Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Review

The first thing I noticed is that the PVR 2 comes in a much smaller and compact box that the original. The box comes detailed with a great shot of the PVR 2 and some pretty slick looking artwork. Along side this we have a few details about its built in features as well as its newly added HDMI support.

Around the back of the box we find plenty more details that explain just what the HD PVR 2 is capable of as well as some of the new features we find on this latest hardware revision. We will of course take a closer look at those in a moment.

One thing I loved about the original PVR was that it came with everything you need to capture your games, this is a trend that has continued as in the box I found:

• Playstation to component adaptor
• Component to custom connection (for the PVR)
• 2 x High Speed HDMI Cables
• DC Power Adaptor
• USB cable

This cable runs from the PlayStation and breaks off into RGB + R&W component. From there the 2nd component cable has female component connections to connect into the custom PVR 2 connection. Near any device that you have a component cable for should connect to this adapter, not just a play station cable. IF memory serves me correct, the original PlayStation, 1st Xbox, Wii and Wii U are all component compatible with after market cables.

The PVR its self is smaller than the previous iteration and comes with a few new style touches over the older hardware. Aside from its smaller size, the shape has also been revised, as too has the finish on the top panel and the middle of the unit features a wrap around LED light strip to provide power, error or recording status feedback. Overall the device looks cooler and sleeker than before and yet again isn’t something you would be ashamed to have under your TV.

In the top left corner of the device there is a large button for recording, although it must be connected through your computer, console and TV to function as this is not a HDD storage PVR device.

Around the back of the unit we have a red and green status light, power socket, USB out, AV in that takes the included custom component cable adapter and HDMI in/out ports. below that there is also some light ventilation holes, but I will point out that the device is passively cooled and operates silently.