![Andor : Season 1 Steelbook Limited Edition [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71Groo63lJL._AC_UL165_SR165,165_.jpg)
![Obi-Wan Kenobi : Season 1 [4K UHD] [Steelbook]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71faTWApPcL._AC_UL165_SR165,165_.jpg)
This makes excellent recordings from the component inputs and drives my HD tv. It goes between the cable box and TV so it can record from the cable box and play videos off your pc.
I am running win10 x64.
Use high quality USB cables and keep them to no more than about 12-15 feet. If it is too long the capture utility will not see the PVR.
The software is a bit persnickity, but works far better than any other capture software I have ever used. I gave it a 4 on "easy to use" because there is no such thing as video software that is easy to use (hee hee).
It works best if I power cycle the PVR before I record. Otherwise the Capture utility sometimes drops out entirely or fails to write a complete file. I have the PVR wall wart plugged into the back of my stereo so I can restart it via the remote. Otherwise you have to reach in back and unplug the power cable, which often unplugs video cables too.
Be sure you have plenty of CPU and RAM. I keep task manager running to kill firefox if necessary so the pc does not run out of memory. Do not run any cpu hogs while recording. If the PC runs out of memory and goes into drive swapping, the PVR cant write to disk.
When you stop recording, give it about 15 seconds to write the MP4 file and delete the temp files before exiting the capture utility.
Picture quality is quite good writing at 11mbs with VBR. You can select the speed up to 14mbs via a slider. File size is about 5gb/hour. It is noticeably better than DVD quality.
Be sure to enable hardware encoding in the Capture software settings. In that section of settings, I use the full video decoder and EVR renderer. That works fine for me.
If things are working right it will show a 1920x1080 60fps input below the capture screen. You can also plug in a VCR and record old tapes via the input cable and select what you want to use.
You need a video card that supports hardware encoding or you wont be happy with CPU utilization. My Intel I5 does not support hardware encoding. I don't know about other newer CPUs. After a lot of looking around I settled on a Geoforce GTX 1660 with multiple outputs. It works fine with the Capture software.
It takes a bit of monkeying around to get the color/contrast/brightness settings right. You can change things while monitoring the TV picture in the Capture software. But, if you make a change you have to restart the capture software to realize the change in a recording.
I also find that I have to start the capture software twice. The first time, it takes a long time to load and capture latency is really high. I exit it. The second time I start the Capture utility it loads quickly. If the PVR is working efficiently there is a 2-5 second delay between the source video and what you see on the screen. There is usually a 2-second delay when I begin recording. It often is about 4-5 seconds at the end of the recording. I have seen it as much as 10 seconds by the end of the recording (dont stop recording until you see the end of the video in the capture window!)
If you are recording MP4 and the file does not get written, the temp TS file is usually good. Use the edit function of the capture software to create the MP4. It does the conversion but is very slow.
Also, the PVR forgets its configuration (that is set in the Capture program) and reverts to HDMI (default) input. It also magically decided to use the vga inputs once or twice. If that happens, you won't see anything on the component video outputs. Just fire up the capture utility and reset the input to component and it works again.
It is best to create a recording directory easily accessible in Program Manager. The default directories the Capture utility uses are buried in the Windows/Users directory and difficult to access. I save both videos and screencaps to the same dir.
Hauppage has a tech support website which works via email, but they are slow to respond and not particularly savvy. They are only good for granny answers. They don't know most of what I put in this review.
| Processor | 2 GHz |
|---|---|
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
