Wide World of Women

I was a regular contributor here 8 years ago, in the days of Katie, E.D. Donahey, Fitness Beach, and Denise Austin. That's when HD was brand new, and very few had it. Now, my equipment is either lost or totally outdated. I wasn't going to get back into this again, but I've seen too many new babes. Rosana Franco was my old flame. Now I've fallen for Azucena Cierco. I just gotta scratch the itch and get set up to cap again.

In the past I used Pinnacle's Dazzle, then moved up to Hauppauge's WinTV PVR, which I liked. I've been doing a ton of research. I'm geek-challenged, so I definitely NEED a USB device! All my reading keeps bringing me back to the "Hauppauge HD PVR 2" (Model 1512)
I know its just a pass-through, but that worked fine for me in the past. I have a DVR from Bright House cable in a separate room, which essentially leaves me with three options.

1. Move the DVR from room to room every time I want to cap. My last and least favorite choice!
2. Buy a dual-pvr with its own hard drive. Not thrilled about renting some additional card from my cable company. They get enough already, and I pretty much have to keep my DVR where it is so others can watch the big screen TV.
3) Buy a 50-foot RCA cable to go from the living room DVR to the office PC/PVR. (probably my best choice, but the 50-foot cord worries me regarding signal strength) I already bought a 50-foot HDMI cable, but that was BEFORE I knew that the pvr wouldn't decode the HD signal coming from the cable company's DVR. All this leads me to a couple basic questions... sorry to be so long winded!

1) Can anyone tell me why I SHOULDN'T get the Hauppauge HD PVR 2?
2) Does anyone have experience using 50-foot RCA cables? Any loss in signal or cap quality?
3) Has anyone used the Hauppauge HD PVR 2, and later found a better USB device?

One last "off-topic" question that might save me some time. Does anyone have a "short" answer for the difference between RCA cables (red/white/yellow) and Component cables (red/green/blue)
Thanks for taking the time to read and leave a response. I want to get back in the game.
Azucena Cierco is waiting!

XLEGSLOUIE

Well... I didn't hold my breath waiting for an answer. I couldn't pass up a deal on ebay for the Hauppauge HD PVR for only $50. It doesn't have HDMI out, but most cable boxes won't transfer Hi-Def via HDMI anyway.
It uses Component out. (red, blue, green cables) For the price... you can't beat it!

Hello moderators... I haven't posted caps here in years. I'm just doing some testing to make sure I know how to properly post thumbs, vidz, etc.
I'm also testing my equipment to determine how to get the best results, and figure out the mystery de-interlacing 1080i. It may be simple to you, but I only recently discovered the concept and its all geek to me? Thanks for your patience!!!

I think sometimes you could hear crickets chirping in this forum. I have the original HD-PVR too. To cure the interlacing problem I just cap in 720p. The HD-PVR 2's HDMI ports are only for gaming consoles and do not have HDCP to use on a set-top box. Also, save your videos in .TS format, if you save in .MP4 format the Capture Module will freeze and you will lose the recording.

BIG TIME THANKS for that info man. I just started recording & saving in .mp4 figuring it was better for YouTube. Now I know they'll accept just about anything and do the hard work for you!

BUT... when you mentioned "you just record in 720p", which I'd love to do, how do you do that???
Is it an adjustment you change on the HD PVR? My line-in is directly from my cable company dvr. So there's nothing I can change about that. I REALLY appreciate the help!!! (but don't wake the crickets)

You may have to change your converter box settings. My DirecTV receiver is set to 720p on all HD channels.

I checked it out... 720p Mission Accomplished!
BIG TIME THANK YOU!!!

Hmmm. I wonder if my Time Warner cable box will allow me to do that. Because recording in 1080p can be a real pain in the you know what. My PVR box freezes a lot when recording in 1080p,but runs smoothly at 720p, even at the highest bitrate level.

I was warned against using a 50 foot cable from an actual Hauppauge representative. He told me the signal would be damaged,and that my best option was to have all of my equipment in the same room.

I'd bet a C-note that you can change to 720p. I just called my cable company and it was a piece of cake. You might find it using your dvr remote. Probably a button called "Settings". You're looking for a menu that allows you to set aspect ratio & output options, etc. Output Options is likely where you'll find the choice to switch to 720p.

BTW, Look at my pics above. They were capped at 1080i using a 50-foot cable. I hadn't yet learned about interlaced vs. progressive. I researched it to death. Obviously the shorter the cable, the less chance for signal loss, but studies have shown it isn't nearly as noticeable as people make it out to be. I was going to move my dvr back and forth every day, but the 50-foot cable works good enough for me, and its SO much easier!!! Good Luck!

DirecTV has a resolution button or "RES" button. You may try your STB's menu system to change it. Neither HD-PVR or Colossus can record in 1080p because it requires HDMI and HDCP. The HDMI inputs/outputs in the HD-PVR 2 are for video game consoles (PS3/XBX360) without HDCP.

You should always record in the native resolution of the channel you're capping for best quality. You should only de-interlace if you're posting a clip to YouTube. I store all my edited clips as the original MPEG2 1080i (or 720p if it's ABC, Fox, etc.). If you're looking for a simple to use converter that will de-interlace clips for posting to YouTube try Handbrake.

Thanks for that info werp121!

I'm not sure how you tell what the native output of each channel is? I'm guessing by your post its mainly the major networks?

I'm legally blind and honestly can't tell much difference, but I'd still like to get the best quality for others to enjoy. On my DVR, there's an option to choose the output. 1080i, 720p, 480, etc...
You can also choose "Automatic". I guess that's what I need to select 'ey.

So just to clarify, your saying that a static cap (pic) will be better quality even if the output is 1080i vs. 720p? Right?

I know 720p is the YouTube friendly format for video. I just wasn't sure if static photo quality improved by using 720p over 1080i. What you said about keeping the channel's native output makes perfect sense. I've heard about handbrake, and will give it a try. Unfortunately, my previous few weeks of 1080i vidz are .TS files. Hopefully handbrake accommodates that. Thanks pal, I'm learning a lot!

Yes, if your set top box has an auto option you should use that.



I had an HD PVR, all I'm saying is if you record a 1080i channel at 720p you're not getting the best quality. Store your videos at 1080i and de-interlace them when you want to watch them or make caps or videos for YouTube.

I want my videos to have the best quality also,but lately it has become literally impossible for me to record at 1080. Something is obviously wrong with my HD PVR, freezes all of the time. I'll get a new one eventually,but until then it's 720p only.

I'm no tech geek, but I would say if your PVR is working fine at 720p but not 1080, the problem "may be" your computer and its ability to keep up. I've got a 2.8 gig processor and 4G Ram, but I still get the best results if I reboot right before capping. I wouldn't buy another or throw that one away until I was absolutely sure!

I solved my HD-PVR freezing problem by saving all videos as .TS instead of .MP4. DirecTV has a native-resolution setting but it slows down channel-changing so I leave it at 720p. Most of the channels I cap (Fox channels especially) are 720p.