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For years Hauppauge has been making high quality add-ons to make your computer entertainment experience better. They've done it again with their HD PVR. This compact unit connects to your PC through a USB 2.0 interface for high speed data transfers. The back panel has Component Video, RCA audio and optical audio inputs with loop through outputs for each.
The loop-throughs let you put the PVR in-line with your cable/satellite box or other video source and your TV. Front panel connections let you add additional input sources like a game console. An IR blaster will send a signal to the video source to change to the appropriate channel to record your program.
The included suite of Arcsoft software lets take full advantage of the PVR's capabilities. TotalMediaExtreme handles the capture, edit and playback functions. MediaConverter lets you save the file in a different format including the Blu-ray compatible AVCHD. Watch what you want, when you want to with Hauppauge.
Pros: The product is a great idea. Exploit the analogue hole and record HD content and real time encode the H.264. Sounds perfect for a HTPC PVR/DVR.
Unfortunately, the implementation falls short.
Cons: The first impression after opening the box is "man this thing feels cheap" - very light and flimsy exterior. When plugging in the component cables, you can feel the PCB/mounts flexing in unhealthy amounts.
The second defect in the design (they have tried to correct): The passively cooled encoder chips inside would overheat, so now they have a fan inside. Unfortunately it makes too much noise and is very cheap just like the exterior.
I bought 3 of the boxes at the same time. One went back a week later as it just stopped working. The second is probably going back because its fans is making 'whir of death' sounds.
Finally, there is the fact you cannot use more than one of the included 'IR Blasters' at a time. They mention this no where on their site I can find. The annoying part is it looks like a purely software limitation. They could invest just a bit to fix it (they use these on other products as well). In the end I had to pony up another $XX for a 'USB UIRT' to contro
Other Thoughts: Finally there is the issue of optical inputs working. Although it is an advertised feature, at the time I bought these the drivers did not support the feature. I managed to find some beta drivers and they only produced garbled sound. Recently they introduced official v1.1 drivers to include support for optical in but they have the same issue. (Connected to Verizon Fios Motorola QIP6200-2, tried both 5.1 and PCM). So I'm stuck with 2 channel analogue audio for now.
To try to debug/fix the audio issue, I have been emailing Hauppauge tech support. I have yet to get a human response. Just automailed responses. As far as I know there is no support. :X
58 out of 74 people found this review helpful.
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Great Product
Reviewed By: Doug on 8/30/2008
Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
Pros: I have been working on some scientific applications for HD video. This is the ONLY device which offers a smooth path from HD video to a Blu-Ray compatible disk.
AVCHD codec allows recording of 1.5 hours of HD, at the highest bit rate, on a regular dual layer DVD. My disks will play in all the Blu-Ray machines at Best Buy!
The other alternatives for recording are very expensive and tempremental RAID based recording systems using a $1000 HD encoder.
The most important advantage may be that the HD PVR records directly to a Blu-Ray compatible format (H264/MPEG4 TS). This converts to Blu-Ray in a few minutes --- NO TRANSCODING!
For those of you not familiar with Transcoding, this is the process required to convert video from one CODEC to another. It is almost always required to convert to a Blu-ray compatible CODEC (AVCHD). When done in software, the transcoding process typically requires 2x - 5x the actual recording time (i.e. 2-5 hours to transcode 1 hr of video)
Cons: The software application includes a very simple file editor which allows you to exclude parts of a file from you AVCHD "burn".
If you use the editor, the software recodes the video and the time required to make a disk increases by a factor of 3x.
48 out of 49 people found this review helpful.
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Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
Pros: It is easy to setup and has a good quality for recording videos.
Cons: It does not capture 5.1 audio with the default software even though it has the fiber input for the audio. It mixes the 5.1 audio down to 2 channel audio.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Works as adervtised
Reviewed By: Metal on 11/18/2009
Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
Pros: I use this mainly to record video from my XBox and it works perfectly for that. I've no need to set recording times, use the remote, or anything else so this works perfectly.
Glad they added mp4 as an encoding option since my last time purchasing this.
Ordered this on Monday, got it Wednesday the same week, amazing shipping.
Cons: No HDMI and recording settings are sparse, but over all it works.
Using the wrong power cord mean immediate destruction of the device. Kinda wierd since I've had other devices with swapped power cords work fine.
Only comes with 1ft component cables now, when I bought my first one it came with 6ft cables. For the price, are even 3ft cables to much to ask for, really?
Other Thoughts: Do make sure you use ONLY the included power supply, my last one went up in smoke, literally, because I happened to plug in the wrong power cord.
User is at fault, no blame to Hauppauge on that.
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works flawlessly
Reviewed By: megamustang on 11/18/2009
Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
Pros: finally able to record 1080i off my dvr...no messin with cable cards that dont work to record those encrypted channels.
Cons: would have gave it a 5 if it did hdmi....it just sucks that i have to hook my tv up analog (though i cant really see a difference) in order to switch back and forth easy. its realy a limitation of my cable dvr's hdcp that it wont send signals to hdmi and analog at the same time
Other Thoughts: this unit works well and isnt as Cheap as others have made it out to be
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Model
Brand
Hauppauge
Model
1212
General
Type
Video Converter
TV Standards
No
FM Tuner
No
Remote Control
Remote Included
Interface
USB 2.0
Features
Features
Built-in hardware H.264 high definition encoder, for high performance, high quality TV recordings Component video input from most high definition cable TV and satellite TV receivers. Optical or stereo audio inputs. Record high definition video at up to 1080i resolution, 720p or VGA/D1 Record at datarates from 1Mbs to 13.5Mbs, constant and Variable Bit Rate Blu-ray format AVCHD recordings, so you can burn your TV recordings onto a standard DVD disk (up to 2 hours of video at 5MBits/sec) and playback on Blu-ray DVD players Includes HD software video player, so you can playback recordings to your PC screen Audio / Video component video loop through to allow HD recording and viewing at the same time High Performance Noise Reduction Function NTSC,PAL and SECAM Support IR receiver for remote control IR Blaster to change the TV channels in your set top box
Specifications
Video Encoding
H.264 AVCHD video encoder AC-3 audio encoding Recording datarate: from 1 to 13.5 Mbits/sec (user selectable) Recording format: up to 1080i from component video (YCrCb) Note: the video input format determines the recorded format. For example, 1080i input records at 1080i, 720P records at 720P, etc.. Any other format conversions needs to be done with the MediaConvert program (supplied).
PVR
Yes
Ports In
Component video input Optical audio Input Left/ Right RCA audio input Composite video and S-Video inputs (on front panel) Left/right audio input (on front panel)
Ports Out
Component video loop through output Optical audio loop through output Left/ Right RCA audio loop through output IR Blaster output
System Requirements
Processor
Dual core CPU (minimum)
Graphics Card
Graphics with 256MB memory (or greater) Note: the playback of high definition H.264 requires a fast CPU and at least 256MB of graphics memory
Others
Sound card
Packaging
Package Contents
HD PVR high definition personal video recorder, USB Remote Control Including batteries IR Blaster transmitter cable Component video cable set Audio cable set USB cable 5V power supply
Introduction
For years Hauppauge has been making high quality add-ons to make your computer entertainment experience better. They've done it again with their HD PVR. This compact unit connects to your PC through a USB 2.0 interface for high speed data transfers. The back panel has Component Video, RCA audio and optical audio inputs with loop through outputs for each.
The loop-throughs let you put the PVR in-line with your cable/satellite box or other video source and your TV. Front panel connections let you add additional input sources like a game console. An IR blaster will send a signal to the video source to change to the appropriate channel to record your program.
The included suite of Arcsoft software lets take full advantage of the PVR's capabilities. TotalMediaExtreme handles the capture, edit and playback functions. MediaConverter lets you save the file in a different format including the Blu-ray compatible AVCHD. Watch what you want, when you want to with Hauppauge.
Highlights
High Definition Video Recorder With the Hauppauge HD PVR, capture your favorite high-definition TV programs from any HD set-top box or HDTV featuring component video outputs. The built-in H.264 hardware accelerator encodes up to 1080i signals into AVCHD from 1 to 13.5Mbps and records audio in AAC or Dolby Digital for amazing recording quality.
Additional Video/Audio Inputs The Hauppauge HD PVR provides S-video, Composite and RCA Audio inputs so you can capture video or audio sources from other AV devices such as your VCR, game console, camcorder and more.
Easy Operation with Remote Control A multi-function remote control is provided so you can access every feature simply at a press of a button.
High Speed USB 2.0 Interface The high-speed USB 2.0 interface delivers up to 480Mbps bandwidth to ensure clear video quality and provides hot-swappable, plug-and-play capabilities for easy connection to your computer.
Reviewed By: koan00 on 10/19/2008
Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
