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Retro Encabulator - Nothing to do with HDTV but pretty funny!

  

The people at Gefen have come up with a new PVR that will record from your DVR or Set Top Box via the HDMI connection in HD! The only caveat is that the content encoded with HDCP can not be moved off of the internal hard drive. The Gefen EXT-HD-PVR is available at the HT Guys Store and sells for $825.

Features:

• Video recording and playback at resolutions of 480i to 1080i

• Single-Button Instant Recording to SD Flash Media or Internal Hard Disk Drive

• Pause, Mute, Fast Forward & Fast Backwards playback controls

• Programmable unattended recording

Set up took us two minutes. Connect the HDMI cable from your source (the PVR accepts two HDMI, one Component, and one composite input) and one to your TV and your set. We were recording to the internal hard drive in a matter of seconds. You have the option of recording to the internal drive or a Secure Digital Flash drive. You can also copy a recording from the internal drive to the SD flash drive as long as the recording is not HD or copy protected. If you want to get an unprotected HD recording off the DVR it must be recorded directly to the SD drive.

You can set the player to record programs in a way that is reminiscent of VCRs. You set a date and a time for the PVR to turn on for how long to record. There is a IR Blaster that can be used to turn on and set a set top box to the correct channel for recording. You can also take a SD card from your digital camera and insert it into the SD card slot and look at pictures via the HD-PVR.

The following table outlines what you can record on the internal 80GB hard drive:

Recordings made on EX mode looked very good when watched back on the 65 in Mitsubishi DLP. Normal quality was about equivalent to the HD AppleTV downloads and Economic was similar to DVD. SuperEco was almost DVD quality
 
The Gefen HD-PVR includes decoder software which allows you to play your recorded movies on your Windows computer. You will still need Windows Media Player to watch the movies. The files are recorded as .mp4 files which should play just fine on the Macintosh but we couldn't get our Mac to read the SD card. The Mac reported that it was an unreadable format.

Some things to consider. The PVR does not support Dolby Digital 5.1 audio so your recordings will only be in Stereo. The GUI is a bit rough but functional. The remote is a bit complicated and button layout is not intuitive.

Conclusion:
The Gefen PVR does what Gefen says it will with good results. We would have liked to see Dolby Digital audio and the ability to take a SD card and plug it directly into the Mac. The price is a little steep for what you get but if you want to record HD via HDMI, this is the way to go. If you want to move the content to your PC make sure what you are recording is not copy protected. Another plus is that the unit is small enough to take take with you to a friends house. It is roughly the size of a Mac Mini, so if you want to watch a copy protected recording on the internal drive you can easily take the PVR with you.

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