Pros: - Works as advertised - Good recordings

Cons: - Shipped Windows software barely usable (e.g. you cannot open a recording by double-clicking on it in Vista) - No official Linux support. Hauppauge gambles on gaining access to this market with inofficial support

Overall Review: - I got this to enhance my mythtv setup on Fedora. The following are my observations. I knocked it down because the shipped software does not enable you to conveniently view your recordings in Windows. - Current kernels for Fedora 10 (2.26.27) contain the new driver and automatically recognize it. - The Linux driver works fine within its documented limitations (e.g. no IR blaster support). I switch channels on my STB reliably via a firewire connection. - Current Linux driver requires correct video and audio connections to function (e.g. doesn't load if video or audio cable is not connected). - mythtv support only in unreleased trunk version that requires self-compile. Not mainstream ready, yet. Looking forward to release .22 - Recordings require either a high-end hardware or a nvidia card with vdpau support. I'm using vdpau and am happy with it. Note that vdpau also requires custom compilation - Fedora 10 at least does not support it ootb.

Pros: Awsome!!!! Getting HD 720P and 5 channel AC3 audio archived for my personal use is an American right!! Liberty vs. Greed and Liberty won. Funny that it encodes HD to less disk space than my old SD 150 hardware mpeg II encoder did. So it saves you hard drive space as well. Roughly 40% less actually depending on settings.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Buy it now for Myth TV. I got rev E1 unit that is working great with openSuSE 11.2 x86_64. Using it in Linux is sooo coowel. I had to set a 4 second pause between succesive channel changes though, otherwise no audio sometimes. I'm not using included blaster or remote though so can't talk about those. I'm still using the old MCE remote and blaster kit from the 150. You'll be happy too.

Pros: Produces excellent quality HD recordings & easy installation.

Cons: Software has a somewhat strange user interface, but is functional.

Overall Review: I have no real complaints about this product. It functions as advertised. I already have two proprietary DVR's. The key word here is proprietary, meaning I cannot export/burn the programs. That's where the Hauppauge HD PVR comes in. I only use the Hauppauge to archive shows that I have already recorded on one of my DVR's. Thus, I cannot comment on the scheduling software or the IR blaster. I would differ to the comments of others regarding these features. Connections: Included component video cables & (added) optical digital audio cable. Recording procedure: I get the desired program queued up on the DVR, and preset the recording time on the Hauppauge using the included software (e.g., 1:30:00 for a 90 minute program). When everything is ready, I hit the capture button on the included software, then hit the play button on my DVR. Recording config: I always set the recording bitrate to the maximum, but with a variable (rather than a constant) bitrate. This may consume a bit more storage space than necessary, but I'd rather use extra space than compromise on recording quality (after all, the signal is already being converted from digital to analog and then back to digital). I record in .TS file format. Editing - If I want to split the file and/or cut out unwanted parts, I use mkvmerge. This will also mux the streams from the .TS file into an .MKV container file, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

Pros: It records HD quality video very well. Before the Ceton CableCard devices, this was the only way to record HD programs. It still may be the only way you can keep your HD recordings because some big cable companies put copy restrictions in their programs. Windows Media Center honors those copy restrictions and so you might have to default to this to save any HD broadcasts. If you have satellite TV, you have no choice.

Cons: I bought this device when it first came out. The included software improved a lot since it came out, but it is still not easy to use. I do recommend a newer computer because the software does tax the CPU. My device would freeze quite often and stop recording, with no warning. So I would start recording, come back hours later, and discovered it stopped. A big annoyance, especially if recording a live broadcast. I found out that if I only plugged it in when using it that it could record for as long as I needed. Hauppage might have fixed this issue by now.

Overall Review: If you have cable, your best bet is the new Ceton InfiniTV. Or if you can wait, the Ceton Q, which can record/play 6 channels at once. I believe Time Warner and Comcast are the ones putting copy-once flags on their broadcasts, but I cannot confirm that. If anybody knows anything about those two, you wouldn't be surprised at all if it was true. Finally, there are several websites out there that help maximize the potential of this device.

Pros: Very simple to use. Nice look. Lights up when recording so you know it's working. Compatible with all operating systems.

Cons: Would be nice to have hdmi out.

Overall Review: I've owned the hauppauge hd pvr, blackmagic intensity pro, and the avermedia usb hd dvr. The avermedia failed very bad. When my screen turned bright white the product would shut down. The blackmagic I can't say to much about except you have to have a very good and powerfull computer to run it. I have a Dell xps 8100 with a i5 dual core processor and I instantly maxed out my cpu making it drop frames. Basically lagged alot. The hauppauge however doesn't max out my cpu has no picture black outs and the picture is amazing. I would buy this product before any other. Belive me I spent alot of money finding out this is the easiest and the most user friendly cap card out there.

Pros: decent functionality, when it works

Cons: In general, I like Hauppauge products, but their driver arrangement is horrible. The number of different drivers necessary to get this thing going in Media Center is crazy. And then just when it seemed like it was working, after about 12 hours of messing with it, I added a second tuner and then this one stopped working. Hey Hauppauge, how about just one install and then the darn thing works?

Pros: Works great for capturing HD video with Linux and MythTV. I'm using it to capture video from my Cable box, and the video quality is excellent.

Cons: None

Overall Review: This is pretty much the only solution for capturing HD video on MythTV from a Cable or Satellite service (since the component video outputs are unprotected). If you're going to use this device with MythTV, be prepared to do some customization. For example, I had to write my own channel changing script, because the ones I found online were not working quite right for my setup. But that is not specifically the HD-PVR's fault, so not a "Con" for the purposes of this review. :)

Pros: Excellent picture quality. AAC and AC3 encoding (see my comment regarding AC3). Easy setup. I like the enclosed software Totalmedia Extreme. I do not use it to drive my STB as I simply pull off programming. I use some opensource software to recompress and not the enclosed software but it looks easy.

Cons: Does not do AC3 with my Verizon STB (stuttering). It's a known problem and there doesn't seem to be a fix for it, yet. It will work find with 2 channel audio and you can store it in AAC format, my preferred choice for Stereo over AC3. However, the lack of AC3 support for me is a definite shortcoming. This seems to work for other environments but not Verizon. Hopefully a solution will emerge soon. Hauppage might issue RMAs if it entails a hardware change.

Overall Review: Still, I am happy with it. I use it with a home theater server I built with a 4050e AMD processor and it doesn't seem to have any problems with it so the PC seems to be merely used to store the compressed data stream and no major horsepower is required. Playback with the enclosed software is flawless but various opensource solutions work as well.