Product Details
- Brand: Hauppauge
- Model: 01414
- Original language:
English - Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.50" h x
3.00" w x
8.00" l,
2.00 pounds
Features
- Records at video resolutions up to 1080i in real time
- Video is recorded in an H.264 Blu-ray compatible format
- Records video game play at up to 1080i from the XBox360 or PS3
- Digital audio is recorded using AAC or Dolby Digital AC-3
- Compatible with Windows 7, Vista and Windows XP
Hauppauge Colossus PCI Express Internal HD-PVR
Product Description
Colossus is an internal HD PVR PCI Express card high definition (HD) video recorder for PCs. Colossus records at video resolutions up to 1080i in real time using a built-in hardware H.264 encoder. Video is recorded in an H.264 Blu-ray compatible format from any component video equipped high definition cable TV or satellite set top box. It will also record video game play at up to 1080i from the XBox360 or PS3 etc. Digital audio is recorded using AAC or Dolby Digital AC-3. Colossus also has an HDMI input for recording HD from a un-encrypted HDMI video source such as the Xbox360 or digital SLR cameras. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista and Windows XP. Includes component video cable set, Hauppauge remote control, IR receiver plus IR blaster for set top box channel control.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
111 of 111 people found the following review helpful.
Windows Media Center & HD - Awesome!!
By Marvin-Miller
Hi Folks!As a long-time Media Center user I bought this card after changing over my cablevision to HD. My provider is Shaw and I'm using the Motorola DCX3400 (a DVR in it's own right - albeit a 'stripped down' DVR compared to Media Center).So the goal was to get HD into Media Center and continue using Media Center as my DVR. This card does that - and more. Many of the reviews on this site about Media Center support being difficult or buggy are not correct. The install routine is also very easy.If you're aiming for Media Center integration, don't install anything from the disk. Download the latest Media Center package from their site as well as the latest driver for the card. <= that step is very important as Media Center support is maturing all the time and the latest software from the site is always the best move.Installing for Media Center is about a 5 step process and it's dead-simple. The card does take about 4 seconds to display video after changing channels. This is because the card is not a tuner - it's actually a video capture device. However, Media Center recordings are NOT 4 seconds late - they are, for all intents and purposes, right on time.Picture quality is unreal. It's very, very good. The card records in H.264 and performs hardware compression on the fly as it's recording. This means that your HD recordings tend to be about the same size as standard definition recordings. Because the card does real-time hardware compression there's no hit on your CPU - it's all done on the card.On top of that, it puts the H.264 content into the standard .wtv container so as far as Media Center is concerned, it's just another native recording complete with all MetaData.So don't let the few negative reviews scare you away. It's really, really easy to install. I did encounter a bug though and while Hauppage's support has been very good they couldn't come up with a solution. However, I did and it's not a big deal.It seems that, once installed, if you monkey with the cables going to the card it causes it to almost freeze the video during recordings or live TV. It's as if the card needs a hard reset. The way to fix it is to go into the settings and tell it that you're using S-Video (even though the card does not support S-Video!). After that, re-start the computer and leave it as is (it will work on the S-Video setting) or change it back to component and re-start once more.As I said, this only seems to happen if I monkey with the connections going to the card. That doesn't happen much and the solution is simple. Other then that, mine's been recording non-stop for several days with zero issues.The included component cable is very high quality and looks like it's truly industrial strength and I applaud Hauppage for including such heavy-duty cable. Even so, my cable had an issue where the picture would show some banding that moved up the screen from the bottom to the top. It turned out to be the cable and Hauppage kindly offered to send me out a replacement. Again, no big deal and great service from their tech support.One other thing, I did find that ArcSoft Blu-Ray software stopped working after installing the card. That does suck and it means I can't play Blu-Ray's in Media Center. The error message given is that my system does not support HDCP (the content protection for Blu-Ray disks). I suspect this is because the Hauppauge card does not support HDCP. Prior to installation this software did work without issue. I think the software is somehow picking up on the capture card not supporting HDCP and refuses to run. I'll mention it to tech support in short order.With respect to the included blaster - it works like a top. It NEVER misses a channel. One of the reviewers here mentioned he had a Motorola box and had to go through 'learning' steps - that's really not required. My DCX-3400 was not listed in the supported devices but there is a Motorola-only entry, choose that and away you go. (btw, Hauppauge mentions out of the box support for somewhere around 200 different set top boxes - so there you go).There is NO need for 3rd party IR blaster software or what have you. The people reporting that are incorrect. You use your own Media Center remote and your own Media Center receiver and you just attach the included blaster cable to your set-top box. If you have difficulty finding the 'spot' to attach it to on your set top box shine a flashlight on it and you'll see it in no time. You put the smaller end on the STB. With respect to the included remote - this is included if you want to use WinTV - Hauppauge's own DVR software that's also included. I'm partial to Media Center so the included Hauppague remote is not used.This is an awesome product, it's been very reliable for me. Now you know about the little glitch (and how to work around it) one day they'll probably fix it with a new driver or something.Can't recommend it enough - as for the 4 second 'channel changing' it's not a big deal as I record everything anyway and rarely watch live TV. The times that I do watch live TV - it doesn't bother me at all. I'm so grateful to have HD content being recorded into Media Center with file sizes the same as standard cable - and video quality that is just awesome!By the way, using component cables from your set top box means that you no longer have DRM (digital rights management) issues. You can record whatever you want. DRM doesn't travel over component cables! This means you can record PayPerView or what have you. DRM issues are a thing of the past - for now at least.Way to go Hauppauge - you got the right product with the right features. Now all you need to do is re-vamp the Media Center driver so that it supports more then one 'tuner' and we're all set.Before I forget, I'm using optical out (TOShttp://amzn.com/dp/B004OVE2B4/?tag={komponelektr-20} / SPDIF) connector on both my set top box and the card. The card doesn't come with one so if you're ordering the card, order up a proper length cable while you're at it. You'll get full blown 5.1 surround sound with it.Last thing, if you already have a DCX3400 (like I do) and you own it (like I do) and the redundancy of connecting a 'real' DVR to your existing STB DVR bothers you (it did for me) don't be afraid to open up your DCX-3400 (if you own it) and take out the hard disk. You can then put it in your computer and use it for extra space.All you need is the proper bit for your screwdriver, you can find 'em on e-bay by doing a search for a DCX3400. It's a standard SATA III hard disk and it benches out pretty good at a steady 120 Megs per second. Your STB will continue to work (without the DVR functions) as Motorola kindly took into account that if the hard disk is not there, then it treats it as is if the option is not installed.So don't be afraid to to 'de-dvr' your stb and add the parts to your 'real' DVR ;-)Lastly, if this review has been helpful to you, vote for it. I spent a bit of time putting it together hoping to set you straight on the real issues to save you time and help you do your pre-purchase research. It would be nice to know that people found it useful :-)If you're serious about buying this card I recommend bookmarking this review. It might help you out if you run into any of the minor issues I did.Don't be afraid to pull the trigger on this one!Best!Marvin Miller
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful.Works great ... very happy!
By DeanP66
I've been thinking about upgrading my archiving capabilities for a while now. For the last 5 years or so, I used a Panasonic DVD recorder to offload my shows and football games from my Directv HD DVR. It did the job quite nicely. However, I really wanted to go HD all the way to the disk. I was looking for the simplest solution possible. That means, capture the footage, edit it(with no re-encoding), make the menus and burn the file to disk while maintaining excellent quality. I ended up getting the Hauppauge HDPVR about 2 months ago and was quite happy with it. I happen to come across the Hauppauge Colossus purely by accident, and fortunately for me, was able to return the HD PVR before the 30 days were up. My main reasons for keeping the Colossus were:1)It costs less2)It's an internal PCI-e card3)It can record at a higher bitrate4)It can record from an unencrypted HDMI sourceFirst of all, let me just say that I only use the Colossus to capture shows off my Directv HD DVR. I don't use the WinTv app, I don't use the IR blaster, or any of the other options for tuning tv stations. It's simply my HD capture solution. For my needs, it works great. It comes with software (Arcsoft Showbiz) for recording, editing, and burning your footage to disk.I only use it to record footage to my hard drive. For editing purposes, I use Videoredo TVSuite V4 so I don't have to re-encode my edited footage. With the Showbiz software, it always wants to re-encode unless you're only chopping off the beginning and the end of the file.For making my final output file that gets burnt to disk I use a free program called MultiAVCHD coupled with ImageBurn (another free program). I burn the file to a Blu ray blank (BD-R) and it comes out with full menus and chapter menus as well. The Showbiz burning program will only let you burn to DVD or DVD-DL disks. It won't work with Blu rays. By using BD-Rs, I can record nearly 3 hours of 1920 x 1080 HD at 18 mbps onto a single 25 GB disk.The recording quality is excellent. It's maybe slightly nicer that the Hauppauge HD PVR (not by much). The biggest improvement I've found is that when I'm recording AC3 audio with the Colossus, if the source feed has a dropout, which happens occasionally, I don't lose nearly 10 seconds of video feed like the HD PVR use to. That's big for me.The great thing about the Colossus is that it is a hardware encoder. It does all the heavy lifting itself and leaves your CPU free to do other things at the same time. The only thing you might have trouble with on an older computer is playing back the recorded H.264 file. However, you can still capture with it no problem.All in all, I'm extremely happy with my purchase.
42 of 46 people found the following review helpful.Best Capture Card Ever
By TIHan
After going through a horrific experience with AverTV HD DVR, I bought this product directly through Hauppauge. This card tops AverTV HD DVR 10 fold. No questions asked.Best part, this card does all of the video encoding, meaning your PC's CPU hardly does anything at all. The quality that it gives is incredible with the file size being relatively small. Colossus gets captured using software such as WinTV and Arcsoft. WinTV records into a format of .ts. You can easily import the .ts file into adobe premiere if you rename .ts to .mpg. No problem.You can record pretty much anything except for PS3 through HDMI, but you can record Xbox 360 and PC through HDMI.Pros:Hardware Encoder (No CPU Usage)Excellent QualityGreat SoftwareVideo and Audio are in syncCons:None.
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