hd_pvr_small I must admit - I’ve been eyeing this device for some time now. It’s the Hauppauge HD DVR and it was just reviewed by ExtremeTech here on their website. Before I get into their review, let me just quickly go over what the HD DVR is exactly. It’s basically an external video capture device that allows you to record video via component video inputs at resolutions up to 1080i. Video is encoded in H.264 using a hardware-based encoder and audio is recorded in either AAC or Dolby Digital. The unit comes with an IR blaster that allows it to control external set-top boxes. It’s also important to note that the HD DVR requires a PC to work. The PC is used to run the HD PVR application and is also used to store the resulting recordings since the HD DVR does not come with any storage itself.  Sounds like a bit of a pain eh? Yeah.. sure seems it. This basically means you’ll need a PC near your cable box to use the Hauppauge HD DVR.

Now on the plus side - this device captures HD video (granted it’s 1080i/720p video) via component signals. This means you’ll be able to hook this device up to your cable/dish box and record HD premium channels via the component outputs. Now granted this is not necessarily the highest quality video but let’s be real here - cable video is only at most 720p these days anyhow. You do get slightly lower video quality since the device captures via an analog signal as opposed to digital - but it’s still much much better than say recording from an S-Video or Composite input.

So, what did ExtremeTech think of the unit? Here’s their verdict:

If you’ve been looking to record high def video on your PC from set top boxes, then the HD DVR works fine as a time shifting device. But expect conversion to other formats to be problematic.

Yeah.. apparently ExtremeTech found the included conversion utility to be rather buggy.. but if you have the time and patience you can probably find other workarounds for that. Another interesting notion mentioned in the article - don’t forget that you can now record HD content from other types of devices via component outputs. This means attaching say an Xbox 360 and recording your game play onto your PC for others to view.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: , ,