Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, first use
 

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

Just received this Friday, 36 hours or so ago. It's now
connected to a DELL, AMD 3800+ DC, 1 G ram, @ 2 GHz -
WinXPHE-SP3 capturing via component and left-right audio in AAC
format until the vendor's promised update to 5.1 via coax. Out
of the box and operational in perhaps 10 minutes, it sits
between a TW supplied Motorola DCT3416 HD-DVR and a 42" 1080
monitor. With its variable bit rates (average and peak) set to
13.5/20.5 using variable peak, as opposed to constant, bit-rate
capture. In record-while-play the CPU is showing right around
50% in task manager.

The included software, ArcSoft's rudimentary HD video suite,
continues in the Hauppauge tradition of barebones 3rd party
software to the point of aggravation! The capture phase will
pass on bit-rate and a/v input selections to the encoder but
that's about it. No "stealth" recording mode that I've found,
in order to reduce CPU drain for other activities. There is
also a "cutter," which is virtually useless for its lack of
fine, or even broad, navigation controls. The software segment
which converts the H.264 .TS capture file to Blu-Ray compatible
DVD file(s) is far too slow to be of any use. One segment of
this ArcSoft suite refuses to recognize the OS's capability
because it is SP3 and not the SP2 they're looking for?

However, the unit together with H264TS-cutter-111, Haali Media
Splitter, and the latest ffdshow (with AAC and H264 enabled)
does a very satisfactory job. Even this free cutter, from a
German programmer, could use a few GUI tweaks but it gets the
job done (most consistently by closing and reopening it after
each file is cut). I've only used i-frame accuracy in testing
so far and have had two quarter second blipverts in one cut file
of slightly more than two hours.

So, with the help of Google, I had to invest another 2 hours or
so (overlapped with a capture) finding a cutter which worked for
me, and that virtually no other player than that which is
included in the ArcSoft suite plays these files without further
conversion. I already own PowerDVD (plus version for Blu-Ray)
and this has no problem with the Hauppauge's .TS files. Neither
MPC nor VLC would play the files without crashing, locking up,
or major stuttering. The Elecard (?) player did play the files
but runs continuously at peak CPU and beyond, at which time it
stutters, whereas neither ArcSoft nor PowerDVD does.

By this time I've captured four feature length movies, each
1080i, and gotten better at cutting out commercials from the
three which had them - so it's probably now taking me 1/2 again
as long to cut a two hour film than it takes me using VideoReDo
(whom I'd love to see address H264 and some of these file
formats in the near future). Playback of the captured and cut
files via the ArcSoft player reveals typically 80% CPU
utilization with some peaks close to 100%. The video and audio
are smooth and uninterrupted.

At somewhat less than $250 (I purchased via Amazon) for a
Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, I'm happy with the results so far, but
I'd recommend to prospects that they spend a fair amount of time
researching the experiences reported by other users before
committing.

BTW, I had already measured for and bought two 3' component
video + audio cable lengths to replace the TW supplied 6' cable
(and avoid adding the 6' supplied by Hauppauge) to keep the
cable clutter minimized behind the TV. I used monoprice.com for
this purchase.

Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, first use (addendum)
 

"usenext" wrote in message
. ..
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

snip
However, the unit together with H264TS-cutter-111, Haali Media
Splitter, and the latest ffdshow (with AAC and H264 enabled)
does a very satisfactory job. Even this free cutter, from a
German programmer, could use a few GUI tweaks but it gets the
job done (most consistently by closing and reopening it after
each file is cut). I've only used i-frame accuracy in testing
so far and have had two quarter second blipverts in one cut
file
of slightly more than two hours.


I meant to mention that the H264TS-cutter-111 only uses a single
core and the OS can not entice it to do otherwise. So playback
of H264 video in its view window requires more power than an AMD
3800+ has. Never-the-less, it can be used quite effectively as
a variable step - view frame - cut tool.

snip

Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, first use
 

"usenext" wrote:

At somewhat less than $250 (I purchased via Amazon) for a
Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, I'm happy with the results so far, but
I'd recommend to prospects that they spend a fair amount of time
researching the experiences reported by other users before
committing.

Do they make a unit that will record of air DTV?

Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, first use
 

wrote in message
...
"usenext" wrote:

At somewhat less than $250 (I purchased via Amazon) for a
Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212, I'm happy with the results so far, but
I'd recommend to prospects that they spend a fair amount of
time
researching the experiences reported by other users before
committing.

Do they make a unit that will record of air DTV?

Yes, as do several other vendors, and generally at a much lower
price. It's not been a problem to record digital OTA and
unencrypted QAM since capture of those formats began. This
device will capture, and convert to H.264, anything that crosses
the component video interface regardless of the original content
having been encrypted. I suspect that, should this and units
yet to come from other vendors catch on, we'll see an
acceleration of the move to downgrade the component interface to
480p. Hopefully, this will be a while coming as there are many
older HDTVs without HDMI and a slew of cable boxes and HD-DVRs
supplied by cable companies which never implemented HDMI
properly. I doubt that this unit per se will spur a rise in
"piracy" as the internet is already quite saturated with HDTV
and Blu-Ray files. It is truly just a convenience for those of
us who would like to retain more HD video than cableco and satco
HD-DVRs enable us to do. With the settings I mentioned earlier
its providing files of slightly more than 5 GB per hour of play
time - pretty close to what's being transmitted to us in MPEG2.
The picture quality is very acceptable.