Hauppage PVR - A Reasonable Alternative?

mkrosky asks: "I purchased a new PC recently, and also got a Hauppage PVR USB (http://www.hauppage.com/). This seems much more desirable than Tivo or Replay TV, because I control the hardware (no subscription fees). If Hauppage went broke or chose to stop supporting it, I can still use it in its present form (not true with Tivo). However, the software and drivers that ship with the hardware are beta-quality. I was wondering if anyone reading this owns the hardware. Are there any alternative drivers?"

"I have the following problems with Hauppage's software:

- When I set the "pause buffer" to 5GB, it doesn't work properly after 1 hour (1GB per hour, set at coarsest resolution). It works fine at 1GB, the default setting.

- There is a +10 second button, but it is not configurable. I would also like a +30 second button and +2 minute button.

- Sometimes, when using the +10 second button, it freezes for awhile.

Does anyone else out there have this hardware, and have reproduced these problems? I'm using Windows XP and have the PVR USB version of the hardware. I tried contacting Hauppage technical support, and they said that they may someday attempt to reproduce and fix the bug, if they feel like it. Yes, I downloaded the latest driver and software from their website.

Except for those problems, I'm really satisfied with the hardware. I recommend it to anyone considering a Tivo. I just wish Hauppage tech support would fix the obvious reproducible bugs. They are obviously software flaws, and not hardware flaws, so I'm looking for alternate drivers."

Comments

Where did you get the idea...?

[.@.]

Where did you get the idea that a Tivo is useless if the company goes under? You "control the hardware" just as much with a Tivo as you would with a PC-based PVR. The only reason there's a subscription is to provide the box with accurate, regularly-updated program guide information.

The box functions just fine without it. You just lose the ability to schedule recordings based on that program guide data.

And just like you would with a PC-based PVR, you have the ability to roll your own aftermarket program data solution and feed it to the PVR for use, should Tivo go under. However, it's the program guide data that keeps Tivo in business. And as one of, if not the most successful embedded Linux product ever to make it to market, it's in the community's best interest to support Tivo. That includes paying for the subscription that keeps the company alive.

Re:Where did you get the idea...?

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

That makes no sense at all. I'll buy it if I want it (I do) and if the pricing is reasonable (it's not). Not tying up a phone with long-distance calls (if they cut off any toll-free numbers they have in my area) is also a huge factor.

The price I paid for my Tivo, new with warranty:
$170
I don't tie up the phone with long distance calls, or even toll free calls (I don't subscribe).

When TiVo has a lower subscription fee and/or they give the box away for free, and when it uses broadband access to download program listing and/or can get the listings from my digital cable box or satellite reciever

The subscription price can't get any lower than the $0 I'm paying per month. Giving away the box for free, is well... ridiculous. You can download anything you want over your broadband link, including tv listings from tvguide.com. The DirecTivo actually does use the satellite signal.

When TiVo provides good hardware and good service for the price, then I'll buy into it.

The hardware is outstanding. And in circumstances like these, dedicated embedded hardware will always kick the ass of generic trying-to-do-everything PC hardware.

Comparisons to TiVo

[tswinzig]

This seems much more desirable than Tivo or Replay TV, because I control the hardware (no subscription fees).

You're paying a subscription fee for the program guide data that is downloaded, and upgrades to the software running on the TiVo. Where are you going to get your program guide data, how hard will it be to get it into your system and use it, and how correct is it going to be? I never have a problem with TiVo's guide data.

Besides, you may have control over the hardware, but my TiVo is incredibly cool and easy to use. I prefer that trade-off.

If Hauppage went broke or chose to stop supporting it, I can still use it in its present form (not true with Tivo).

Well I could still use TiVo, but it would be just a big VCR until someone comes along that can send guide data updates to it. Since so many other hacks have been done on TiVo already, I would be VERY surprised if a new hack wasn't released to allow this to happen somehow (scraping guide data from some other service). The main reason no one is working on this for TiVo now is because most of the hackers that mess with TiVo respect the company enough to leave things alone which would cause TiVo to lose money (and go out of business).

And if TiVo ever does go out of business, you can bet your sweet bippy there will be companies lined up to take them over. Imagine being able to buy TiVo for pennies on the dollar at a bankruptcy sale, and have all their subscribers and technology, without any of their debt?

More anti-FUD

[jspayne]

TiVo Inc. has made it clear that they would release some unknown (not yet public) backdoors that would allow you to set the time on TiVo and continue to use it as a digital VCR. In spite of that, TiVo made changes in the 2.5 software which made it easier to use the box without service. Beyond the call of duty, if you ask me. Check out the post by TiVoPony in this thread that confirms this policy is still intact. I wish people would do some research instead of guessing. Jeff

Re:More anti-FUD

[Anonynnous Coward]

TiVo Inc. has made it clear that they would release some unknown (not yet public) backdoors . . .

That's nice, but I can think of two problems:

1. The people with the backdoors would probably be legally enjoined from releasing them if TiVo were to die, say, by a bankruptcy court. If you were a creditor that was going to own the remnants of TiVo, wouldn't you want control of the boxes? There's no revenue without that control.

2. TiVo could be taken over by a more rapacious company, which could, say, triple the subscription fees. (The "lifetime" subscription isn't an option, since it's only for the lifetime of the box--deceptive advertising, IMHO.) There is no danger of this with a non subscription-based solution like the Hauppage PVR.

I have been hesitant to buy a PVR because I don't watch much TV to begin with, and because I don't want to become a lifetime cash cow for one of these companies, only to have them remove features (30 second skip, for example) and force updates (like the one that removed the 30 second skip) at their whim. They have a right to use that business model, so long as they're honest about it--I'm just not interested myself.

Re:More anti-FUD

[TTop]

Hey, you added a little FUD of your own here -- you said

The "lifetime" subscription isn't an option, since it's only for the lifetime of the box--deceptive advertising, IMHO.

Tivo is very up front about what "Lifetime Subscription" means. Go to their website, look at their FAQ under "Lifetime Subscription," check out the first sentence:

What is product lifetime service? A product lifetime subscription to the TiVo service covers the life of the recorder or receiver you buy - not the life of the subscriber. The Product lifetime subscription accompanies the product in case of ownership transfer. The subscription remains in effect even if you upgrade your recorder, for example, to increase storage capacity (please contact an authorized dealer or the manufacturer) or if the recorder needs to be repaired or replaced due to a malfunction (see manufacturer warranty details). Because a Product lifetime subscription is linked to a particular recorder, it cannot be transferred to any other recorder (unless the recorder is replaced due to a malfunction covered by the manufacturer's warranty). Each recorder purchased requires its own service subscription and activation. Of course, hardware products don't last forever and their lifespan will vary. TiVo makes no representations or warranties as to the expected lifetime of the product aside from the manufacturer's warranty.

pvr's

[isorox]

I looked at this card a few months back when I was looking for a video capture solution. I deided to go for a little external box that converted analog video (pal or ntsc) and audio to firewire, and back again. It was a little more expensive, but I figured the flexibility of a standard interface (looks like a firewire dv cam, without software controls (duh)), outweighed the extra £40 it cost. It'll also work with a mac should I get one in the future, is easily movable from one computer to another, hot pluggable etc.

No fancy pvr software, but it shouldnt be hard to write a program that compresses dv to mpeg 2/divx, and writes to the hdd. Interface with an oline tv directory and you have no problems with your computer, architecture, os, company, service provider etc going bust, as long as you still have a firewire port somewhere.

It works great too.

I got one and have had a few issues...

[weave]

I mainly wanted it to cap TV shows on schedule, edit out commercials, save to VCD and watch in living room in DVD player.

I've had a few problems with it. First, when recording in mpeg-2 mode, if I play it in other mpeg viewers, the aspect ratio is opposite, like 480x640 instead of 640x480.

If I cap to VCD (mpeg1) format, it's fine. But if I use any mpeg editing tools like Power Director, the audio and video get out of sync. Very annoying. Hauppauge has a "cuts only" mpeg editor on their site, but it's not the best. While the a/v stay in sync, for some reason, the frames where I make the cuts get off sometimes. So if I'm real careful to cut at the start and end of commercials, sometimes I'll get the first 5-10 seconds of a commercial and then miss the first 5-10 seconds of the show after it.

Overall, not real happy. I'm kinda of wishing I got a standard WDM capable capture card and used software-based encoding...

The other thing that ticked me off is I recently bought a dvd iMac and expected to be able to cap in mpeg2 on my PC, transfer to the mac and write out to the mac's DVD-R drive, but the damn iDVD software that comes with the iMac will only work with DV or quicktime movies (and qt pro won't import mpeg-2)

I just can't win it seems...