USB Capture Device

[gruberted]

I have Windows XP Home and I am looking for a USB capture device.

I have Comcast Digital Cable along with HDTV.

I do want to take some shows off of that as well as take some off my DVR.

Any help be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ted

[FulciLives]

Assuming you are happy with standard definition SDTV/DVD quality then I would go with the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 ... please note that the Hauppauge WinTV USB2 is a different and inferior product. You want the one with the PVR in the title (as opposed to the one without PVR in the title).

However there are capture devices that can do HDTV quality capture from the HDTV channels but you are limited to those HDTV channels that do not have copy protection.

So the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 does not capture HDTV as HDTV (only as standard SDTV/DVD quality) but it can record anything as it disregards copy protection (unless you have the Windows XP MCE edition).

Which is something else of importance to note. The Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 comes in a "standard" version and a Windows MCE edition.

It is the "standard" edition under WinXP Home/Pro that will record without regard to copy protection.

For more about the Hauppauge line of products I suggest you visit the "unofficial" yet nearly "official" website:

http://www.shspvr.com/

Good luck with whatever you pick.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[gruberted]

I appreciate your help.

Just making sure were clear before I purchase, I can take stuff off my DVR that I have recorded?

Thanks Again,

Ted

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116624

Would this be the one without copyright protection?

[ixlspecific2]

I have a Motorola DCT6412 HDTV PVR using Comcast also. Check out this url: http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/ It details how to transfer recorded shows to your XP box using nothing more thatn a firewire connection. Follow the guide, and it should work for you. I know it has for me!

[jagabo]

The Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600 can capture SD analog video and has both SD and HD (ATSC and QAM) tuners.

Oh, sorry. It's a PCI card. The HVR-950 is USB but doesn't have the analog inputs or QAM tuner. I suspect QAM may eventually be added since it's probably based on the same tuner as the HVR-1600.

[FulciLives]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116624

Would this be the one without copyright protection?

Yes ... this is the product I am talking about. You can record from your cable box with this as it has standard composite video and S-Video inputs along with stereo RCA audio jacks.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[vhelp]

The Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600 can capture SD analog video and has both SD and HD (ATSC and QAM) tuners.

Unfortunately, this model has a poor SD (standard def) hardware mpeg feature onboard.
That is, the picture quality from my Cable TV source to the recorded to mpeg-2's are
not up to tipical pvr-usb2/pvr-250/350 quality attributes.

Anyway. I've been using this for several months or so, and am dissapointed in this one
and only one area. But..

I did try to do something about it through exploritory registry tweaking. And although I
managed to find where to raise the bitrate higher -- can manage 20Mbits -- it was only
with this setup that a decent (or better, pending on your source quality..on mine, its
very noisy) result could finally be obtained. I only tested Cable TV sources with this
tweak. I haven't yet tested on on Commercial tapes, but I am planning on a weekend
of VCR and capture, fun. Anyway. Mind you, this is through non-standard work-arounds
of the units original though intended use.

Other than that, the OTA ASTC hdtv sources are very satisfying. At least those that
*do* come in. Unfortnately, I'm capable of one major network, ABC. But, hopefully,
that will change in the distant future.

-vhelp 4342

[pinetop]

Which is something else of importance to note. The Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 comes in a "standard" version and a Windows MCE edition.

It is the "standard" edition under WinXP Home/Pro that will record without regard to copy protection.

For more about the Hauppauge line of products I suggest you visit the "unofficial" yet nearly "official" website:

http://www.shspvr.com/

Good luck with whatever you pick.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I have Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 MCE edition, I run it on a XP system and use WinTV2000. I don't recall copy protection being a issue. So the protection issues maybe a XPmce or the software app Hauppauge uses for MCE. I believe the only difference between the MCE edition and the standard edition is the remote. Per the Hauppauge tec support, the MCE edition would be the way to go if you have XPmce or are planning to get it. The remote that comes with it is a $39.99 package that includes IR sensor and remote. The standard remote sells for just $ 9.99.

[TBoneit]

Well the MCE edition was required to get XP Media Center to finish setting up the TV section. I would expect the same results with any version of Vista that has Media Center in it. I suspect that teh real difference between the MCE remote version and the regular remote version is the Media Center button and licenseing fees to Microsoft which lets the MCE remote be detected as a workable remote for MCE.

It may be the extra IR receiver that does teh magic as the USB hardware looks the same right down to it having a spot marked IR on the front.

[FulciLives]

I thought I had read that those using the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 with Windows MCE had copy protection issues.

I dunno ... *shrug*

I sure wouldn't buy the MCE version though :P

Also I think (knock on wood) that the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 works under Linux with Myth TV.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

I have a Motorola DCT6412 HDTV PVR using Comcast also. Check out this url: http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/ It details how to transfer recorded shows to your XP box using nothing more thatn a firewire connection. Follow the guide, and it should work for you. I know it has for me!

I once got all channels over IEEE-1394 during the cable rebuild but one night they downloaded firmware that limited IEEE-1394 to locals only. Sometimes other channels are available sometimes not.

[gruberted]

If anybody can help me get this thing set up be appreciated. I am only getting one channel and I have to watch the same thing thats on the TV.

My contacts are below.

Aim- baseballlefty20
Yahoo: gruberted
Msn: grubertg

Any help be greatly appreciated.

[edDV]

If anybody can help me get this thing set up be appreciated. I am only getting one channel and I have to watch the same thing thats on the TV.

My contacts are below.

Aim- baseballlefty20
Yahoo: gruberted
Msn: grubertg

Any help be greatly appreciated.

I didn't understand any of that. If you get it all working over IEEE-1394 you will be getting the channel tuned, the one on the TV.

[TBoneit]

It sounds to me as if you are hooking the capture device up via RF (Coax) between the cable box and the TV or Via audio and video cables.

If that is how you did it then you can only get the same channel tuned on your cable box as it is between the capture device and the cable feed.

In fact the only way to capture from your DVR would be to have it after the DVR receives the cable signal.