Hauppauge - HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition High Definition Game Capture Device with Digital Audio

I upgraded to the HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus (model 1504 which is also known as HD PVR 2 GE Plus) about a year ago. I cannot stress how wonderful this product has been! I have only had it for about a day and ran a couple of recording tests on my Xbox 360, worked absolutely flawlessly. This product has everything that the Hauppauge HD PVR (model 1212) did not have, the most important being the HDMI built into the capture card. The HD PVR 2 Model 1504 includes all the cables you need to start recording game play from your Xbox 360, PS3 or even PC. These cables include: 2 HDMI cables, a PS3 component cable adapter (used for attaching your PS3 component cables, and then recording from there), and of course the power adapter. One of the first things you will notice is the sleek design of this machine. I just love the edges and colour scheme (black with the LED in the middle section). And if there is one thing you will be glad to know about this product, it will have to be the HDMI pass-through. It is literally that simple. Just plug one of the HDMI cables into the HDMI out of the HD PVR 2 GE Plus, and connect the other end to the back of your TV or Monitor. Then with the second HDMI cable, plug it into the other given HDMI slot, and connect the other side into your Xbox 360 or PC. The PS3 will work a little differently, hence why you are provided with the PS3 component adapter. The reason why HDMI would not work with the PS3 is because of Sony's security measure by adding an encrypted HDMI. This was implemented to prevent certain scenarios, as stated by a couple of sources, and I believe that the manual explains this as well. Now obviously, if you do pick up the 1504 model (Gaming Edition Plus), you clearly want it for its game play recording capabilities. Hence the words Gaming Edition. However, if you are part of the crowd who wants to use it as a normal PVR to record content from VHS or etc, then I would suggest going for the model 1212 HD PVR. I can confirm that this product can record in 1080p and the Optical input works wonders! Installation of the included software is very simple and if the software ever updates, you can update to the latest version by opening your setup, and updating the firmware and of course, updating the software as well. I cannot wait to use this product some more and enjoy the wonders that this product will provide. And finally, if you happen to be someone who enjoys streaming game play, look no more! The HD PVR 2 (1504 model) includes a streaming feature and I must say, I do look forward to using that in the near future. If I find out any more additional information, I will add some more to this review. I highly recommend this product to the gamers who want to enjoy capturing those amazing moments or anyone who wants to try out streaming or making machinima and etc. I am very pleased with this product, and I am sure you will to.

This is a very nice little device. It's light and portable, but has lots of features. I had several problems with it when I set it up with my TV/DVR box though. First the video signal was buzzing randomly, and a semi-transparent box popped up with an error message, but it went by really fast and I couldn't read it, so I took a picture of it and found out it said that the device was incompatible because it didn't support HDCP. I looked it up and it's apparently a protocol from Intel in some HDMI devices for content protection, and this thing doesn't support it for some reason. So I switched to using the composite video instead (which will work for as long as TV is only available in up to 1080i.) The second problem is that the reason I got the plus edition, the surround sound, wasn't working, through HDMI or SPDIF. I looked that up and found that there's apparently a bug in the firmware that prevents it from outputting surround sound through the HDMI pass-through. Hopefully they fix that, but I did find that Dolby Digital Surround Sound was successfully captured in the recordings through the SPDIF Optical input. This unit is really nice though. Here are some advantages that this unit has over many others: - Physical record button actually works, and triggers the software's record button. - Support for both PAL and NSTC, and auto-detection for which one is being used. - Live playback function. (5 to 8 seconds of lag, VLC player required.) - Looks awesome, and has multi-colored LED ring to indicate what it's doing. - Component input doubles as RCA input. - The LEDs actually look as awesome and bright as they do in the photo! (Far too many devices don't live up to such a standard.) - Small and portable, yet has many inputs. - Mac OS X support, with actual fully-working software. (Requires separate purchase on the non-plus models, good thing I wanted surround sound so badly.) - Comes with TWO HDMI CABLES! - You can tell people it's an apple TV, and make them think you can actually afford to get such a pointless device. There are also a few issues with it, of course: - The previously mentioned surround-sound pass-through bug. - No way to set it up like as if it's a USB camera. - Comes with useless PS3 component cable. - Strange bug that requires you to power-cycle it, and restart the software if your hard drive fills up during recording, and you don't take care of it within about 50 seconds. (That seems to be the size of the thing's buffer.) But look at how many more advantages there are! So all in all, this gets 4.826 out of 5 stars. Which rounds to 5. NOTE: I did see some older reviews saying they had driver problems. I don't know if that's still relevant, but on Mac OS X, I didn't have to install any drivers. I just downloaded the software, and it literally even licensed automatically when I plugged it in. 100% Plug-And-Play.

This turned out to be better than expected and has the HDMI pass-through so that you can play with no delay while recording at the same time. Also, do keep in mind, that if you have an older TV you can use an RCA splitter and buy an extra cable to play with no delay while still recording with the box; hell, you could even get a cheap RCA to Coax RF modulator and hook it up to a brick tv from the 90s while still recording your stuff. It's cheap (for high quality streaming/recording equipment), good quality, and gets the job done well. I'd buy it again or happily suggest it to friends. Do note that this isn't for playing games on your pc - it's for recording them. If you're looking for something like that, then find a WinTV compatible device - and, no, though this is an HD PVR 2, it isn't compatible with WinTV. Peace, and good luck streaming!

This is a good device and works well. I previously had the HD PVR-2 (not the gaming edition) but after about two months it stopped working. Anyhow I returned the product and got a full refund.

Advertised as recording and passing through in 5.1 surround sound. This is not true. At least not using the HDMI interface. For example, in NHL16, the announcers voices are gone. The PA announcer is barely audible. The recording, at maximum setting, is also losing half the sound available and, at 30 fps is very, very glitchy. This unit should have been spectacular at this price. I was told 5.1 surround sound was only achievable using a fibre optic sound cable, which my receiver has, but probably could not be assigned to this particular input without being a major hassle! There is also PS4 copy protection, even for playing your own games, which requires a workaround on the PS4. For this price I could almost BUY another PS4!!! The thing that bothers me the most is that my A/V receiver is capable of great sound reproduction and in NHL16 alone, the multi-in + Dolby Surround is gone and is not even selectable as long as this unit is in between the PS4 and the receiver. I wouldn't keep this unit installed even if someone PAID ME to do it!!!