Hauppauge HD-PVR – Now with Surround Sound AC3 and AAC

If you’ve been patiently waiting for the surround sound capability on your Hauppauge HD-PVR, your day has arrived.  The new driver (in public beta) was officially released today and includes AAC and AC3 surround sound audio. 
The HD-PVR is a HD video recorded that uses output from your analog, component output and converts the video to a H.264, compressed recording at resolutions up to 1080i.  It allows you to record HD right from any video device with a component out port.  Combine it with SageTV, BeyondTV (beta) or GB-PVR and MythTV you can time-shift all of that content on your Home Theater PC.

What's included in the HD-PVR Driver Update?

• SPDIF Bitstream: DD 2.0 & 5.1 Capture 
• The default audio stream is AC3 2.0, you have a selection option for AAC or AC3.  It will default with 5.1 audio if it is available or 2.0 if not available.
  
• You can encode DD/AC3 2.0 from SPDIF PCM & RCA analog sources
  
• When you take h.264 and add AC3 you have a AVCHD file which is supported (Note that I haven’t tried this yet) by several video-editing apps including:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Ulead Video Studio
  • Ulead DVD MovieFactory
  • CyberLink’s PowerDirector
  • Sony Vegas Platinum
  • Vegas Pro
  • Pinnacle Studio 12
  • Nero 7 Ultra edition Enhanced
  • Apple Final Cut Express
  • Apple Final Cut Studio
  • Apple iMovie ‘08
• The AVCHD files are natively compliant with PS3 for playback from USB-HDD or UPnP streaming
•  Dynamic audio/video format switching on the fly ( channel surfing  /  PCM to DD audio switching when going from DVD/BD menu and playing the movie )
• Fixes the audio sync problem some SageTV users were experiencing on 1080i recordings on the SageTV HD100 extender.
  
• Several stability improvements

Installation Instructions:

1. Download the new driver from the Hauppauge Support Page (navigate to the beta tab for download and instructions) or from  SHSPVR
   
2. Unzip the driver update
3. Run "hcwdriverinstall.exe"

Head over to Hauppauge or SHSPVR now to download the driver update which includes a driver installation program.  I'm guessing we'll see it on the Hauppauge Support Page shortly.