Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder by HAUPPAUGE
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List Price: Our Price: $154.99 You Save: $55.00 (26%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $140.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder
Digital camera Review: Excellent Video and Sound Quality / IR Blaster needs work
Summary: 3 Stars
This has excellent video and sound quality. Its fairly easy to use once you get the initial set up right. Be aware that you need to check the PC requirements of the device before you purchase it. I have an entry level PC that is a few years old and had major issues getting the PVR and PC to play together nicely. I ended up resetting my PC to the factory software and eventually was able to get the computer to accept the video recordings. In the end the HD PVR did not meet my needs though. I wanted to use this as my DVR and record cable. The IR Blaster was not compatible with my cable provider's box. I don't recommend using this as a DVR.Digital camera Review: Excellent but has a few hiccups.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm going to split my review into two portions the PVR itself and the shipping problems and nuances.
The PVR: Beyond excellent, exceeded my expectations in every way. Very easy to setup and use. Only problem is that I could not get the editing and capturing software I had used previously to recognize it, but I think that's more user error than the PVR. However, YOU MUST HAVE THE INSTALLATION CD FOR IT TO WORK, I know that sounds obvious but this brings me to the shipping problems. Amazon has a bad tendency to ship the PVR without the Installation CD, so think very hard about buying it from Amazon (like I did) or any other 3rd party seller. Granted, it is not hard to get the CD, I called Hauppauge's support people and they shipped it to me one within a week but it's up to you to decide if the $12 you're going to save by buying it here is worth not being able to use it for a week or so. In my opinion, this machine is absolutely worth the money, thus why I bought it, but think long and hard about if what you plan to do with it is worth the investment, A Dazzle is a LOT cheaper and does the exact same thing, just not in HD.
Digital camera Review: Excellent for recording High Definition video (and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio) from ANY source
Summary: 5 Stars
This product does exactly what it says it does: I can record HD (or SD) video using component (or composite or s-video) up to 1080p straight to my hardrive. Audio is captured using either stereo analog inputs or the optical input for Dolby Digital. I can then view the file using the included Arcsoft software, Windows Media player, etc. The recorded picture is exactly the same as the original; I can detect no degradation if high bit rates are used.
The included TV scheduler works fine too. I use the "record" function on my cable box rather than the IR blaster, though. This assures the correct channel is selected and prevents someone else from inadvertently changing the channel during a recording.
It records fine using my dual core 16 GHz laptop. However, since the Hauppauge encodes the h.264 files on the fly, they are quite large and I need a faster computer than this to watch the original videos. But, if I further process them, even retaining the original 1080p resolution, the files play fine on this computer. Processing is very time consuming though, so I got a WD TV HD Media player. The WD plays the original, full resolution files fine.
So, this is a great product, and combined with the WD TV HD Media player, I have a complete package to capture and watch HD TV from any source.
Digital camera Review: Excellent product for making HD video files
Summary: 5 Stars
I've only used it a few times, but it makes great quality videos from items saved on my HD-DVR. The videos are editable and play fine media streamers like the popcorn hour or WD Live. This could be a great way to permanently store HD video recorded on your DVR. So far it's worth every penny!
Digital camera Review: Excellent video recorder
Summary: 5 Stars
It works as avertised, good quality of video and audio, hd is great, I also use it to capture video from my old camcorder to dvd and it works great