Can you even believe that it has been over two years now since the
first consumer priced HD component capture device hit the market? It doesn't seem that long to us, but if you're a
Window Media Center fan and think the native
CableCARD tuners are no option at all, then you might feel differently. The great news out of Hauppauge though is that the HD PVRs driver site has been updated and you can now download a file that'll make Windows 7 Media Center recognize your HD PVR as a tuner. The said analog capture device still runs about $200 and since it outputs MPEG4, the 360 is the only
Extender that can play back it's content. On top of all that only a single tuner per Media Center PC is currently supported, but that is way better than nothing for someone who can't/won't get cable TV and wants to enjoy their favorite provider's HD signal on the best DVR software currently available. The driver is still in beta at the moment and we can't wait to try it for ourselves, so keep an eye out for more on this one.
posted June 11th 2010 5:46PM
I can't say I care too much personally, but I know a lot of people have been waiting on this. This is the only good solution for MCE users with satellite who want HD.
@SikSlayer - That describes me to a T. I will own this soon - as soon as I can figure out RS232 controls for my DirecTV H23. The fact that MCE support is now official and not hacked together is a major bonus.
@autoexecbat
You remote control a DTV H23 with two USB->Serial dongles plus a null modem cable/adaptor in between. The H23 is finicky about what dongles it works with so you will have to be careful about what you buy.
It's not nearly as simple/easy/standardized as it should be.
Still waiting for my ceton InfiniTV4 cableCard tuner. I'm done dealing with ir blasters, dvbLink, and other stop gap solutions.
Just to make a clarification here...
I'm currently in the process of reviewing this product for another web site and its default recording format is for the PS3 (M2TS) if you use the software that comes with it instead of Windows Media Center.
To say "said analog capture device ... outputs MPEG4" in and of itself is an incorrect statement. The output format is not determined by the device itself but rather by whatever software you're using to do the capturing.
@JBerg
M2TS is a container while MPEG4 is a codec. And I'm pretty sure that in the case of the PS3 it is outputting an M2TS file that contains an MPEG4 stream.
"provider's HD signal on the best DVR software currently available"
that's subjectable at best :) IMHO it has been available on the better software since first release of the device :)
@BenD : Actually, M2TS, while still a container, stands for "MPEG 2 Transport Stream". So, the hardware is definitely not restricted to MPEG-4.
@JBerg
No matter what it stands for, I assure you it is capable of containing MPEG4. I have a few M2TS files with MPEG4 in them.
@BenD
The Hauppauge 1212 outputs h264 in an MPEG2 container.
You will need a fast CPU or a good GPU to play back the HD stuff.
Those of us who aren't MCE users have already been through all this. '-p
Capturing analog Component (anything not RGBhv) is simply a waste, IMO. I am sure the resourceful person will a) acquire a little black box that takes encrypted HDMI and outputs unencrypted content, and b) there is at least one vendor offering HDMI input capture cards.
The whole idea of taking what is originally transmitted in digital, outputting from the source in analog (DA) and then capturing it to something (AD) is serious 20th century.
@(Unverified)
The problem with that is you will not be get the originally transmitted in digital it be Uncompressed HD video unencrypted content and will require some hefty hard drive space and CPU support for software some encoding, however, with multiple drives striped in a fast RAID. This proposition has the potential for making uncompressed HD capture a fairly complicated and resource intensive procedure for day-to-day use not hour-to-hour use.
@(Unverified)
That's if you use a actually TV or a PC LCD. I use an actual 24" PC Monitor which just happens to have as many inputs as a LCD TV does along with a powered USB 2.0 hub.
For me this is the only way to get Direct TV HD into my Media Center PC. Other options exist for Cable TV which we don't have and after pricing out how much it would cost to replace everybody else's Direct TV box with an Extender (likely a Xbox 360 Arcade) and build a Centralized Server with Ceton's oft delayed Cable Card tuner, it could cost much much less just to change my box to the HD Direct TV box and use the PVR as a tuner..
This is two years too late. If Hauppauge had this working under Vista MC or even when Win 7MC first arrived, I might have seriously considered it, but much better and cheaper CableCARD solutions are almost here.
@swoon good lucky you be wait a long time for so called Ceton CableCARD solutions.
Turth be told it really make no diff if it .TS .M2TS or .MP4, The diff in the 3 has to do with it packets size
The Video it self is AVCHD = H.264/AVC/MPEG-4
Ho by the way default recording format is TS unless you change it in TotalMedia Extreme to PS3 or XBox then that will be default recording format.
how is the 360 the only to support mpeg4
hello!, the ps3 plays mpeg4!
@manofchao5 The PS3 is not an Extender for Media Center. This is a post about Media Center and the word extender has a capital E for a reason.
I knew I bought this for a reason! Now I can be a pirate too!
Blackmagic Design has a device that does the same thing for $50 less.
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/videorecorder/
@kbarso You wanna know what you get for $50 less ? For starters, no HD (the Blackmagic is an SD device) and no 5.1 sound, only analog stereo. So, it DOESN'T do the same thing, for $50 less.
@kbarso Um that's not really the same thing. No Media Center support for starters. Take your commercial elsewhere.
So. Does this "one tuner per PC" limitation mean that you can only attach one of these to a particular "backend" or that you are limited to only one tuner for your ENTIRE setup. I have two of these but they are attached to different "backends" in different rooms.
Each it attached to it's own combination of TV & HD receiver.
The main "backend" is somewhere else. It "owns" an HDHR.
Hopefully if this sort of tech gets more commonplace, there will be less likelihood of this particular "analog hole" being plugged.
If interested, I did a quick walk-through and review on the beta drivers, including some bugs and a fix: http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4939&Itemid=1
I'm not a big fan of this device. The black levels are terrible, can't watch a dark scene. I will try this driver later, hopefully It's better.