Currently running a Hauppauge HDPVR through it’s paces with the sole intent of recording console game play. The HDPVR records video from a video game console or cable TV or satellite set top box. The recordings are made onto a computers hard drive in a compressed H.264 format. It uses component video, S-video or composite video (but not HDMI), and will record at resolutions from 480i to 1080i, at data rates from 1Mbit/s to 13.5Mbit/s. Setup is very simple:
Recording video is very simple too – have your TV switched to PC, load Arcsoft Total Media (that comes with the HDPVR), click capture, switch your TV back to Component and play whatever game you have in your console. Once you have captured enough video, turn the TV back to PC, click stop capture and video will be saved to your hard drive. Using a PS3, the file format output is .M2TS which is a H.264 format that will load directly into your video editing software or to Youtube. This is my first recording.
The quality isn’t spectacular – it was recorded at 5Mbit/s at 720 x 480. This 20 second video comes out at 17.9 Mb. The computer I have connected at the moment is an Intel i3 3.3Ghz, 4GB of RAM with onboard graphics. I think this is currently the issue – I will test it again by connecting to my AlienWare M14x to see if I can get an increase in quality.
Adrian Camm 
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