Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Hauppage HD PVR 24. The Software & Capturing Video5. Captured Game Play6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

The popularity of Youtube shows no signs of fading as people share funny, educational and often entertaining videos. The gaming audience has always utilised the platform as it allows them to share integral gaming moments with a wide audience. Similarly, if you get stuck on a game level, the chances are that someone has completed it and uploaded a walk-through guide.

Recording in-game content has never been that straightforward with a wide audience resorting to recording the video with a camera. Many console games do have a ‘theatre mode', or similar, but you can't then save that content to a computer or upload it directly to Youtube.

The Hauppauge HD PVR 2 is the latest solution to this problem, and has the potential to be a popular device with a very wide audience. The Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition records high definition video from either a Sony PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 onto a Windows laptop or desktop PC.

It should allow gamers to make video recordings of their best moments in the latest High Definition formats, as well as giving them the option to upload their favorite game videos to YouTube.

Technical specifications

• Hardware encoder
  • H.264 AVCHD high definition video encoder, with record resolution to 1080p
  • Recording datarate: 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

Bundled software applications

• ArcSoft ShowBiz, with these features
  • Video capture for recording video game play
  • Trim your videos
  • Upload videos to YouTube

System requirements

• Laptop or desktop PC with 3.0 GHz single core or 2.0 GHz multi-core processor
• Microsoft® Windows® 7 (32 or 64-bit), Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 3
• TV set with HDMI input
• 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
• Graphics card with 256 MB memory
• Sound card
• 220 MB free hard disk space
• CD-ROM drive (for software installation)

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