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Page 1 of 1 pages for this article Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 Personal Video Recorder by Article Admin
Published: 03/10/2004
The last twelve months has seen the personal computer create a significant new niche for itself: that of a home entertainment system. The versatility and power of the PC combined with the wealth of new PC-based audio and video products means that the PC is now a very real and low-cost alternative to buying a separate DVD player, CD player, MP3 player, games console and video recorder. Combined with a video capture card and LCD monitor, the PC now even offers the chance of being a low cost flat-screen TV system - which remain beyond the reach of most consumers. This new role for the PC is helped in no small part by the recent appearance of small form factor (SFF) PCs on the market, that offer the same power of their larger cousins, but are packaged in a much smaller, elegant, case and are fitted with a low-noise cooling solution to allow them to sit comfortably in the family living room. Microsoft has recognized this new business opportunity and launched Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) which extends Windows XP Professional Edition to include live TV viewing, personal video recording functionality and all the CD-audio, MP3 and DVD-playing already available with Windows Media Player - but controlled by a greatly simplified menu system via a remote control. The aim is to allow you lie back on your sofa, and browse seamlessly between your family photo album, audio collection, video collection, play a DVD or watch TV. However, unlike with previous releases of Windows, Windows MCE is not available to buy for installation on your home computer. Microsoft insist that you buy a complete new “Media Center PC” built by Microsoft’s partner PC manufacturers. According to Microsoft’s own description of a Media Center PC, they are:
Looking quickly on Pricewatch.com to see precisely what a Microsoft-approved Media Centre PC comprises, it seems that they typically comprise the following: 19 monitor, 2.0GHz P4 processor, 512MB PC2700, 80GB HD, GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB, 48x16x48 CDRW, 16xDVD, SBLive, Inspire 4.1 speakers, 56K modem - and cost $1500 for the pleasure. In other words, a Media Centre PC is probably pretty much like the computer you already own. If you have reasonable processor, 4.1 audio, video with TV-out and ATA/100 hard disk you’ve basically got yourself the makings of a Media Center PC. All you need to add is a TV tuner to capture TV signals, an infra red remote control and a hardware MPEG encoder to allow the TV signal to be digitized and stored on your hard disk in real time, acting as a personal video recorder (PVR). This is where the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 comes in. The WinTV-PVR-250 turns your PC into a digital TV recorder, with a 125-channel stereo TV tuner, hardware MPEG-2 encoder and IR remote control. Costing less than $150, the PVR250 appears to be an attractive alternative to spending over $1500 for an overpriced Microsoft-approved Media Centre PC. Hauppauge also sell the PVR350 which also includes an FM tuner. Off course, even with the WinTV-PVR-250, Microsoft won’t allow you to install their Windows MCE, but the PVR-250 comes with a fully-featured set of software in its own right. The only question, therefore, is how well does it perform? Read on to find out. next > next > next > next > next > next > next > next > next > next > next > next >
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