Great if you want to record yourself
playing games, but a lack of HDCP support means you’ll need a component cable
to record PS3 footage
Hauppauge’s HD PVR 2 is compact device that
intercepts the video output by your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 260 before it gets to
your TV and records it to your Pc’s hard disk. Once recorded, you can edit your
videos to provide tutorials to other gamers or demonstrate an exciting feature.
You can the upload the videos to YouTube using the included software, burn them
to disc or upload them to preferred site. It could be that you simply want to
capture footage for your own amusement or take screenshots of your favorite
games. All of this is possible with HD PVR 2.
Hauppauge’s
HD PVR 2 is compact device that intercepts the video output by your PlayStation
3 or Xbox 260 before it gets to your TV and records it to your Pc’s hard disk
The HD PVR2 uses a pass-through system,
which means you can play games normally while the HD PVR 2 records your console’s
output. Ostensibly, you just hook your games console to the HD PVR 2’s HDMI
input and attach your HD TV or monitor to the HD PVR 2’s HDMI output. However,
you’ll also need to install ArcSoft’s ShowBiz video capture and editing
software and tell it which input you’re using, although you can use other
applications.
Sadly, the HD PVR 2 doesn’t support HDCP
copy protection, which means you can’t connect a PlayStation 3 to it using a
HDMI cable; instead, you must use a supplied component cable and adaptor. This
is disappointing, because we like the simplicity of the all-digital HDMI
solution. You only have to use the component cable with the PlayStation 3,
though, so you should have no problem connecting your Xbox 360 to your HD PVR 2
via HDMI.
The
HD PVR2 uses a pass-through system, which means you can play games normally
while the HD PVR 2 records your console’s output.
The maximum resolution you can pass through
the HD PVR 2 is 1,920 x 1,080 interlaced, not progressive. You can set lower
resolutions, of course. Such quirks made the HD PVR 2 a little confusing to set
up, and although the installation sheet is helpful, we’d prefer a proper manual
in the box.
Once set up, you can view the content on
ShowBiz’s Capture screen, which also lets you define the source of the video
and audio, and open dialogs to set video and audio bit rates among other
options. It’s easy to capture video using ShowBiz, and you can start video
capture by pressing a large button on the HD PVR 2 itself or by clicking an
onscreen button within ShowBiz.
ArcSoft’s
ShowBiz is provided for capturing, editing and uploading videos
Whichever method you use, you’ll have to
start capture a minute before the scene you want to record, as it takes a while
for recording to start, even if ShowBiz is already open. If it isn’t open, it
starts automatically when you press the HD PVR 2’s record button.
You can save videos in M2TS, TS and MP4
formats, and you can choose the format using large buttons on the left-hand
side of ShowBiz’s Capture screen. The default recording bit rate is 8,000, but
you can increase this to 14,000 and choose between constant and variable bit
rates.
We had no problem recording video or taking
still images of our PS3 gams in ShowBiz, and the HD PVR 2’s video pass-through
had no ill effect on the video that went through to our TV. However, there was
a delay of around a second between the video that appears on your TV and the
video that appears in the Capture screen of ShowBiz. Conveniently, you can
record catch-up TV played on your PlayStation 3, but make sure that you can do
so legally before you do,
Hauppauge doesn’t make much of it, but you
also record the HDMI video output of your Pc, which makes the HD PVR 2 handy if
you want to record tutorials of desktop applications, or record yourself
playing games.
Once captured, you can edit your footage,
and ShowBiz provides some decent editing functions. Its Storyboard editor lets
you quickly drag and drop clips in a chronological order, but it also has a
proper timeline editor. ShowBiz also has a small selection of transitions, and
you can preview them in ShowBiz’s monitor before you apply them.
Once edited, you can use ShowBiz to upload
your video to YouTube. Uploading videos to YouTube is simple, but doing so
within your video capture and editing application makes it even easier. ShowBiz
also remembers your username and password.
The HD PVR 2 is small enough to sit at the
side of your TV and monitor without making a nuisance of itself, and it’s easy
to capture gaming footage once you’ve set it up. We like that you can use it to
record catch-up TV footage played through on your games console, and that you
can use it to record the HDMI video output of your PC. If you love posting
videos of yourself playing video games on the internet, you’ll love the
Hauppauge HD PVR 2.
Technical specifications
Price:
$195
Hardware encoder
§ H.264
AVCHD high definition video encoder, with record resolution to 1080p30
§ Recording
data rate: from 1 to 13.5 Mbits/sec
§ Recording
format: AVCHD (.TS and .M2TS) plus .MP4
§ Video
down conversion: from 1080p to 720p
No delay HDMI Passthrough:
§ HDMI
in to HDMI out - up to 1080p
§ Component
Video in to HDMI out - up to 1080i
Input/output connections
§ HDMI
in, from HDMI sources without HDCP such as Xbox 360
§ Component
video in, with stereo audio
§ S-Video
and composite video in, with stereo audio
§ HDMI
output
Size: 6 in
wide x 6 in deep x 1.5 in high
Power: 6V
at 1.6 amps
Weight:
.75lb / .34 kg / 12 oz
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