"It is more difficult to create a “worst case” environment with a full height card than would be possible if it were low-profile, since we can’t put the Colossus into some of the smaller HTPC cases. However, we did try to simulate use in a hotter chassis by utilizing the highest TDP CPU we had on hand as well as removing all but one of the case fans in the Ahanix D4 used in testing."
The CPU was chosen specifically to put the card under duress. That's what "worst case" means. Would we recommend that sort of setup? Not necessarily, but at least it worked reasonably well in our testing. Now stick several Colossus cards next to each other and you could be in for trouble without additional fans.
Jarred Walton "Now stick several Colossus cards next to each other and you could be in for trouble without additional fans" Only a dumdee would try using a small HTPC cases with several Colossus card beside that it better suite for a media sevrer any way with that min card that if you can find a motherboard with that min slot that dosen't cost a arm and leg. How did come up with that when dosen't even run hot at all in fact I can put my finger on main chip when it even recording and it bearlee even gets luke warm unlike USB HD-PVR model and min other Hauppauge card from pass days.
"Not all recordings are watchable" That maybe the bitstream issue and they are looking in to this which also has to do the BSOD issue to so best thing to do is reboot ever day I know not idea way of doing things and I couldn't aggree more on that one.
"Software/hardware bundle adds unnecessary cost with not additional value for DVR use" Don't you mean just the Software? I find Arcsoft’s ShowBiz very useful but it not for DVR use it capture only for DVR use you used WinTV 7 or any 3rdparty you like Who know maybe they do OEM ver where get nothing other then drivers.
"No HDMI pass-through" And do you plan add that when there no room for it.
"BSOD when continuously recording for more than sixteen hours" This being address
"Full height card leaves low-profile HTPC users out" Who know maybe there plan on one but you see they have dump HDMI and all Audio/Video output
I would love a review of the InfiniTV4. The Hauppauge card is cool and all, but I don't want 4 cable boxes hooked up to a computer with 4 of these cards in it. Does the Ceton record all channels or are some of them blocked? How well does it work when recording 4 channels at the same time?
7MC fully supports the Ceton (and other PC based) DCT. You can record any linear channel available in your lineup. Like all non Cable provided DCT, it does not support PPV (without a phone call) or On Demand.
I can tell you from experience that an InfiniTV4 setup is the way to go if:
You have cable TV (obviously only cable supports cablecard) You're running Windows Media Center 7 (doesn't work with Sage, etc.) You're willing to spend $400 If you want extender functionality, you're willing to use an Xbox 360
I've been asking Anand about the InfiniTV 4 for about a year :) I've seen the other reviews at other sites, but I like the way AT presents things - it's the voice of the writer that you identify with.
I thought I heard there was problems with hosting/sharing while streaming. Or only one device could be streaming over the network at a time? Something alongs those lines... forgive me, it's been a really long time since I read up on it. [probably would have been a good idea to at least do some research before I posted, but I'm kinda emotional about Ceton's product - I would have gotten in if it were $250 a long time ago]
The initial firmware revs did not enable tuner sharing, but the current revs do. DCT are UPnP + RTP devices so network based streaming is how they work; just need to bridge the card with the PC's NIC and it should be discoverable to any machine on the same subnet.
Frist your cable need be copy-freely flags good luck that not going to last long and MCE is use less any way with all DRM junk it has. "extender functionality, you're willing to use an Xbox 360" Don't you still have buy the Membership for that work beside there no PC MCE Client that why SageTV Rule's and SageTV Extender Rules for NoN Console user.
I don't agree with that. Ceton got Cable Labs to clarify/change the rules on Copy Freely content specifically to enable that scenario. Obviously they know about the use case, and opted to do the right thing for end users (I know it's strange :)).
Cable Labs owns the DRI specification; content producers have a say, but only cursorily - currently it is up to the Cable company to mark/not mark content.
It would be one thing to exploit a loop hole but the use case is known, and has an explicit OK from Cable Labs. I don't see how you (or anyone) can make statements like "good luck that not going to last long".
There's no membership needed for using an XBOX as an extender. And the DRM won't limit your extender use. The Ceton with MCE really is by far the best option out there.
The 360 is a good extender device for TV based content, but once you move beyond that its support for other formats (DVD, BD, MKV, etc.) is very limited.
Actually, FIOS is even better for it than cable for most CableCARDS. Unlike TWC, they don't require a truck roll to deliver the cablecard (you can pick it up at a payment center), nothing but premium channels ends up with DRM in the recordings, and in most areas the CableCARD from FIOS doesn't even need to be paired, so you can move it between devices without a phone call.
I think your point on cablecard is well taken. Since all HD content on cable requires a cablecard (I think--yes?), what good is a tuner without cablecard capability for the 60% or so of TVs connected to cable?
Can this do streaming captures? I used to have a K-World SD tv tuner, and I would be able to select it in my ustream flash options, and stream it live.
Can you explain this use case a bit more? I'm leaning towards "no"; the device only takes external input AFAIK it does not expose the capture filter for internal input.
I see you have Sage with the Diamond UI installed.
Is anandtech.com going to do a review of SageTV? I got SageTV set-up a couple of months ago and love it. Sage is a great HTPC option, hopefully more people can be made aware of it. The HD-300 extenders are a great option to get content to you HDTV; small, low-power, customizable, high WAF.
I'm a big fan of the Diamond UI. SageTV V7 is a solid platform, but the stock UI leaves a lot on the table; the Diamond team has done an excellent job of making it second to none in this space.
I'm running Kubuntu linux on a machine in my home office. Is SageTV my best option for recording TV on this platform? I know about Myth but have never tried it.
My HTPC in the living room is a modest machine running XBMC, mounting a disk from the office machine using NFS. I'd like to leave that as-is.
Sage keeps the linux version as up to date as the Windows version. However, it is clearly aimed at OEMs so support can lag a bit (i.e. you better feel reasonably comfortable messing around in linux).
That said, it reminds me, bittersweetly, of all the time I spent configuring my HTPC when I had it fully loaded with tuners, drives and some complicated quiet cooling. When it occurred to me that I spent more time fiddling with it than the household cumulatively spent watching TV I needed to simplify. Now we're down to a quiet, low-power, SSD-only uber streamer. Only thing that ever breaks now? Netflix.
Before anyone seriously considers this card, please be aware that Hauppauge has a proven history of not supporting their equipment. Essentially, this card will work for Windows 7, but when windows 8 comes out, they'll put out the drivers for whatever their new card is, but nothing legacy. After getting burned by them twice this way, I've learned my lesson and will never buy a Hauppauge card again.
That wrong Are you cry about lack 64bit drivers for old 250/350 well that not possable you see the can't fix after all it frist made in 2001/2 by iCompression know as iTVC15 which I think is base on 16/32bit hardware so there for Windows 64bit OS will not work Oh think Hauppauge has a proven history of not supporting their equipment boy you should look at all other capture device out there which are far woste then Hauppauge.
AverMedia's support isn't the best either. I got a Nicam Stereo TV capture card in 2004 which was then not supported in Vista. Perhaps I should've spent more, however I was eager not to get something priced far more that offered basically the same (i.e. Hauppauge).
My AverTV Studio203 is sat in my PC doing nothing as there's no drivers for it, nor was there a new version released after I bought it... shame. Not a stunning card, all things considered, but decent capture cards aren't exactly two a penny, and spending money unnecessarily isn't my cup of tea.
I'll rephrase that... I bought a card in 2004 which suddenly became unsupported, so there were no new drivers for it even before Vista came out. It's actually one of my reasons for not migrating to Windows 7 before now, believe it or not.
I am targeting this. Finally a card I can use with DirecTV HD box! My lack of money and employment will prevent me from being an early adopter, which is fine. I can wait for the kinks to be sorted out before purchase.
I also agree that a "White Box" version of the card would be welcomed with a reduced price especially if your going to using it with Sage TV or Windows Media Center.
HDMI to HDMI will completely simplify my HTPC setup, though I would still use DV-I (or VGA) for Video and Toslink for audio out to my HT in-a-box.
After buying two different versions of their cards, and FIGHTING continously with the drivers, and inconsistent driver updates and locations, I threw them in the trash as a lesson learned. They NEVER fixed their drivers properly.
Their reputation is permenantly damaged with me. And this article just renforces how they really don't care about creating a stable product.
Consider the Hauppage driver quality to be as bad, and always as bad as the ATI Rage days.
I had a problem with an HD-PVR that was out of warranty and they fixed it and sent it back to me for free.
I am using two Colossus cards. One in an Win 7 box and one in an XP box. They are both working fine but the XP box is doing a better job of recording SD stuff (this might be a sat box set up issue)
I've been looking for a good TV card. Hopefully the BSODs are just immature drivers.
It is a bit ironic to use a poor image format for the pictures in an article which discusses image quality in a product. You may find this OSS program useful: It helps choose an appropriate image format for best quality at a given size. http://code.google.com/p/imageguide/ For screen captures, JPG is not it.
They existed long before. http://www.hdfury.com/ has been around a long time now, output from that one is component or RGBHV (VGA basically) though. Obviously alot of others are around. Problem with some of them though is that they might get their keys revoked. So far that hasn't happened to HDfury.
Any way you might want a HDMI-splitter as you don't have any HDMI-passthrough feature on the Colossus.
I think what hes really asking, and what I want to know as well, is how hard would it be to use a device like this one and the Cracked HDMI information to basically make a card that spoofs HDCP and will essentially allow you to record anything you want over the incoming HDMI port?
I would love to see such a card as fiddling with all the cable cards and stupid rules imposed by Cable Labs is absolutely ridiculous when you can hop on your favorite BitTorrent site and find the content in HD with the commercials stripped like 24 hours after it aired on TV.
One of these days they will understand the battle is one they are going to lose every time and just make it easier for us the consumer rather than thinking they can prevent piracy. I would gladly record locally with commercials as opposed to using BT, but as it stands now, BT is so much easier.
PS: This is even worse with U-verse here in the USA. Microsoft developed product (aka MS Media Room) that streams over Multicast IP networks to a Windows CE 5.x based STB/DVR, and is supported by MS/AT&T with a Xbox 360 client, but yet there is no Win7MC Client that can do the same on a PC thats 10x faster?
Absolute lunacy. I'm sure it exists but companies like Cable Labs are preventing it from being released. Just think, 100% digital copies of the shows you want delivered straight over a simple network connection. Its so easy it must be illegal!
You can say that again. Every time I buy a TV tuner card, even the ones that get the best reviews on newegg and other sites, I end up being sorely disappointed and am left wondering what the heck all those people were smoking when they recommended the card. These things just do not work and it will take me a hell of a lot of convincing to fool me into trying another one. Especially when a seedbox only costs $8 a month. lol. I just let some other sucker record my stuff for me. (What is the difference anyway?)
It was briefly mentioned that none of the PACE codes worked with the RNG 110, but then the ir blaster wasn't ever mentioned again. Did you get a different code that worked with it? I bought the HD-PVR last december and haven't actually used it since because of that issue, and hauppage never got back to me on that or other issues I've had. Google results on the issue at the time were mixed, with some saying that it worked with the old comcast code (fairly certain they're liars since most of the results were talking about how comcast changed remotes and lots of people had problems) and many saying they returned the STB back for an older model.
I was not able to find a code that worked with the Pace STB. It should be possible to train the blaster, but the software doesn't work very well so it's better to go another route (FW, ethernet, serial, USBIRT, etc).
Hauppauge has released a new driver plus beta software to integrate Colossus with Media Center. Pretty good start, although it only currently supports stereo audio. According to the website, optical will be supported in the next release. I have been using DVBLink up to now, and I have not had any problems using optical (no audio sync issues).
I have two Hauppauge HD PVR units. I bought my first unit in 2008 and I have never really had any significant problems with them. I started off using the bundled OEM Arcsoft TotalMedia Extreme software and then graduated to the DVBLink solution. I also beta tested the Hauppauge Media Center solution but found the DVBLink solution to be more stable.
I bought one Colossus for ~$139 or so via the special pricing for the pre-order and I am very pleased with it. It is extremely stable when used with DVBLink and has never shown any sign of an issue small or otherwise.
Right now I use a Hauppauge HD PVR USB in the bedroom and a Hauppauge Colossus in the living room. An HP MediaSmart EX490 Windows Home Server provides whole house DRM free entertainment to every system by acting as a repository ~12TB.
I wouldn’t trade two Hauppauge HD PVR / Colossus 1080i / 720p DRM free streams for 4 Ceton InfiniTV quad streams with DRM.
About this comment : "the final result is an 8.33% fail rate". I am curious to know if the last driver version (29111) was tested...? The release date was 4/22/2011.
The web site pretends this release fixes: -"Colossus audio lost when another recording starts in Sage TV" -"My player loses audio if the audio format changes in the middle of a recording"
I think it's also the first version with MCE integration: "This version now has support for Windows Media Center."
I was in the market for a HD capture card and bought the Blackmagic Intensity Pro card just before the Hauppauge Colossus came out. (I don't want an external box like HD PVR). Price is about the same. I kicked myself for not waiting a bit for the Colossus and see how it perform.
Anyhow I now have 3 month using the Intensity Pro, and compare it with this review. My use is to record from sat channels, and occasionally record games (HDMI connection, 1080i/59.94). After the usual teething problems with PC and the Intensity product, here's my experience:
- Record 1080i/59.94 for hours with no problems - no frame drops, no audio drops, no blue screen. Thus app & drivers are stable. (Windows 7-32) - Can record to 480p - HD quality is absolutely superb. Indistinguishable from the original, no matter what kind of scene, as critically viewed from a high end HDTV. - The Intensity Pro record HD at a frame rate of 15 mbps, sustained. - The only issue is it records using Motion-JPEG compression and thus yields huge AVI files at a rate of 35GB/hr. This is 'fixed' by importing AVI file into my video editor (Corel VideoStudio Pro X3) and convert it to H.264 compression and AVCHD file. The result reduce a 36GB AVI file to 6GB. The AVCHD file can be played by most players.
So the Intensity Pro is completely satisfactory. In this review, I notice that the Colossus: - Record HD to 1080i at 30/fs only - Bit rate is slightly less than 15mbps - Record direct to AVCHD file, smaller size, and immediately usable - Drivers not stable
But I can tell you this: both cards spits out a lot of heat. That's the nature of the beast. In my case, the Intensity card plus the Radeon HD 5670 graphics card generate so much heat I have to do a lot of cooling work to fix it.
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60 Comments
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fri2219 - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
An HTPC with a quad processor bearing an actual 105W TDP?Just one 60mm fan?
Really?
Get ready to RMA your PVR card. Often.
JarredWalton - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
"It is more difficult to create a “worst case” environment with a full height card than would be possible if it were low-profile, since we can’t put the Colossus into some of the smaller HTPC cases. However, we did try to simulate use in a hotter chassis by utilizing the highest TDP CPU we had on hand as well as removing all but one of the case fans in the Ahanix D4 used in testing."The CPU was chosen specifically to put the card under duress. That's what "worst case" means. Would we recommend that sort of setup? Not necessarily, but at least it worked reasonably well in our testing. Now stick several Colossus cards next to each other and you could be in for trouble without additional fans.
babgvant - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Couldn't have said it better :)vol7ron - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Heh. Much love Jarred.vol7ron - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Wait ... I'm just now reading the article... when did you get the Ceton InfiniTV 4!? I've been asking Anand about that for a year :)Have you guys had a review - did I miss it!?
dagamer34 - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
http://www.amazon.com/Ceton-Infinitv4-Digital-Cabl...Your welcome
Anthony Toste - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Jarred Walton"Now stick several Colossus cards next to each other and you could be in for trouble without additional fans"
Only a dumdee would try using a small HTPC cases with several Colossus card beside that it better suite for a media sevrer any way with that min card that if you can find a motherboard with that min slot that dosen't cost a arm and leg.
How did come up with that when dosen't even run hot at all in fact I can put my finger on main chip when it even recording and it bearlee even gets luke warm unlike USB HD-PVR model and min other Hauppauge card from pass days.
"Not all recordings are watchable"
That maybe the bitstream issue and they are looking in to this which also has to do the BSOD issue to so best thing to do is reboot ever day I know not idea way of doing things and I couldn't aggree more on that one.
"Software/hardware bundle adds unnecessary cost with not additional value for DVR use"
Don't you mean just the Software?
I find Arcsoft’s ShowBiz very useful but it not for DVR use it capture only for DVR use you used WinTV 7 or any 3rdparty you like
Who know maybe they do OEM ver where get nothing other then drivers.
"No HDMI pass-through"
And do you plan add that when there no room for it.
"BSOD when continuously recording for more than sixteen hours"
This being address
"Full height card leaves low-profile HTPC users out"
Who know maybe there plan on one but you see they have dump HDMI and all Audio/Video output
Any way Andrew nice review.
bobbozzo - Saturday, April 16, 2011 - link
"Software/hardware bundle adds unnecessary cost with not additional value for DVR use""Don't you mean just the Software?"
Seems like the reviewer didn't like the remote as well.
babgvant - Saturday, April 16, 2011 - link
That is correct - it is not useful in most HTPC scenarios.dastruch - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
-1DanNeely - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Even in the torture test the card barely cracked 35C. That's nowhere near hot enough to kill an IC.erikstarcher - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
I would love a review of the InfiniTV4. The Hauppauge card is cool and all, but I don't want 4 cable boxes hooked up to a computer with 4 of these cards in it. Does the Ceton record all channels or are some of them blocked? How well does it work when recording 4 channels at the same time?Please can we get a review of the Ceton?
babgvant - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Do you mean in SageTV or in 7MC?erikstarcher - Monday, April 18, 2011 - link
7mcbabgvant - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - link
7MC fully supports the Ceton (and other PC based) DCT. You can record any linear channel available in your lineup. Like all non Cable provided DCT, it does not support PPV (without a phone call) or On Demand.DigitalFreak - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
I can tell you from experience that an InfiniTV4 setup is the way to go if:You have cable TV (obviously only cable supports cablecard)
You're running Windows Media Center 7 (doesn't work with Sage, etc.)
You're willing to spend $400
If you want extender functionality, you're willing to use an Xbox 360
If you google it, you'll find plenty of reviews.
babgvant - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Ah, but it does work with SageTV* :)* requires that your cable provider uses copy-freely flags properly
vol7ron - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
I've been asking Anand about the InfiniTV 4 for about a year :) I've seen the other reviews at other sites, but I like the way AT presents things - it's the voice of the writer that you identify with.I thought I heard there was problems with hosting/sharing while streaming. Or only one device could be streaming over the network at a time? Something alongs those lines... forgive me, it's been a really long time since I read up on it. [probably would have been a good idea to at least do some research before I posted, but I'm kinda emotional about Ceton's product - I would have gotten in if it were $250 a long time ago]
babgvant - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
The initial firmware revs did not enable tuner sharing, but the current revs do. DCT are UPnP + RTP devices so network based streaming is how they work; just need to bridge the card with the PC's NIC and it should be discoverable to any machine on the same subnet.dagamer34 - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
They've only recently been available with decent stock, in fact Amazon just put a page up for them today.Anthony Toste - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Frist your cable need be copy-freely flags good luck that not going to last long and MCE is use less any way with all DRM junk it has."extender functionality, you're willing to use an Xbox 360"
Don't you still have buy the Membership for that work beside there no PC MCE Client that why SageTV Rule's and SageTV Extender Rules for NoN Console user.
babgvant - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
I don't agree with that. Ceton got Cable Labs to clarify/change the rules on Copy Freely content specifically to enable that scenario. Obviously they know about the use case, and opted to do the right thing for end users (I know it's strange :)).Anthony Toste - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Your forget that it not up to Cable Labs it the Studio and some of the Distributed that got the rigths to shows or moive that have the final say so.babgvant - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Cable Labs owns the DRI specification; content producers have a say, but only cursorily - currently it is up to the Cable company to mark/not mark content.It would be one thing to exploit a loop hole but the use case is known, and has an explicit OK from Cable Labs. I don't see how you (or anyone) can make statements like "good luck that not going to last long".
glugglug - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
There's no membership needed for using an XBOX as an extender. And the DRM won't limit your extender use. The Ceton with MCE really is by far the best option out there.babgvant - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - link
The 360 is a good extender device for TV based content, but once you move beyond that its support for other formats (DVD, BD, MKV, etc.) is very limited.glugglug - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Actually, FIOS is even better for it than cable for most CableCARDS. Unlike TWC, they don't require a truck roll to deliver the cablecard (you can pick it up at a payment center), nothing but premium channels ends up with DRM in the recordings, and in most areas the CableCARD from FIOS doesn't even need to be paired, so you can move it between devices without a phone call.jonp - Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - link
I think your point on cablecard is well taken. Since all HD content on cable requires a cablecard (I think--yes?), what good is a tuner without cablecard capability for the 60% or so of TVs connected to cable?Macoy - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Can this do streaming captures? I used to have a K-World SD tv tuner, and I would be able to select it in my ustream flash options, and stream it live.babgvant - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Can you explain this use case a bit more? I'm leaning towards "no"; the device only takes external input AFAIK it does not expose the capture filter for internal input.bobbozzo - Saturday, April 16, 2011 - link
I think he wants to capture and stream to another PC live.e.g. the client PC has no tuner, and uses a 'TV server' to watch live content.
jnmfox - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
I see you have Sage with the Diamond UI installed.Is anandtech.com going to do a review of SageTV?
I got SageTV set-up a couple of months ago and love it. Sage is a great HTPC option, hopefully more people can be made aware of it. The HD-300 extenders are a great option to get content to you HDTV; small, low-power, customizable, high WAF.
babgvant - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
I'm a big fan of the Diamond UI. SageTV V7 is a solid platform, but the stock UI leaves a lot on the table; the Diamond team has done an excellent job of making it second to none in this space.Bob-o - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
I'm running Kubuntu linux on a machine in my home office. Is SageTV my best option for recording TV on this platform? I know about Myth but have never tried it.My HTPC in the living room is a modest machine running XBMC, mounting a disk from the office machine using NFS. I'd like to leave that as-is.
Thanks!
babgvant - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
There is a Linux version of the SageTV server, so it should work but I've never tried it.queequeg99 - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
Sage keeps the linux version as up to date as the Windows version. However, it is clearly aimed at OEMs so support can lag a bit (i.e. you better feel reasonably comfortable messing around in linux).tno - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
That said, it reminds me, bittersweetly, of all the time I spent configuring my HTPC when I had it fully loaded with tuners, drives and some complicated quiet cooling. When it occurred to me that I spent more time fiddling with it than the household cumulatively spent watching TV I needed to simplify. Now we're down to a quiet, low-power, SSD-only uber streamer. Only thing that ever breaks now? Netflix.eselig - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Before anyone seriously considers this card, please be aware that Hauppauge has a proven history of not supporting their equipment. Essentially, this card will work for Windows 7, but when windows 8 comes out, they'll put out the drivers for whatever their new card is, but nothing legacy. After getting burned by them twice this way, I've learned my lesson and will never buy a Hauppauge card again.Anthony Toste - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
That wrongAre you cry about lack 64bit drivers for old 250/350 well that not possable you see the can't fix after all it frist made in 2001/2 by iCompression know as iTVC15 which I think is base on 16/32bit hardware so there for Windows 64bit OS will not work
Oh think Hauppauge has a proven history of not supporting their equipment boy you should look at all other capture device out there which are far woste then Hauppauge.
silverblue - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
AverMedia's support isn't the best either. I got a Nicam Stereo TV capture card in 2004 which was then not supported in Vista. Perhaps I should've spent more, however I was eager not to get something priced far more that offered basically the same (i.e. Hauppauge).My AverTV Studio203 is sat in my PC doing nothing as there's no drivers for it, nor was there a new version released after I bought it... shame. Not a stunning card, all things considered, but decent capture cards aren't exactly two a penny, and spending money unnecessarily isn't my cup of tea.
silverblue - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
I'll rephrase that... I bought a card in 2004 which suddenly became unsupported, so there were no new drivers for it even before Vista came out. It's actually one of my reasons for not migrating to Windows 7 before now, believe it or not.djfourmoney - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
I am targeting this. Finally a card I can use with DirecTV HD box! My lack of money and employment will prevent me from being an early adopter, which is fine. I can wait for the kinks to be sorted out before purchase.I also agree that a "White Box" version of the card would be welcomed with a reduced price especially if your going to using it with Sage TV or Windows Media Center.
HDMI to HDMI will completely simplify my HTPC setup, though I would still use DV-I (or VGA) for Video and Toslink for audio out to my HT in-a-box.
digitalgriffin - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
After buying two different versions of their cards, and FIGHTING continously with the drivers, and inconsistent driver updates and locations, I threw them in the trash as a lesson learned. They NEVER fixed their drivers properly.Their reputation is permenantly damaged with me. And this article just renforces how they really don't care about creating a stable product.
Consider the Hauppage driver quality to be as bad, and always as bad as the ATI Rage days.
Golgatha - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
They have good long term support, but I will agree that their software bundles and drivers are just awful.chasmetz - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
MediaPortal will support the Colossus in the upcoming 1.2 Beta -> http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-1-ta...bwooster0 - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
I had a problem with an HD-PVR that was out of warranty and they fixed it and sent it back to me for free.I am using two Colossus cards. One in an Win 7 box and one in an XP box. They are both working fine but the XP box is doing a better job of recording SD stuff (this might be a sat box set up issue)
There support has been good for me.
Sivar - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
I've been looking for a good TV card. Hopefully the BSODs are just immature drivers.It is a bit ironic to use a poor image format for the pictures in an article which discusses image quality in a product. You may find this OSS program useful: It helps choose an appropriate image format for best quality at a given size. http://code.google.com/p/imageguide/
For screen captures, JPG is not it.
rcpinheiro - Saturday, April 16, 2011 - link
Any news about the strippers? ;-)Obviously, I mean the HDCP strippers that many expected to appear right after the master key was revealed?
Penti - Sunday, April 17, 2011 - link
They existed long before. http://www.hdfury.com/ has been around a long time now, output from that one is component or RGBHV (VGA basically) though. Obviously alot of others are around. Problem with some of them though is that they might get their keys revoked. So far that hasn't happened to HDfury.Any way you might want a HDMI-splitter as you don't have any HDMI-passthrough feature on the Colossus.
Casper42 - Monday, April 25, 2011 - link
I think what hes really asking, and what I want to know as well, is how hard would it be to use a device like this one and the Cracked HDMI information to basically make a card that spoofs HDCP and will essentially allow you to record anything you want over the incoming HDMI port?I would love to see such a card as fiddling with all the cable cards and stupid rules imposed by Cable Labs is absolutely ridiculous when you can hop on your favorite BitTorrent site and find the content in HD with the commercials stripped like 24 hours after it aired on TV.
One of these days they will understand the battle is one they are going to lose every time and just make it easier for us the consumer rather than thinking they can prevent piracy. I would gladly record locally with commercials as opposed to using BT, but as it stands now, BT is so much easier.
Casper42 - Monday, April 25, 2011 - link
PS: This is even worse with U-verse here in the USA.Microsoft developed product (aka MS Media Room) that streams over Multicast IP networks to a Windows CE 5.x based STB/DVR, and is supported by MS/AT&T with a Xbox 360 client, but yet there is no Win7MC Client that can do the same on a PC thats 10x faster?
Absolute lunacy. I'm sure it exists but companies like Cable Labs are preventing it from being released. Just think, 100% digital copies of the shows you want delivered straight over a simple network connection. Its so easy it must be illegal!
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, April 18, 2011 - link
You can say that again. Every time I buy a TV tuner card, even the ones that get the best reviews on newegg and other sites, I end up being sorely disappointed and am left wondering what the heck all those people were smoking when they recommended the card. These things just do not work and it will take me a hell of a lot of convincing to fool me into trying another one. Especially when a seedbox only costs $8 a month. lol. I just let some other sucker record my stuff for me. (What is the difference anyway?)strolfey - Monday, April 18, 2011 - link
It was briefly mentioned that none of the PACE codes worked with the RNG 110, but then the ir blaster wasn't ever mentioned again. Did you get a different code that worked with it? I bought the HD-PVR last december and haven't actually used it since because of that issue, and hauppage never got back to me on that or other issues I've had. Google results on the issue at the time were mixed, with some saying that it worked with the old comcast code (fairly certain they're liars since most of the results were talking about how comcast changed remotes and lots of people had problems) and many saying they returned the STB back for an older model.babgvant - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - link
I was not able to find a code that worked with the Pace STB. It should be possible to train the blaster, but the software doesn't work very well so it's better to go another route (FW, ethernet, serial, USBIRT, etc).don_k - Thursday, April 21, 2011 - link
What's the word on Linux support for these cards, anyone know? Hauppauge site claims no support as of yet.http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_colo...
chordo - Saturday, April 23, 2011 - link
Hauppauge has released a new driver plus beta software to integrate Colossus with Media Center. Pretty good start, although it only currently supports stereo audio. According to the website, optical will be supported in the next release. I have been using DVBLink up to now, and I have not had any problems using optical (no audio sync issues).Octavean - Saturday, April 23, 2011 - link
I have two Hauppauge HD PVR units. I bought my first unit in 2008 and I have never really had any significant problems with them. I started off using the bundled OEM Arcsoft TotalMedia Extreme software and then graduated to the DVBLink solution. I also beta tested the Hauppauge Media Center solution but found the DVBLink solution to be more stable.I bought one Colossus for ~$139 or so via the special pricing for the pre-order and I am very pleased with it. It is extremely stable when used with DVBLink and has never shown any sign of an issue small or otherwise.
Right now I use a Hauppauge HD PVR USB in the bedroom and a Hauppauge Colossus in the living room. An HP MediaSmart EX490 Windows Home Server provides whole house DRM free entertainment to every system by acting as a repository ~12TB.
I wouldn’t trade two Hauppauge HD PVR / Colossus 1080i / 720p DRM free streams for 4 Ceton InfiniTV quad streams with DRM.
heric1 - Friday, May 27, 2011 - link
About this comment : "the final result is an 8.33% fail rate". I am curious to know if the last driver version (29111) was tested...? The release date was 4/22/2011.http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_colo...
The web site pretends this release fixes:
-"Colossus audio lost when another recording starts in Sage TV"
-"My player loses audio if the audio format changes in the middle of a recording"
I think it's also the first version with MCE integration:
"This version now has support for Windows Media Center."
Tosa - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
I was in the market for a HD capture card and bought the Blackmagic Intensity Pro card just before the Hauppauge Colossus came out. (I don't want an external box like HD PVR). Price is about the same. I kicked myself for not waiting a bit for the Colossus and see how it perform.Anyhow I now have 3 month using the Intensity Pro, and compare it with this review. My use is to record from sat channels, and occasionally record games (HDMI connection, 1080i/59.94). After the usual teething problems with PC and the Intensity product, here's my experience:
- Record 1080i/59.94 for hours with no problems - no frame drops, no audio drops, no blue screen. Thus app & drivers are stable. (Windows 7-32)
- Can record to 480p
- HD quality is absolutely superb. Indistinguishable from the original, no matter what kind of scene, as critically viewed from a high end HDTV.
- The Intensity Pro record HD at a frame rate of 15 mbps, sustained.
- The only issue is it records using Motion-JPEG compression and thus yields huge AVI files at a rate of 35GB/hr. This is 'fixed' by importing AVI file into my video editor (Corel VideoStudio Pro X3) and convert it to H.264 compression and AVCHD file. The result reduce a 36GB AVI file to 6GB. The AVCHD file can be played by most players.
So the Intensity Pro is completely satisfactory. In this review, I notice that the Colossus:
- Record HD to 1080i at 30/fs only
- Bit rate is slightly less than 15mbps
- Record direct to AVCHD file, smaller size, and immediately usable
- Drivers not stable
But I can tell you this: both cards spits out a lot of heat. That's the nature of the beast. In my case, the Intensity card plus the Radeon HD 5670 graphics card generate so much heat I have to do a lot of cooling work to fix it.
arshaavin - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
Hi all, I wanna know where i can buy hauppauge hd pvr in india at reasonable price.I really need this.arshaavin@yahoo.com