When I purchased the Hauppauge HD PVR 60 at PAX East 2017, it seemed like a rightly priced solution to my capture card conundrum. The ability to stream and record at 1080p60 was a necessity for me in the long run, and I simply didn’t have the option to. The question remained, however, whether the Hauppauge HD PVR 60 would fulfill that need or if I would have to go elsewhere for my streaming and recording needs.
Peripheral Name: Hauppauge HD PVR 60
Platform: Windows
Manufacturer: Hauppauge Computer Works
Price: $149.99
Allow me to be frank from the start. The Hauppauge HD PVR 60 is not ready for primetime. There is a lot good about this device, don’t get me wrong. However, there is one glaring flaw that keeps eating at me. Before we get into that, let’s talk about the box itself.
The HD PVR 60 isn’t the smallest capture device out there. The box measures 6″ x 6″ x 1.5″ and weighs 11 ounces, which is quite bulky compared to the Elgato HD60 and the AverMedia Live Gamer Portable 2 PLUS. The back of the device shows three ports: a USB Type B port, HDMI In, and HDMI Out. The HD PVR 60 also has a hot button on the top right corner for one-touch recording and an indicator LED strip around three sides of the box.
The device sports onboard H.264 encoding, relieving your CPU of resources when recording footage via the Hauppauge Capture software. Other features include SkipBack for archival recordings of up to 17 hours of back recording and straight-to-YouTube exporting. While all of these are intriguing, the one thing that the box has going for itself is recording footage.
The HD PVR 60 can record at up to 1080p60 & 16 Mbps. The recordings are generally clear and smooth at this frame rate with no artifacts, and that in itself isn’t impressive, but to be expected. The real trouble with this device comes with streaming. Only does the HD PVR 60 not stream at 1080p60 through its own proprietary software, there is no support for the device via XSplit or OBS. Hauppage offers its own solution via screen capture, but that adds an additional step that should not be there.
It’s an embarrassment that their supposed “high-end” device still doesn’t offer out-of-the-box streaming software support after two years. Other devices in the same price range, as well as older devices in the HD PVR line, have full support in OBS/XSplit.
I was quite disappointed by this development during my testing. Yes, the Hauppauge Capture software has streaming support, but it’s limited to YouTube Gaming, Twitch, and UStream. Given that there are other streaming platforms out there, this could be frustrating for those who prefer those platforms.
The streaming itself isn’t very good either. The software definitely lacks optimization, and without external capture software support, you’re simply out of luck when it comes to any real options. Even though I paid $100 for the device, I still feel like I’ve been overcharged for mediocre technology.
2.5
Summary
Hauppauge has a lot to do to make the HD PVR 60 worth what they’re charging for it. Mediocre, outdated software, lack of support for the most popular streaming programs, and a poorly implemented proprietary streaming option after two years on the market definitely says a lot about Hauppauge’s place in the streaming hierarchy. Once they fix the glaring issues, I think this device will be worth the $150 asking price.
