For those of you looking for a review of the Hauppauge HD-PVR (my first take on the device is here) and too impatient to wait for the review that I have 90% complete, check out ExtremeTech’s complete review of the component video recorder.
I will let you read it as is with one note: The author of the ExtremeTech review only used the software included with the HD-PVR. This is okay for some purposes, but if you’re planning to use the HD-PVR with an HTPC you REALLY need to use it with SageTV (working well with HD-PVR) or BeyondTV (in beta although not officially supported yet). I’m using my HD-PVR with SageTV and love it. I think if the reviewer had done this he would have had a better impression of the device.
The reviewer really focused on the ability to convert the output from the HD-PVR to use on iPod or PSP which is difficult with h.264 files. I consider the HD-PVR an viable alternative to the CableCard technology used in Microsoft Vista Media Centers and judge it as such. I’ll get into that more when I release my complete review of the Hauppauge HD-PVR.
