Overview of the Digital Signal Monitor for Hauppauge TV tuners

Strong Signal 98%

Good signal 88%

Good signal 84%

OK signal 82%

Good reception - roof and window

Good reception roof, bad reception window

Bad reception roof and window

The WinTV Signal Strength Monitor displays the relative strength of the digital signal on the channel you are tuned to.

The signal strength monitor is part of the WinTV v10 application. To show the signal strength, tune to a TV channel and hit 'CTRL-D'. The key indicator is Quality which shows the relative strength of the TV channel which is being displayed in the WinTV window.

Note: The Digital Signal Monitor will not work with analog TV channels. It will work with ATSC and QAM digital TV channels plus DVB TV channels on most Hauppauge digital TV tuner boards.

The Signal Monitor is a handy tool which can be used to either adjust your digital TV antenna, or when used with digital cable TV, to know if your digital signal is too weak to receive a signal without distortion.

Using the Signal Monitor to adjust a digital TV antenna

• Run WinTV v10 and tune to the TV channel where you have the best TV picture
• Then hit CTRL-D on your keyboard. The digital signal strength will be displayed as a % (percent) of the maximum signal strength possible
• Then you can adjust your antenna. A few tips:
  • The best positions of the antenna are those where there is a clear view to the TV transmitter.
  • The higher up from the floor your antenna is, the better the signal strength will be
  • If you have a flat window style antenna, pick a window which is 'pointing' to the TV transmitter. This might require a longer antenna cable, but if your antenna is not pointing at the TV transmitter, you will not get good reception.
• In WinTV, look at the Quality indicator, and position your antenna to maximize the Quality. The higher the percentage, the better the TV signal is.

If you cannot get a good TV picture after positioning the antenna, the digital TV signal is too weak to receive a Digital TV program without distortion. In this case, you might want to consider an antenna "booster" or a better TV antenna. Here are some tips to help optimize the TV reception for over-the-air signals.

Using the Signal Monitor to monitor the quality of a digital TV channel

If you are watching 'clear QAM' digital cable TV (in Europe this is called DVB-C), you can use the WinTV's signal strength display to see the reception quality of that channel. As with over-the-air TV signal strength, if the signal Quality is low, you might want to check your cable system in your home and either remove splitters (each splitter you have on a home cable network lowers the signal strength) or use a "cable TV signal booster".

The WinTV Digital TV signal strength monitor is in the latest versions of WinTV v10, and can be used with these Hauppauge TV tuners:

• WinTV-soloHD
• WinTV-dualHD
• WinTV-quadHD
• WinTV-quadHD USB
• WinTV-HVR-955Q and WinTV-HVR-950Q
• WinTV-HVR-1265, WinTV-HVR-1250, WinTV-HVR-1255, WinTV-HVR-1200 and WinTV-HVR-1205
• WinTV-HVR-2255, WinTV-HVR-2250, WinTV-HVR-2215, WinTV-HVR-2205 and WinTV-HVR-2200
• WinTV-HVR-1955, WinTV-HVR-1975 and WinTV-HVR-1950
• WinTV-HVR-850
• WinTV-HVR-1150

WinTV v10 Quality Indicator

Strong Signal 98%

Good signal 88%

Good signal 84%

OK signal 82%