It’s time to put an end to off-screen gameplay footage. Yes, those of you who have captured gameplay clips on YouTube with horrid screen reflections, indistinguishable audio, and blurry game footage, I am talking to you. I know, I have been there. If you’re a passionate gamer or game blogger who likes to record gameplay clips, screenshots, or other feats worthy of thousands to witness, your answer to crisp, clear HD footage has come with the Hauppauge HD PVR (Personal Video Recorder). This HD PVR is a little box of wonder for gamers (or just about any digital media enthusiast). The Hauppauge HD PVR is simple to use for gameplay capture or things such as recording TV programs and digitizing older media. But you’re here for the gameplay capturing feature.
For gameplay capturing and output to your HDTV, the HD PVR features Component video and audio out ports on the back of the unit, and component video and audio in ports. There is also an optical audio out and optical in port. Then there’s the USB 2.0 port, which is the key to getting gameplay video captured by your computer. On the front of the HD PVR are S-video and Composite video in ports (for you old school gamers looking to share some retro gameplay). Everything is clearly label and easy to hook up. Another great thing about the Hauppauge HD PVR capture device is that it is a self-contained hardware unit and doesn’t require to be installed in one of your computer system’s slots.
On the software capture side, an included CD offers Arcsoft TotalMedia Extreme for the PC. If you have a Mac, there are some other software solutions you can use, but you will have to purchase the Mac software separately. For using with my desktop Mac, I purchased Elgato’s EyeTV software, which worked wonderfully with the HD PVR. Plug in the USB cable from the HD PVR to your computer and power-on the HD PVR, and you will get a gameplay output window from the HD PVR. To capture gameplay footage from a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, the video output setting on your game system needs to be set to 1080i or lower. Depending on your computer’s capabilities, there may be some lag in the gameplay window on your PC/Mac system in comparison to your live HDTV output during the capturing, but that doesn’t make a difference in the end result of your H264 video clip. Just monitor your PC/Mac’s software window to make sure it is recording fine, and start playing your game on your HDTV. Gameplay can be captured in HD resolutions up to 1080i and up to 13Mbits/sec. Audio can be captured in 2 channel stereo or 5.1 channel AC-3 format.
See several HD PVR gameplay video capture clips here, which shows you Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and even PSPgo gameplay clips. You can see a sample screen capture from Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition on the PS3 here.
All the essentials to get your gameplay footage captured are included in the Hauppauge HD PVR package, which includes the HD PVR unit, a 1 meter component video and audio cable, a USB cable, the HD PVR CD with Arcsoft Total Media Extreme for PC (Mac users, I highly recommend Elgato’s EyeTV software), an IR Blaster transmitter cable (for controlling channels on cable TV or satellite set) a Remote Control with batteries (for third-party applications), and a power supply.
The Hauppauge HD PVR has can be purchased for about $200 from retailers such as Amazon.com. I highly recommend the investment for flawless gameplay footage (well, how good you play depends on your skills), which your viewers will thank you for. If you want to capture high definition gameplay video and screenshots, look no further than the Hauppauge HD PVR. For more details and technical specifications on the HD PVR, visit www.hauppauge.com. Thanks to Hauppauge for making this review of the HD PVR possible!
