anyone have any info on the Hauppauge HD PVR?

[gschwendt]

I did a quick search of the forums to see if I could find something here about it but all that I turned up was someone saying "it's coming" inside another thread.

Anyway... just curious if anyone would have any information on it. Related, how easy/possible is it to edit h.264 video without converting it into another format? Specifically, would Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate be able to handle it without much trouble? Also, what file sizes are we talking about here for capture, say around an hour worth of video?

Here's a link for anyone wanting to read more about it.

[SHS]

Rigth now it unknow.
You have to wait.

[jman98]

If this kind of device works, it is going to take a LOT of processing power. I'm not aware of anything that can transcode 1080p to H.264 right now. I'd definitely suggest reading some reviews before you buy it. I like Hauppauge cards and have the PVR-350, but Hauppauge doesn't do a lot of HD stuff very well right now, to be blunt.

[edDV]

If this kind of device works, it is going to take a LOT of processing power. I'm not aware of anything that can transcode 1080p to H.264 right now. I'd definitely suggest reading some reviews before you buy it. I like Hauppauge cards and have the PVR-350, but Hauppauge doesn't do a lot of HD stuff very well right now, to be blunt.

Hauppauge is mostly a packager of existing chips. There isn't much original hardware tech from them and their software is marginal eventually.

If Hauppauge is getting access to a MPeg2_TS to H.264 chip, so will all the others.

[rivertrance]

I saw this product working at CES. It has a dedicated h264 HD encoder...which no one else will be able to use for this application. It can encode 480p, 720p and 1080i via component...alongn with Stereo AAC or Dolby AC-3 surround sound via SPDIF inputs. The quality is lossless at around 10-12Mbs....which when set on VBR, will allow a 2hr movie on a single layer DVD in the AVCHD format...which can then be played back on any BD player.

[FulciLives]

I just read about this device and see it is on the Hauppauge website now.

Anyone bite on this yet? It supposedly started shipping as of May 1, 2008

Sounds damn kewl if it works!

Seems like the "perfect" way to record encrypted 720p/1080i from cable TV and satellite TV not to mention PS3/XboX 360 games etc.

What's the deal with this thing SHS ???

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Also new is this $999 Gefen product that is a self contained DVR with hard drives (no computer required).
http://www.gefen.com/gefentv/gtvproduct.jsp?prod_id=5269

[FulciLives]

Also new is this $999 Gefen product that is a self contained DVR with hard drives (no computer required).
http://www.gefen.com/gefentv/gtvproduct.jsp?prod_id=5269

Sounds interesting although damn expensive. I downloaded the manual and took a quick look at it. Can fit about 17 hours on the internal HDD at the absolute best recording mode. Says you can copy to a SD flash memory card and import to your computer ... comes with some sort of MS Windows software for "decoding" of the movies for computer playback.

Other than the high price I see two possible issues ... what is the video format? Can it be played back on another device or only this device? OK they say you can play it back on your computer but what if you have something other than MS Windows like a Mac or Linux? Can it be burned to a Blu-Ray recordable "as is"? Can it be manipulated into another forat (like XviD)? Also how big are SD cards? I'd imagine a 90 minute - 120 minute movie is gonna be a big ass huge file! Do SD cards exist that are large enough in capacity to copy such large files to the computer?

Sounds interesting for sure BUT I'm still interested in the Hauppauge HD-PVR as it appears to be more within my budget 8)

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[gschwendt]

I just read about this device and see it is on the Hauppauge website now.

Anyone bite on this yet? It supposedly started shipping as of May 1, 2008

Sounds damn kewl if it works!

Seems like the "perfect" way to record encrypted 720p/1080i from cable TV and satellite TV not to mention PS3/XboX 360 games etc.

What's the deal with this thing SHS ???

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I pre-ordered it hoping to receive it around May 1 but recently they sent out an email saying that due to production issues with the cases, shipments have been delayed. They expect to have them out by the end of the month.

[FulciLives]

I just read about this device and see it is on the Hauppauge website now.

Anyone bite on this yet? It supposedly started shipping as of May 1, 2008

Sounds damn kewl if it works!

Seems like the "perfect" way to record encrypted 720p/1080i from cable TV and satellite TV not to mention PS3/XboX 360 games etc.

What's the deal with this thing SHS ???

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I pre-ordered it hoping to receive it around May 1 but recently they sent out an email saying that due to production issues with the cases, shipments have been delayed. They expect to have them out by the end of the month.

Please let us know what you think of it when you get it and if you do that in another thread please post a link to that thread here

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

I wasn't promoting the Gefen, just tossing it on the options pile. It looks like a proto for the HDCP new world order.

[SHS]

The dedicated x264 HD encoder is from Ambarella
There no production issues they waiting on the case cover mold

[Scooter_NJ]

Slightly OT...

I have a tuner stick from Hauppauge that does NTSC/ATSC. Is there anyway, firmware wise to allow it to see QAM channels?

[jagabo]

There no production issues they waiting on the case cover mold

That ugly thing? It looks like a Radio Shack project box!

[FulciLives]

There no production issues they waiting on the case cover mold

That ugly thing? It looks like a Radio Shack project box!

I wonder if we'll have to mod it and cut a hole and add a fan to it ... nothing like overheating problems :P

Seriously though I am excited about this thing!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jagabo]

Seriously though I am excited about this thing!

Me too. And I don't care what it looks like! I'm waiting to hear some real world experiences before I get one though.

[jagabo]

Hauppauge started shipping to buyers last week. Some sample captures are starting to appear:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lxk8d6 (720p source)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/f5d8iy (1080i downconverted to 720p by cable box)

Found via:
http://brentevans.blogspot.com/2008/05/answers-to-your-hauppauge-hd-pvr.html

[gschwendt]

here's a captured video from my PS3, then converted to WMV & uploaded to Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/1108316

You can watch the HD streaming version on Vimeo's site or download the original on the right hand side, towards the bottom.

Let me know anything you want to see... I'm not the greatest guinea pig for what a lot of you might be wanting to do but I'll provide feedback where-ever I can.

[jagabo]

Gschwendt, So you're not having any lockup problems? I've seen a handful of reports from people who say their computers lock up after a few minutes of capturing.

Did you install the included ArcSoft software? I have people are having problems with that too.

I went ahead and ordered one today anyway!

[gschwendt]

Gschwendt, So you're not having any lockup problems? I've seen a handful of reports from people who say their computers lock up after a few minutes of capturing.

Did you install the included ArcSoft software? I have people are having problems with that too.

I went ahead and ordered one today anyway!

no problems from me *knock knock*

I'm using the included ArcSoft software. Capture works great; just finished capturing a ~1 hour video.

I updated the specs on my rig if that helps you whatsoever.

[jagabo]

Thanks for that report. I guess the HD PVR and software work for some people! I'll post my experiences here after I get mine.

[Guest]

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[gschwendt]

Does the video out work? Is there any delay on the video out?

Yes. No.

[jagabo]

Video out is only a passthrough, right? Ie, what comes in the component video input goes out the component video output. You can't play captured TS files and have them come out the video out, right?

[gschwendt]

Video out is only a passthrough, right? Ie, what comes in the component video input goes out the component video output. You can't play captured TS files and have them come out the video out, right?

correct.

[jagabo]

I don't have the HD PVR yet, just sample TS files from it that people have been posting on the net. I've finally worked out a reliable player setup for them. I'm using Media Player Classic Home Cinema version, the most recent version of Haali Media Splitter, and the most recent version of CoreAVC Pro. The files play at the correct speed and I can use the seek bar as much as I want.

KMPlayer plays the files (using CoreAVC rather than its internal h.264 decoder) but gets the frame rate wrong. It plays the video really fast (the audio plays at normal speed) then locks up once the video reaches the end (with the audio still playing).

VLC (a recent nightly build with PAFF/MBAFF support) starts playing the files correctly but crashes after a few seeks.

WMP plays them at the right speed but gets very jerky after a few seeks.

[gschwendt]

The software included includes ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater which plays the .TS files just fine.

[jagabo]

The software included includes ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater which plays the .TS files just fine.

Yes, but I like to have alternatives! LOL. Thanks for the info though.

[Guest]

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[VegasBud]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought it best to continue this thread (to keep all the Hauppauge HD-PVR stuff in one place).

I got my hd-pvr last week, but haven't had much time to experiment with it yet.

I have made several captures, including a 5 hour one, just to see if it overheated, shut down, etc. There were no problems, even with the 5 hour capture. All the captures played back fine in the Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre software included as part of the package.

The unit has a sticker on the bottom that says "Rev C2". Since I've never seen anyone mention it, I don't know if that means it's a different version than the original units or not.

Besides the software that comes with the unit, the only piece of software I've found that's useful is H264TS_Cutter, which lets you cut out comercials (give or take a second or so). Other than that, most programs just crash when you feed it one of these ts files.