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Hauppauge HD PVR
by djaaum
My personal review on the Hauppauge HD PVR.
Wondering what it is? Basically its a recording device which allows you to record your ps3, wii, xbox screens and much more all by simply connecting up the HD PVR to your HD TV and to your computer. In my eyes its the best thing to record your gameplay, and it has turned out to be ... one of my favourite hobbies, as i enjoy going on youtube and making videos. If you don't have a HD TV, and have a standard one, the picture quality still will be good, but not as good, and it wont be displayed in widescreen; so its definitely recommended if you want to play gameplays and buy the HD PVR, that you have a HD TV first. ;) What I like about it is that when its actually recording the gameplay, a blue inner light appears on the device itself, which in my opinion looks really cool. Also the light can tell you if its recording or not, or if you have used to much recording time memory - but this depends on how much memory on your computer. Usually you can be allowed to record unlimited recordings, as the files dont save on the device itself, but on the computer its connected to. However if you are trying to make recordings you will have to buy the Official component cables first. This was annoying as i would of thought everything should of been packed together in the same box, but turned out i had to wait yet another day for the component cables to arrive. The record data rates from 1Mbs to 13.5Mbs, which is good for getting out the best quality. You can change these settings with the CD provided when you buy the product, if you look on the web you can surely find out how to get the best quality from your HD PVR. It can record up to 1080i, and 720p, or VGA/D1. If you use 1080i it could most probably burn out your computer, so its recommended you record with 720p, as its just as equally the same quality. It can also record your old VHS videos and put them on your computer, but not as high quality, it depends on how you recorded them in the first place.
Additional information:
Weighs: 1.2KG
Price From Amazon.co.uk : £154.99 - From Currys.co.uk : £189.99
Requirements: Windows PC with dual-core CPU
Discrete graphics card with 256 MB video memory or more
Free USB 2.0 port
There's nothing more i could possibly say for this fantastic product. A quick 5 stars from me. Since i have got it its brought nothing more then happiness! :) A must get for any console owners who want to record there gameplay!
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Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T PCI
by nasarali
I bought this about 10 years ago, as a replacement for my Compro USB TV Stick, which was no longer supported when Windows XP came out. The features that stood out to me at the time were that it came with two tuners and only needed one aerial to power the twin tuners. There was another model that had two aerial inputs, but whats the point ... in splitting an aerial in two when the card can do that instead.
This plugs into a free PCI slot on my motherboard, if you are not computer savvy, you may need someone to do this for you, but that may cost you extra. Its similar to slotting in a cartridge into a Sega or a Nintendo console back in the day.
When i first got this, it came with some awful software called Win-TV, i tried it a few times, but i was going to use Media Center anyway, so i never used it again. It did come with a very useful program that showed the signal strength of both tuners, this was handy because i had an indoor antenna and it would give me the best place to keep the antenna.
The remote was OK, it did the job it was supposed to do, but it suffered from a few bugs occasionally, probably bad drivers. It would send a signal to the card twice, so if you wanted to change the channel or the volume, it would go down by two. This happened every so often. The transmitter came on a 1 meter cable and could be positioned anywhere really, it would pick up the remote even if it did not have a line of sight.
Another problem was that in order to use the remote fully, you had to experiment with the keys as they did not conform to the media center keys. There was a program that reprogrammed the keys into what ever you wanted but that was too much work. I bought a Media Center remote shortly after and it was a lot better, so this never got used again.
The card itself though cannot be faulted, it then went into the new Vista machine i built, the drivers were available for it, and again it was more or less plug and play after installing the drivers. Media Center picked up most of the Freeview channels, I couldn't get Channel Five due to my indoor antenna, although this was probably a blessing. It had access to both tuner streams, so you could watch one program whilst this recorded another, or have it record both programs whilst you were out. You could right click a series and have it record that, and it would never forget it even if you did. A few years later i upgraded to Windows 7, and i also had an external aerial at this point. Again the drivers were available, and it was a breeze to set up and get working again.
Overall, i would recommend this, it has lasted me over a decade and is still going strong. Just remember to replace the remote with a Media Center remote and use Media Center instead of the software that comes with this. The only problem now is, will this support Freeview HD when it is available. We'll find out soon enough.
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Startech USB to PS2 Keyboard and Mouse Converter
by JohnJoeSmith
I don't claim to be old but I'm sufficiently of age to remember back to the days when there were no USB ports on your computer. In those days there were a million and one different inputs for various control devices and peripherals. Most famously there was a separate port for your mouse and keyboard, unlike nowadays where everything is ... routed through your USB bus. As a hoarder I've held onto my old mice and keyboards. Being stuck one day for a keyboard I realised that my new-ish laptop wouldn't support these relics of technology and I needed an out.
Enter the Startech USB to PS2 Keyboard and Mouse Converter. What this product is essentially is a USB splitter which allows for you to plug in two PS2 items into a single USB port. In this case it's my old keyboard and mouse. The product itself consists of a USB connector, a 10cm cable and a beige box full of mystery electronics which ends in two PS2 ports. The whole thing is a throwback to computer days of yore when everything came in a particular shade of beige. Despite the modern USB connector this product looks like a prop from a 90's comedy, which I must admit adds to it's charm. The build quality is solid enough though I wouldn't risk trampling on it unneccesarily.
Using this item is thankfully as simple as USB and all I needed to do was plug it into my laptop and wait for Vista to recognise it. Both my mouse and keyboard worked quite well with only the occasional dropped letter or stutter from the cursor. To be honest I get the same results using my laptop's own keyboard so I'd say it's a symptom of my aging laptop, not the connector.
There's not much to say about this kind of product. It does what it says on the tin. It's not very pretty and frankly can be an eyesore to some. I do question the viability of such an item, I only bought it because I was bored one day and felt like using my old school peripherals. I wouldn't be in a hurry to recommend this to anyone really, it's well designed, just not really of any use! To sum up, if hadn't been £8 in the bargain bin I would have left it in the shop.
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