MissingRemote reports that the Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 dual-tuner USB CableCARD box has passed CableLabs certification and will sell for just $129. Pre-orders start Monday, and it will ship in late June.

Also shipping in late June, the SiliconDust HD HomeRun PRIME will come in two models. The HDHR3-CC is a three tuner box selling for $249.99, while the HDHR3-6CC-3X2 is a six tuner box selling for $499.99. Both are available for pre-order now.

Still a bit more nebulous Ceton Corp, which recently finally shipped their much anticipated InfiniTV 4 internal quad-tuner CableCARD card, also announced a InfiniTV 4 USB model back at CES. Given that they’ve finally started shipping the internal model, and the competition is about to ship their USB tuners, I have to expect this will see the light of day sometime soon.

Just in time to take advantage of the newly updated tuning adapters. I’m sure PC-based DVR enthusiasts will line up for these products if they deliver on their promises.

* For those with an online order # of 32700-33600 you’re first in line – your HD-PVR should ship by Mid-May 2008
* For those with an online order # of 33601-34600 you’re second in line – your HD-PVR should ship by the end of May 2008
* If you’re order number is after 34600, it will likely be after May 2008.

So if you’re waiting on your order, you’ll have to be a patient a while longer.

And I think that catches it all up.

Additionally, the $249 add-on will not initially work with Windows Media Center, due to the latter’s lack of H.264 video support. Though support is planning for sometime later this summer. Brent hypothesizes that H.264 will be included in the ‘Fiji’ Windows Media Center update, which is now entering beta, and appears to be supporting the DirecTV HD PC tuner. DirecTV is, of course, using MPEG-4/H.264 for their new HD channels.

Now Rakesh has posted a number of details in the SnapStream Blog. He writes that it will encode 1080p component video as H.264 at a bit rates from 1Mbps up to 25Mbps, and it includes Hauppauge’s standard IR blaster library to control set top boxes. The design is based around an all-in-one chip from Ambarella and the design is almost finalized, they’re just working on the final case design. Similar chips from Ambarella are used in HD camcorders. The chip in the HD PVR also has an H.264 decoder, and the HD PVR will have a video out, but it will probably not be enabled when the box ships. As with all HD content, you’ll need a reasonably powerful PC to play the recordings.

A tip of the hat to Brent Evans at Zatz Not Funny for catching this.

As I said the other day, chip technology has hit the point where component input DVRs are economically feasible. They’re still going to be a bit more expensive than other products, but the pricing will come down over time. I did discuss these developments with TiVo, with respect to possibly seeing an HD TiVo with component input. There are no official plans at this time, but they acknowledge that the chips are there with some very interesting capabilities. But also that if anything were to appear that takes advantage of the new chips, it would probably be a while. My gut feeling is that we might see something along those lines from TiVo at CES 2009. And it would be based on the TiVo HD platform, which is becoming TiVo’s primary platform for product development.

The press release:

Jan 10, 2008 14:56

Hauppauge Demonstrates New Affordable High Definition Video Recorder for PCs

‘HD PVR’ records video from HD cable TV or satellite boxes into H.264 in real time. Includes Hauppauge’s IR blaster for scheduled TV recordings.

LAS VEGAS –(Business Wire)– Jan. 10, 2008 2008 International CES, South Hall 4 – Booth #35328 — Hauppauge Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAUP), the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of analog and digital TV receiver products for personal computers, demonstrated at CES 2008 for the first time their ‘HD PVR’, a USB personal video recorder which can record high definition TV video into H.264 in real time.

The HD PVR can connect to high definition cable TV or satellite TV set top box receivers, and uses it’s on-board H.264 hardware encoder to record high definition TV programs in an ISO standard HD H.264 AVC format in real time. The connections to the set top boxes are made via component cables, also referred to as ‘YPrPb’ or the red/blue/green connectors on HD set top boxes. The HD PVR includes a video player application which allows the recorded TV programs to be played back on a PC screen.

To enable automatic recording of TV programs, the HD PVR recorder includes Hauppauge’s IR Blaster, which controls the channels on most popular cable and satellite TV set top boxes in North America and Europe, and will allow users to schedule the recording of their HD programs. The IR Blaster is also used on Hauppauge’s WinTV-PVR-150 and WinTV-HVR-1600 TV receivers.

In addition to high definition ISO standard H.264 recordings, the Hauppauge HD PVR can also create AVCHD recordings, which is the format used on Blu-ray high definition players. As part of the software applications which will be shipped with Hauppauge’s HD encoder, a DVD burning application will be provided which can take AVCHD formatted recordings and burn them onto a conventional DVD disc. These discs can then be played in Blu-ray DVD players. About 2 hours of Blu-ray HD content can be recorded on a 4.7 GByte DVD disk.

The HD PVR will be available in Q1 2008, with a suggested retail price of $249.

About Hauppauge

Hauppauge Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAUP) is a leading developer and manufacturer of digital TV and data broadcast receiver products for personal computers. Through its Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc. and Hauppauge Digital Europe subsidiaries, the Company designs and develops digital video boards for TV-in-a-window, digital video editing and video conferencing. The Company is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, with administrative offices in New York, Singapore, Taiwan, Ireland and Luxembourg and sales offices in Germany, London, Paris, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Singapore and California. The Company’s Internet web site can be found at http://www.hauppauge.com. Hauppauge and WinTV are registered trademarks of Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc. Other product or service names herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Press:
SSPR
Belinda Banks, 609-750-9110
belinda@sspr.com