The old aphorism teaches that a picture says a thousand words, and when it comes to sharing new information on video games, actual video of the game in question is worth at least three times that with today's exchange rates. Even if you've managed to pull off an amazing Burnout Paradise Road Rage feat or zoomed through an epic speed run of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, how do you expect to earn your Internet bragging rights without actual footage of your accomplishment? Enter Hauppauge's HD PVR, a small silver-and-black box that sits between your HDTV and game console of choice that via the magic of USB can record your gaming talents on your PC for the world to see in up to 1080i resolution.
Technically, Hauppauge markets the HD PVR as a replacement or supplement for your cable or satellite TV service's DVR, and while I did test it as such (more on that in a bit), my primary interest with the box is to use it to capture video from my Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 for use here on Press The Buttons. It's a relatively painless device to set up. Just plug the PVR's power cord into the wall, its USB cord into your modern dual-core CPU-equipped PC that sports a decent hard drive (warning: USB extension cord not included), and then disconnect your Wii/PS3/Xbox 360/cable box/etc.'s component video cables from the television and connect them to the PVR's input. After that, use the PVR's included component cables to connect the PVR's output to the television. You can also use composite cables or a S-video cable for devices that rely on them (plus there's optical audio input and output jacks), but despite being able to capture high definition video through the component cables, the PVR does not support HDMI connections. With all of that done, install the included software on your PC. Add the optional IR blaster to the mix if you want to use the PVR's remote control to send commands to your cable or satellite box, but there's no pertinent need to bother with such things if you're using a game console with the PVR. Now treat yourself to a nice cold glass of water, because all of that certainly took a while. It took me about an hour to finish connecting and installing everything despite the process seeming so simple.
So, with all of that done, what can one do with the HD PVR? The PVR sends the video and audio signals from your chosen device to your PC, albeit on a few seconds delay (so don't expect to play games while using your PC as your primary viewscreen). The included software allows one to record the signal in realtime to a video file that then be played back on your PC, edited in the application of your choice, copied to a flash drive, burned to a DVD or Blu-ray disc with the included software (provided your PC can burn such discs, of course), and just about anything else one can do with a conventional video file. Capturing HD video results in large file sizes by default (although not as large as you'd think since the process involves the H.264 codec), so it's important to properly configure the capture software for optimal results. The capture software even includes proper encoding and conversion presets for playing video on the PS3 (M2TS format) or Microsoft Xbox 360 (MP4) in addition to the default TS format (which is also convertible to iPod and iPhone-friendly formats as well as formats for other portable video players, although I did not test that function as I do not own either Apple gadget) which I found to be very convenient.
Considering that the primary purpose of the PVR is to capture cable television programming, I also connected the PVR to my HD cable box to give that a try, and the actual recording process was just as painless. There are a few caveats that need to be mentioned, however. The PVR must always be turned on even if you're not planning on using it to capture video. Otherwise, the signal from the source is swallowed by the PVR on the way to the television. Also, when the PVR was connected to my cable box, there was a signal hiccup whenever the signal source changed from HD programming to non-HD programming and vice-versa, resulting a black screen and silence for about four seconds while the PVR seemingly changed gears to compensate. You're also going to need a powerful PC to get the most out of recording HD video, as even though mine has never stumbled before, capturing programming from my cable box resulted in finished files that had a few stutters and skips in it unless I closed out absolutely every other program currently running. Recording from the Wii (and its non-HD resolution) did not lead to that problem.
I've spent plenty of words describing all of this to you, but as I said earlier, video footage is worth 3000 words, so have a look at some sample output clips from my setup. These small embedded videos only tell half the story, so feel free to download the original high resolution clips in MP4 format linked beneath each video for a closer look.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Virtual Console)
So, do I recommend the Hauppauge HD PVR? Provided you can tolerate its technical quirks and have the patience to set it up properly as well as learn how to use it efficiently, it's a solid unit that I recommend for your basic PVR needs. My only major dissatisfaction is that it does not include a HDMI port, so I'm not able to connect it to my PS3 yet (well, I could plug in a composite video cable, but none of us want to see clips of Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time in lowly 480i resolution). Best of all, now that I can capture game footage, you can expect to see original video here on PTB more often.
