Review: Hauppauge HD PVR Gaming Edition -Destructoid

If you want to get in on the mad craze of people uploading gameplay videos from their consoles to the YouTubes, there are only a few ways to go about it. You could get a video camera, point it at your television and press record, but people these days demand that their definitions be high. That means you'll need a way to capture the footage directly from your console.

And here comes Hauppauge with the HD PVR "Gaming Edition" to save the day.

The Hauppauge HD PVR has been around for several years now (I myself have been using one since 2010), and the "Gaming Edition" is repackaging of this product with some additional accessories to provide a complete, one box solution for folk who wish to start recording high-definition gameplay videos. The package comes with the HD PVR and power adapter, a USB cable, a standard component video and audio cable (to pass video through to your display) and a universal component video and audio cable with connectors for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

Setting up the device is as simple as it should be. Just drop in the included CD-ROM, installing the drivers and bundled ArcSoft ShowBiz software, connect the PVR to your game console, display and PC and you're done. Owing to the device's advantages as an external capture box connecting via USB, there's nothing you need to configure and it's easy to take the device from one PC to another in just a few minutes if you should have the need.

The included software, ArcSoft ShowBiz, is a fairly basic video editing suite. It's enough to allow a novice to easily cut together a video and then burn to DVD/Blu-Ray or upload directly to YouTube, but most users will probably want to edit with something a little more robust. The device itself is only compatible with ShowBiz for the purpose of capturing, so you'll still wind up using it fairly regularly with the HD PVR. Thankfully, this aspect of the software is simple as well and you can be recording in as little as two mouse clicks.

As mentioned previously, the Hauppauge HD PVR uses component video for sources. This is important to note for a few specific reasons. First, this means maximum resolution the PVR is capable of recording at is 1080i. You'll also need to have a display you can connect a component source to (or an adapter), as there is a significant delay when viewing the source monitor in ArcSoft ShowBiz which makes it impossible to competently control a game.?

There are a few other input options available on the device as well. The HD PVR is capable of capturing the full 5.1 audio mix via an optical input (and an optical output for pass-through). The front of the device also features inputs for composite or s-video and an accompanying 2-channel audio, and you can select whether you want to use the back or front inputs from within ShowBiz.

These inputs seem less reliable, however. My experience using the HD PVR to capture video from composite sources resulted in a lot of dropped frames, making for footage which was basically unwatchable. While Hauppauge did admit that some composite video devices may be incompatible, I didn't have any luck whatsoever with the variety of devices I had on hand. While not a serious issue for a capture box intended for recording high-definition footage, it may not serve as an appropriate solution for all your video capturing needs should you want to use some older hardware.

Minor issues of compatibility and versatility aside, the Hauppauge HD PVR "Gaming Edition" is a relatively affordable way to capture high-def gameplay videos and simple enough for the layperson to use. It has some limitations but gets the job done with very little screwing about and the end results look great. Users will probably want to look into more sophisticated software than ShowBiz for editing but this is a solid product on the whole and a great entry-level device.

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