Record HD via component

[TPK]

Heres another device that appears to encode HD video (and even digital audio) for your PC (exploiting the analog hole via component video)..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116030

Has anyone here successfully set this up (along with a HD cable/sat box and a PC) to create a high definition PVR using this??  Either with MythTV or with Vista Media Center or whatever??  How well does it work???

I guess I would like to add this as a "second tuner" to my media center PC, so I can pull in the (non-ota) cable HD channels...  But I won't bother if people tell me they couldn't get it to work...

I like the idea that I can finally create my own PVR and record HD as well (its sorta like having cake and eating it too)...

[kevbeck122]

Vista Media Center won't work because it doesn't support H.264... however, they are working on a driver for Windows 7.  Myth sort of works: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR.

[weedydeed]

The HDPVR works great with SageTV. I'm using it to record the HD channels from my TWC 3250HD cable box (1080i, 720p, 5.1 AC3,  etc.)  Works great for me, your mileage may vary, but it can be done.

[aaron]

I've been using the HDPVR for about 3 months on SageTV. Works great for the most part. I've had to reboot it probably 3-4 times since then, but it has been very reliable. I cannot tell the difference between the output it produces and my normal cable box plugged into the TV. The files it produces need a lot of horsepower to play, and I have had problems trying to transcode them to other formats. If you use SageTV the HD200 extender they sell for $200 reportedly plays the files flawlessly (according to the users on the Sage forums, I do not have one myself), if you use an HTPC you'll probably want to have a decent CPU and/or video card. Personally I play them back using a 1.83 GHz Mac Mini running Plex.

If you using bleeding edge MythTV from SVN it has support for the HDPVR, but even though I used to use Myth I have not tried this, I prefer to stick to stable and supported releases. I switched to Sage for the sole reason that they had HDPVR support first.

Bottom line: if you're willing to pay $80 for SageTV it works great, even better if you buy one of their extenders (which appear to be great little boxes overall).

[Olias]

I've been using SageTV to record HD from my DirecTV tuners for over a year now. Started out with a Blackmagic Intensity Pro in Jan 08 and added the Hauppauge HD PVR unit on a second STB in April 08 when it first came out.
The HD PVR, coupled with SageTV and a pair of their HD Extenders has really transformed the way our family watches television.

Being a geek from birth, I already had a PC server running 24x7 in our basement. I added the Sage software, two ATSC tuners and placed my two sat tuners next to it. The only thing by our televisions is the tiny, 6x7x1-1/2" HD200 and a stereo amplifier.

The initial setup was rather painful, mostly because of the Intensity Pro, not the HD PVR. But now everything just works. I can add as much storage to record shows as I can afford (currently have four 1TB sata drives). And if I choose to switch away from DirecTV to Uverse or cable, all I have to do is get their boxes and set up the proper IR or serial controls to them for channel changing and I'm ready to go. Nothing recorded is encrypted, so my son can rip shows to his mp3 player.

I can't quite remember when I had to reboot the HD PVR, not any time this year at least. Although I have had to restart the server a couples of times this year.

While it's not perfect, this combination has served our family well.