Physical Features
Our first cable is this one, a PS3 component video cable that translates the PS3’s weird proprietary video port into another weird proprietary port on the Hauppage. The cable is nice and long, so hooking things up shouldn’t be a problem. The connector on the Hauppage end looks quite fiddly though. It’s also worth noting that this cable can be disconnected in the middle, allowing connecting up an Xbox 360’s component cable.
Next, we’ve got a pair of HDMI cables. One is a bit longer than the other – I guess that’ll be the ‘HDMI out’ cable, as you’d probably want to keep the Hauppage box near your HDTV. Nice looking cables, and properly bound with twist ties and capped.
Our USB cable. Fairly standard USB connection, like the one you’d find on printers, although the instructions warn us to only use this one, not a longer one! This’ll attach to our PC.
Here’s the power supply. Quite ordinary, and none too bulky thankfully.
And finally, the instructions. This details how to hook up your PS3 or Xbox 360 in good detail, with appropriate use of pictures where appropriate.
And now – finally! We have our first look at the device itself. The Hauppage is a thin box pushed inwards in the middle, where a ring of light-up plastic runs around the device. The black plastic finish is only broken with a Hauppage! logo and a large ‘record’ button on the top.
On the bottom, we’ve got a couple pairs of rubber feet, the necessary licensing information and quite a few ventilation holes.
And on the back, we’ve got the most important part – our cable inputs! From left to right, there is power in, USB out, A/V in, HDMI in and HDMI out.
It also bears mentioning that the Hauppage can rest on its side if that fits your operating theatre better; although it doesn’t seem quite so stable like this!
All right, let’s move onto the testing.
Lol how can a con of the HD PVR 2 be the fact that older Xbox 360 and PS3s don’t do 1080p? That’s not the device’s fault..bad review. I’ve had mine for a month or so and never had any issues with it whatsoever – and I can record in 1080p via HDMI fine.