeping. To replace saved Channels just copy HcwChanDB_5 back to Channel Database Dir.

How can I reorder or change the channel numbers in WinTV?

Open the Settings menu in WinTV v8 by clicking on the “gear” button in the lower left hand corner of the WinTV application. Then click on the “All Channels" tab  and right click on the channel you wish to edit. Click Details. Change the Preset number to the number you want. You can also change the channel Name.

Example:
You will need to follow this procedure if you are scheduling recordings with Titan TV online program guide. For example, if you scan for TV channels in WinTV v7 and find that channel 2704 is WNBC but in the TitanTV electronic program guide WNBC is on channel 702, then do the following:

  • click your right mouse button on 2704 in the All Channel list
  • change the Preset to 702
  • change the Name of the the channel to WNBC

    Then, when you select WNBC (channel 702) in TitanTV, it will tune to channel 2704, which is WNBC.

     

    all channels

     

     

    edit channels

How can I add a single channel in the WinTV application?

To add a single channel (assuming there is a TV signal on that channel), go to Settings (click the “gear” icon in the lower left hand corner of the WinTV application) -> Devices and choose your TV tuner. Then click Tuner setup and select the format of the channel you want to add (Digital ATSC, Digital QAM or Analog TV). For both the Starting and Ending channel use the channel number you want to add. Example, if you want to add Analog channel 3, then select 3 for both the Starting and Ending channel. Then click Scan. Since you are only scanning one channel, it should find this channel quickly and add it to the channel list.

Where can I find my recorded files?

The default directory for recorded files is: 

C:\Users\Public\Videos

You can change the default directory in WinTV v8 by clicking on the “gear” button, then the Capture tab. Here you will see the Recordings Directory

In Windows XP, files are recorded to:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\My Videos\

Can I record TV shows with subtitles or closed caption?

Yes.
If the program you are watching has subtitles when you record you will also get the subtitles as part of the recording. When playing back recorded files in WinTV v8, you can use settings menu to turn the subtitles on or off. ( recorded sub titles can only be seen when using the WinTV v8 application for playback.)

Can I view and record my game play from external game sources with WinTV?

Yes, as long as you can connect the game system to either S-Video or composite video on your WinTV product. If so equipped, you can view and record the game action using the WinTV application software. For close to real time video, and to eliminate the normal delay, go to Settings/Advanced options and put a check mark in Game mode. Restart the WinTV application for the change to take effect.

WinTV v8 Installation Problems

Some virus software will prevent the WinTV application from completing the installation. If you find this, you will need to temporarily disable the virus sofware.

Here are a couple of virus applications and how to disable them:

  • AVG: 1) Right-click the AVG icon in the system tray next to the clock. 2) Click Temporarily disable AVG protection. 3) Choose how long you want the protection to be disabled and whether to disable the Firewall as well 4) then click OK.

I am getting a black screen in WinTV, or I'm seeing choppy video images. What can cause this?

There are two main reasons why you might see a black window:

TV Signal strength:. If the TV signal strength is on the edge of being too low, you might see either a black screen where the live TV picture should be, or your live TV picture might be choppy. Also, be sure that the incoming signal from your video source is working properly.

Graphic display adapter related: The video graphics acceleration mode can cause choppy live video or possibly cause a black screen where the live TV picture should be. To optimize the video graphics mode, in the WinTV v7 application go to Settings and look under Video Renderer. EVR is the default setting. Try VMR 7, VMR 9, or overlay for better results. You may also try placing a check mark in “Use hardware acceleration when possible”.

 

 

video settings

If there is still no improvement, enabling extended logging in WinTV and emailing the log files to tech support will help in troubleshooting the problem. (To obtain extended logs, first go to Settings/Advanced options. Enable extended logging, exit WinTV and reopen it for the change to take effect).  

What video format will WinTV record in?

There are two types of recordings WinTV v8 will make: recordings from digital TV and recordings from analog TV.

Recordings from digital TV (ATSC, DVB or QAM) stay in the original digital TV format and in the original video quality. WinTV will save the recordings in a transport stream format (.TS extension). These files may be converted to MPEG2 using options in the WinTV Configuration menu.

When recording from analog TV (NTSC or PAL), recordings are made using MPEG2. You can choose the quality of your analog recordings in the Settings menu under Capture and then Default Analog Recording Quality.

What software can I use to edit & burn the recorded files from WinTV?

When recording digital TV, all recordings are made in whatever format your digital TV is being transmitted in. For example, ATSC is transmitted as MPEG-2 and therefore WinTV recordings will be MPEG-2. The files will be .TS files.

When recording from analog video or analog TV, WinTV will record MPEG-2 video using a .TS format. To edit your videos, you can use any software editor that can work with .TS files or MPEG-2 files

What file size will the recorded videos be?

Digital Broadcasts (ATSC or QAM)

The file size of a digital signal capture depends on the bitrate of the digital signal.  The bitrate is set by the broadcaster and cannot be user configured. Bitrates for digital signals can range anywhere from about 1.2 Mbits/sec up to 19.3 Mbits/sec. Most of the time these bitrates are variable and not constant. Capture sizes for ATSC & QAM recordings range from approximately 1.7 Gigabytes per hour up to 8.3 Gigabytes per hour.

Analog TV or analog video

The WinTV application converts analog signals to digital in order to record. There are four recording profiles. The following list shows recording file sizes for burning to 4.3Gb DVD:

Best - Approx 1 Hour+
Better - Approx 1 1/2 Hours
Good - Approx 2 Hours
Fair - Approx 3 Hours

How do I scan for FM radio channels? And once I have scanned for FM radio, how do I find these radio stations in WinTV?

On those WinTV products with FM radio, you can scan for FM radio channels:

  • click the Setup button (gear button) on the lower left hand side of the WinTV app
  • click the Device tab
  • Choose your WinTV product, and then click Tuner setup
  • you should see a list of video and audio sourcs available on your Hauppauge TV tuner. Click Analog FM Radio and then Next
  • under Stations, select either Automatic Scan if you want the WinTV application to scan for FM radio stations, or Manual Entry if you want to enter your FM radio stations one at a time
  • then click Next to start the FM radio scan
  • the scan is complete when the message Scan complete is displayed
  • click Next and Next and you will be back to the main WinTV application
  • to select your FM radio channel, right click your mouse in the TV window and select Find Channel. You will see your FM radio channels at the end of your channel list.

How can I see the WinTV v8 channel list all the time?

You can display the TV and FM radio channel list all the time by Right Clicking on the live WinTV v8 window to bring up Find channel. You will see the Channel list (see picture below).

In the upper right hand corner of the Channel list is a small "pin" icon. Click this icon to "pin" your channel list to the WinTV v8 window.

channel list

Keyboard shortcuts

  • Ctrl A Aspect ratio
    Ctrl D Display the video and audio format of the TV program
    Ctrl F Freeze the video
    Ctrl Z Open TV Scheduler
    Ctrl O View program details (digital TV program, where provided in the broadcast)
    Ctrl S Display subtitles
    Ctrl W Full screen toggle
    Alt F Open File menu for playback
    Alt M Open the Task Menu
    Alt P Previous channel
    Ctrl Q Pause
    Ctrl P Play
    Alt R Record
    Alt S Stop
    Alt T Start TV
    Ctrl C Catch up
    Ctrl > Skip ahead
    Ctrl < Skip back

Problems running the WinTV application on Windows Server

If you want to use WinTV on your Windows Server, you may encounter the problem that it won’t recognize any of your DVB devices. This is because there is no BDA support (Broadcast Driver Architecture) on Windows Server 2008 / 2012. So if you want to use BDA based hardware (i.e. DVB TV cards) it is neccessary to add BDA harware support manually.

To fix, see these instructions: https://marcowuen.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/howto-add-bda-hardware-support-to-windows-server-2008-r2/