Hauppauge Colossus Review (with Playstation 3)

1. Introduction2. Hauppauge Colossus3. Win TV 7 Software4. Hauppauge Colossus In Action (With Playstation 3)5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

As our focal point of this review is to record video from a Playstation 3, we had to buy a special Component Cable, which cost £10 from Maplins. As we found out, due to copyright issues, the video signal from the Playstation 3 over HDMI is scrambled, and can't be used for recording.

The cables from the Playstation 3 can be connected into the supplied A/V input cable as shown above.

We had no problems installing the card or getting the drivers and software operational. The only tricky bit is the initial setup with the console. If like us, you use your Playstation 3 over HDMI, then you must also connect a component cable, hooked into the specialised converter cable (supplied), to the A/V input port on the Colossus.

We had the Playstation 3 connected simultaneously to a television via HDMI and the component output on the Playstation 3 to the PC via the Hauppauge Colossus. There is a time limit for confirmation when changing the video output system on the Playstation 3, so it is best loading Win TV V7 beforehand, with the ‘component' input window highlighted.

If you fail to get a signal via the Colossus over Win TV V7, don't panic. Without manual intervention the Playstation 3 will revert back to the HDMI signal shortly, reactivating the display on your television.

The video above highlights the settings we used (remember don't tick 1080p). Once these are changed, the HDMI TV signal from the Playstation 3 will disable (it can't output HDMI and Component together). The next stage is to look at the Win TV V7 program window and confirm the video output change with your Playstation 3 controller. If you don't accept the output change in time, then the signal will re-enable over HDMI (and disable over the Colossus). Start from scratch again!

Above, a recording from the Playstation 3 at 1080i to the Hauppauge Colossus (this game only runs at 720p). The audio on some of these videos have been disabled due to legal copyright reasons. Our main interest however is the video output quality which is first class and perfectly reproducible for online demands. Due to the nature of the device, when playing a game there is a small lag between moving the controller and the actions on screen taking place.

We got a response to this ‘lag'. (since we published there is a new guide for setup over here)

With any HD capturing device on the PC screen you will have a delay because it is encoding and capturing, that is why it has an additional output that connects to the

LCD / TV for the Live preview / Game play. On the computer you will always have the slight delay (This is capturing) and on the TV it should show Live in real-time.

Colossus Input/Output diagram: http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_colossus.html

Above, a clip from one of the Star Wars movies which was transcoded over from our Bluray disc to the Playstation 3 within an MKV container at 1080p. The image quality is very good. We also created a Transformers video, if you wish to head over here. (embedding has been disabled for copyright reasons).

If you want to see the image quality with a .ts file, directly from the Playstation 3 via the Colossus, then grab the 64MB file from here.

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