You pop in your favorite shooter, whether it be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, or Battlefield 3. You’re locked in. You’re ready. You play a match online.
Headshot after headshot, frag after frag, you go above and beyond, decimating the other team. This is probably the best match you’ve had in a long time, and you wish that other people were sitting right next to you watching your skills translate to leaderboard domination. The sad part? No one was actually watching you play. Save for your online leaderboard or match history, no one will know just how hard you conquered. If only there was a way you could record your gaming sessions in beautiful, eye-popping HD…
But wait! You’ve heard of HD PVRs, right? They allow you to record audio/video straight from your console to your PC.
We recently looked into what PVR would suit us best based on performance and usability. We heard good things about the Hauppauge HD PVR Gaming Edition PVR, and some of us have even used the kit before (like to review Killzone 3) with success. The fine folks at Hauppauge sent us a kit to try out, and we did just that.
We’re happy to report that using the Hauppauge Gaming Edition PVR is as simple as can be. With Arcsoft Showbiz — basic recording software for your PC — packed in, there’s really no room for getting lost.
That’s actually what turned us on to the kit the most; how simple it was to use. Once you follow a simple step-by-step guide on how to connect your PVR kit to your console and PC, you simply install the Arcsoft application, and then you’re good to go.
We can go into deep detail about the built-in H.264 high definition encoder, the different options for audio inputs, and even how the recording datarates fare (which go up to 13.5Mbs), but that’s not what we’re about. We’re not trying to sell you on specs, just simply the fact that this PVR kit is simple to use, affordable, and highly functional.
Need more proof? Check out our recording of inFamous: Festival of Blood below. We were able to get this up and ready in less than 30 minutes.
So if you want to share your gaming sessions on YouTube or Facebook, create your own video reviews, or want to record for any other reason, make sure to check out the Hauppauge Gaming Edition PVR. The kit retails for $190 – $200, and can be found at most major retailers (Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, etc…) both in-stores and online.