Hauppage capture card round-up?

[lordsmurf]

msgohan, sanlyn, this thread is for especially you...

I really, really want to update this thread: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...ti-wonder.html
- Some cards needs to be removed from there; fatal flaws have since been discovered.
- There are some new cards to add.
- Warnings need to be added about junk (examples: EZcap, Blackmagic).
- Caveats need to be included (example: Canopus works, but not the best, mostly listed for Mac users).

In this thread, I want to turn my attention to Hauppauge...

At one point in time, pre-2005, Hauppauge was quite decent.

- PVR-250 (PCI) = excellent MPEG hardware capture
- PVR-350 (PCI) = excellent MPEG hardware capture

Unsure of AVI lossless abilities with either card.
I know the WinTV was decent for the MPEG work, and allowed up to 15mbps. Or was it 20mbps? Lots of clueless/amateur/newbie complaints about it, no worse/better than ATI MMC (for MPEG).

Then Hauppauge started to make crap...

- PVR-150 (PCI) = yuck, both IRE and audio distortion (volume too high) issues
- PVR-950Q (USB) = yuck, WinTV was unstable and recording options/quality were lousy; 950Q same as 955Q?

But my knowledge (and/or memory) stops there...

I vaguely remember these models as having been junk, but I'm no longer 100% sure of that fact:

- 610 aka Live2 (USB) = color/IRE issues?
- PVR-500 (PCI) = was this just a 150 with two tuners, mostly used by OEMs?
- PVR-950 (USB) =
- PVR-USB2 (USB) =
- HVR-1250 (PCIe) =
- HVR-1600 (PCI) =
- HVR-1800 (PCIe) =
- HVR-1850 (PCIe) =
- HVR-1950 (USB) =
- HVR-2250/2255 (PCIe) =

^ Note that some of these cards may be good for ATSC "ripping" (?), or ATSC recording, but they were awful for analog recordings. And that's the focus. (Note: ATSC ripping may be solely a job for the DVB cards, not these PVR/HVR models, but I'm not sure, never got into that. Point is, a card good for one task may suck for another.)

Any input is desired.

Let's work together to make a new sticky with some sub-pages. I'd also like to include some of the more technical info in the glossary/wiki.

[msgohan]

Actually, I've owned precisely zero Hauppauge devices ever, so all the info I have on them is based on samples, text posts, and photos from others. My time would likely be better spent on other glossary things.

The USB-Live2 uses seemingly identical hardware to the VC500 (but the latter's video chip is rebadged). But driver differences come into play.

[sanlyn]

The USB-Llive 2 that I auditioned 'way back when when for Win7 seemed to clip superblacks the same way the ATI 600 does. The VC500 doesn't. If I recall, there wasn't much simiarity in menus or dialogs with the USB-Live2 or VC500. The Live2 looked more like the ATI 600 in use. But since the Live2 wouldn't outdo the AIW's I was already using, I didn't keep it. Still a decent product, though.

My experience with Hauppauge today is only with an HD PVR 1212, no USB or other Hauppauge type.

[msgohan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanlyn

If I recall, there wasn't much simiarity in menus or dialogs with the USB-Live2 or VC500. The Live2 looked more like the ATI 600 in use.

Judging a book by its cover! At one point, I somewhat successfully force-installed the USB-Live2 drivers for use with the VC500. Tested only the S-Video input, I only got a B&W image, but all proc amp controls functioned.