Hauppauge Digital, a developer and manufacturer of analog and digital TV receiver products for personal computers, is now taking orders for their ‘HD PVR’, a USB recording device that can record from component and optical outputs.
The company says customer ordering the devices now can expect to receive them in early May.
According to Hauppage, the HD PVR connects any device that outputs HD signals, typically a high definition cable or satellite set top box, and uses an on-board H.264 hardware encoder to convert high definition TV programs in an ISO standard HD H.264 AVC format in real time.
The connections to the set top boxes are made via component cables, also referred to as ‘YPrPb’ or the red/blue/green connectors on HD set top boxes. A USB cable runs to your computer so that after the conversion process, the resulting file can be stored on your computer.
The HD PVR includes a video player application which allows the recorded TV programs to be played back on a PC screen.
To enable automatic recording of TV programs, the HD PVR recorder includes Hauppauge’s IR Blaster, which controls the channels on most popular cable and satellite TV set top boxes in North America and Europe, and will allow users to schedule the recording of their HD programs.
In addition to high definition ISO standard H.264 recordings, the Hauppauge HD PVR can also create AVCHD recordings, which is the format used on Blu-ray high definition players. As part of the software applications which will be shipped with Hauppauge’s HD encoder, a DVD burning application will be provided which can take AVCHD formatted recordings and burn them onto a conventional DVD disc. These discs can then be played in Blu-ray DVD players.
About 2 hours of Blu-ray HD content can be recorded on a 4.7 GB DVD disk.
The HD PVR can be ordered now for U.S. $249.
Source:
Digital Home Canada