Hauppauge! HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus Review

Hauppauge! are the first name I think of when it comes to digital recording devices, they’ve already set them selves up a massive fan base in the gaming community with their gaming specific PVR devices, but they’ve also gone a strong heritage in connection video signals through your computer, something that has served them well in the world of capturing video game footage and streaming software.

Gaming is huge, you might have noticed? Yet the biggest thing that has changed about this gaming generation is definitely social media and love it or hate it, you can’t really ignore it. Facebook and Twitter have become hubs for gamers to converse and share information, this is backed up even further by sites like YouTube that allow gamers to share their greatest moments, or Twitch.TV and UStream that allow people to watch live videos of you playing your favourite games in walkthrough videos, demonstrations, or even for those who compete in eSports and pro gaming.

Yet to do all this stuff on current gen home consoles you need some special hardware, something to act as a bridge between your TV, console and your computer that will allow you to take screen shots, capture video and stream your footage online and that is exactly where the Hauppauge! HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus steps in, so lets get straight to the good stuff and see exactly what this device has to offer.

The first thing we notice about the PVR2 is that is comes nicely packaged in a fairly compact box, bright colours and a rather cool graphic on the front of the box is obviously made to appeal to a gaming audience with its alien monster motif. There is a decent looking photo of the product too as well as some technical details on the front and the side, but we’ll take a closer took at those shortly.