Hauppauge HD PVR

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Revision as of 22:30, 6 November 2010 by Esev (Talk | contribs) (New page: Category: Hardware Category: Video {{versioninfo|810Status=works|810UpdatedDate=6th November 2010|810UpdatedBy=esev}} This description is from the [http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hau...)

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710 Unknown N/A N/A
810 works 6th November 2010 esev
1004 Unknown N/A N/A
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Usage Information

This description is from the MythTV wiki page for the HD PVR. See their site for more details about this device.

Hauppauge Hdpvr front.jpg
Hauppauge hdpvr back.jpg

The Hauppauge HD-PVR is the first consumer-level analog HD capture device available. The HD-PVR is a USB device that captures the component video outputs and analog/optical audio outputs of any consumer device (including cable/satellite set-top-boxes, HD Disk Players, video game consoles, and various other home media devices). The HD-PVR is a highly anticipated capture device because it captures video via component output, permitting the user to capture High-Definition video from most sources and without concern for encryption. In other words, since component video is not and cannot be encrypted, previously un-capturable HD sources such as satellite and premium television will now be fully accessible in Linux. Prior to this device, component capture devices were cost-prohibitive and were not directly supportable within Linux.

The HD PVR captures at resolutions from VGA/D1 (480i) up to 1080i, and encodes the component inputs in real time using the h.264/MPEG-4 video codec and the AAC audio codec. The streams are muxed into a slightly modified MPEG-2 Transport Stream container. Capture resolution is dependent on the source (ie 720p video with be captured as such, 1080i as 1080i, etc.) but the bitrate is user-selectable from 1 Megabit/second up to 13.5 Megabits/second. The h.264 video codec is, bit-for-bit, up to 40% more efficient than the MPEG-2 video codec commonly used in US HDTV broadcasts today. A 13.5 Mb/s h.264 stream is roughly equivalent to a full-channel-bitrate MPEG-2 recording at approximately 19 Mb/s.

The HD-PVR uses modern codecs capable of exceptional compression rates at excellent quality. The tradeoff is that decoding h.264 material is very processor-intensive. If not using VDPAU, even systems which easily play back US broadcast HD are likely to fail altogether when playing back recording from the HD-PVR. Hauppauge recommends a dual-core CPU as a minimum if not using VDPAU; a frequently cited minimum for medium-bitrate h.264 playback is a Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz processor.

Enabling S/PDIF audio

In all HD-PVR firmwares later than 1.0.3.53, AC-3 muxing via S/PDIF is available, allowing one to mux the original 5.1 channel audio track into the captured stream. To enable this functionality, be sure to set the audio input to S/PDIF by editing the video port device data settings under the port you are using. Modify the Extra Parameters and add a third argument. The third argument should be one of the following: 0=RCA Back, 1=RCA Front, 2=S/PDIF. Be sure not to modify the first two arguments. If, for example, your Extra Parameters contains "<%=BLOCK%> 1" and you'd like to use the S/PDIF audio input, modify your parameters to look like "<%=BLOCK%> 1 2"

Hdpvr port device details.gif