Hauppauge
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Hauppauge intros USB PVR with component input
Hauppauge has pulled the wraps of their HD PVR, which can take a HD signal from its component inputs and transcode it to H.264 in real time for storage on your computer. If you don't believe that old-school analog component connections are any good, keep walking. True, there will be some degradation after the signal makes its digital-to-analog-to-digital journey, but we like the universal applicability of this device. Hauppauge is tossing a copy of its HD encoder software so you can then burn the recorded content to a DVD for use on the run. Available Q1 2008 for $249.[Via TVSquad]
Hauppauge intros WinTV-HVR-950Q USB tuner with Clear-QAM support
Been on the lookout for a USB TV tuner with NTSC, ATSC and Clear-QAM support? Look no further than Hauppauge, which has proudly introduced the WinTV-HVR-950Q to handle all of the aforementioned needs. Additionally, the stick comes bundled with a credit card-sized remote capable of controlling the action from any given sofa, and it obviously supports the firm's SoftPVR and SoftMCE software MPEG-2 encoders. We know you're eager to cram one in your laptop and hop on a jet to a land far, far away, so you'll be quite pleased to know that it ships this month for $99.
Canadian cable providers locking out Vista Media Centers?
Nearly a month after Warner Bros. axed advanced screenings in Canada while tagging priacy as the scapegoat, now Canucks are facing another bout with DRM right inside their homes. According to a lengthy list of complaints over at TheGreenButton, it appears that some Canadian cable providers (Rogers and Shaw, namely) are seemingly throwing the broadcast flag onto a questionable amount of content. Essentially, users who are trying to record said programming via their own Windows Vista Media Center setup are receiving all sorts of errors and messages informing them that the material (even on basic cable) they are trying to record is laced with "restrictions set by the broadcaster and / or originator of the content." Interestingly, it seems that the blame here lies more with the cable companies and not some glitch within Vista, as more than a few customers have received responses from their providers suggesting that they ditch the whole PVR idea and instead rely on the company-provided DVR (at a cost, of course). So, dear Canadians, are any of you fighting this same battle?
Hauppauge USB TV tuners now EyeTV compatible
We've repeatedly covered the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid USB television tuner. This is an excellent little device that many of us here at TUAW own and use. On the Windows side, however, USB tuners from Hauppauge are very popular, and now Elgato has made their EyeTV software compatible with three USB tuners from Hauppauge: the Win TV Nova-T, Win TV HVR 900 and Win TV NOVA-TD. So if you already have a Hauppauge tuner you'll just need to purchase the EyeTV PVR software for €59.99 (~$80) to use it with your Mac.In fact, this is not terribly surprising. If you run the Apple System Profiler with the EyeTV Hybrid plugged in you'll see that it is a Win TV HVR 980 under the hood, so to speak. Nonetheless, more Mac hardware support is pretty much always a good thing in my book.[via MacNN]
Hauppauge adds QAM support to the WinTV-HVR-1600 dual tuner card
There are never enough PCI slots to support all the tuners we want in a home theater PC . Sure if you are satisfied with one or two tuners you're fine, but if you go big with lets say 8, you need to get more than one tuner per PCI slot. The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 does just that, and now they have added support for QAM, which is great for watching HD cable channels without a set top box or even a CableCARD. Sure you can't watch HBO or any of the other encrypted channels, but there is still plenty of great HD programming out there. As with anything else there is a catch, the QAM support is only available on the retail version of the product, and as we all know; Windows Media Center Edition and Vista Media center, don't support QAM. So you will have to use the bundled software to take advantage of the new feature.
Hauppauge intros WinTV HVR-3000 tri-mode TV tuner
Hauppauge has busted out a new TV tuner in PCI card form for those who prefer to keep such things out of sight, this one packing three separate tuners to meet your compulsive viewing needs -- although just how many of those you'll be able to take advantage of will depend on where you live. Running an even £100 (or a not-so-even $195), the WinTV HVR-3000 will let you snag DVB-S digital satellite, DVB-T digital terrestrial (à la Freeview), and plain old analog cable TV signals, working the usual PVR magic on each. To sweeten the deal, Hauppauge has also managed to squeeze an FM tuner onto the card and, of course, will throw in the requisite remote control so you can get your couch potato on.[Via Tech Digest]
Hauppauge's WinTV-HVR-950 hybrid ATSC / NTSC TV tuner for PCs
Looks like Hauppauge quietly went and released a hybrid NTSC and ATSC TV tuner for PCs. And don't it look to be from the same OEM'er Elgato's been kicking around with? The WinTV-HVR-950 hybrid TV stick supports up to 1080i ATSC digital or analog NTSC TV broadcasts when slotted into your USB 2.0 port and ships with Hauppauge's WinTV-Scheduler and the WinTV2000 application to watch and schedule TV recordings to MPEG-2. No word on pricing or availability but we have a sneakin' suspicion it'll cost ya about a Benjamin.Update: Damn we're good; the word direct from Hauppauge is that this little dongle will set you back exactly $100.[Thanks, Carlos]
Cyberlink, Hauppauge team up for satellite TV on PC
Cyberlink and Hauppauge unveiled their solution for viewing pay-TV satellite services on a PC at the big IFA show in Berlin this week. Using an updated version of Cyberlink's PowerCinema software and tuner card along with Hauppauge's WinTV CI USB adapter, the system will let you receive and decode protected DVB-S2 and DVB-S signals and view and record MPEG-2 HD and highly compressed MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) satellite TV. What's no so clear, however, is when it'll be available to the general public, although Cyberlink's CEO's statement that the solution offers a "first glimpse of pay-TV on the PC" makes it sound like it may still be quite a ways off.[Via eHomeUpgrade]
ReplayTV officially (re)launches
Looks like ReplayTV is pretty confident about the progress of this early beta program of theirs, since not not even a month since opening up pre-release downloads of their newly reinvigorated and resurrected ReplayTV product, we're already seeing the launch announcement. You'll be able to get your ReplayTV PC Edition in a bundled pack included with a Hauppauge WinTV tuner, as expected, or if you already have the right hardware you can snag the PC software release for $99.95 (with a $20 annual EPG service fee per year, of course). We won't compare that given retail price to the whole free TiVo thing because ReplayTV and TiVo are now officially on total opposite ends of the DVR spectrum, but when you're looking at ReplayTV versus a Media Center PC, we can imagine some scenarios where it'd be a little difficult to justify that cost. Then again, you are getting such features as Surprise Me (think: TiVo WishList combined with recommendations to find programming with your favorite actors, directors, etc.), fast searches, and a whole slew of other features the other guys have long since used (like show overlap management, program grouping, custom channel lists, and so on). Sorry though everybody, you're still gonna have to wait until September to officially make over that PC into a ReplayTV box, so if you're in the market right now for a new HTPC DVR and didn't get in on that beta, you're gonna have to look elsewhere.
