Windows 7: hauppauge hd pvr

(Not really sure where to put this)
I am trying to capture from my hauppauge hd pvr. I don't want to use the crappy software it comes with (plus it wont install, I click install and nothing happens). I have tried to capture from it with Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Pro and On Location but I can't get it to work, am I missing something. What software will let me capture from it?
Thanks

It would be good to know what model Hauppauge you are playing with. Is it a PCI card, PCI-e, external dongle, external box?

You need to install drivers for the card. Is that done? Hauppage has Windows 7 drivers for most of their current products.

To set up and configure the card it is recommended that you install the Hauppauge WinTV software. This also has to be the most current version for Windows 7. If you have an older card and are trying to use the CD then that may explain why it won't even start. It also won't start if it can't find a card - and the card does not exist until it's drivers are properly installed.

After the card is installed and configured you can then install and use a more robust program for using it. You need to check to see if the card is compatible with the software.

I use SageTV for my Hauppauge cards. For no other reason then I started with it, know it well, and don't want to change. But it is one program that works well with almost all Hauppauge cards without effort.

Hope that helps.

It is a USB box.
I managed to somehow get the software installed but as I was expecting it is slow, buggy, and crashes very often.
What is another program I can use to capture from a USB capture card?

It would be good to know what model number Hauppauge you are playing with.

It would also help to know what version driver you have installed, and what version of the software too.

I am using the Hauppauge HD PVR, the gray one not black one (I don't think there is a difference though). http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
The drivers are the latest (downloaded from Hauppauge website after installing form the CD)
The software is also up to date (version 2.0.45.11)

The software (Arcsoft Total Media Extreme) definetely isn't crappy, i've been using it since i've had my PVR and it's been perfect. If you want, you can use Sony Vegas Pro (8,9,10 & 11)'s inbuilt recording module.

I wonder why it keeps crashing for me. Strange

You may have a bad driver installation.

With the PVR connected and on, Go to Control Panel > Programs and find the Hauppage driver program (if listed) and uninstall it from there. If there is no listing for the driver then just uninstall all of the other software.

If the driver is not in Programs then go to Device Manager and find the PVR listing there, go to the Driver Tab and uninstall the driver. After the driver and all software is removed unplug the unit from the PC.

Now here is where you have some decisions. It would be best to use System Restore to restore the computer to a date before you first installed the PVR. If that date was too long ago then forget it.

You could use a program like CCLeaner to find and remove any remnants of the program if System Restore is not an option.

Then download (again if you have it - some downloads get corrupted) the "HD PVR Driver Version 1.6.29277" from the Hauppauge website.

If it were me I would try to install the driver first, then plug in the USB cable from the PVR (contrary to the Installation Instructions in the Quick Start Guide). Otherwise Windows may just find the old driver file from the Driver Store and reinstall it.

The unit should not crash your system. You need to be sure it is installed and operating correctly in Windows before you tackle the Operational issue.

OK, so new issue:
The program is working fine after re installing drivers and program. I was able to convert 2 tapes without issue (not sure if I said it yet but I am using this to capture from a 8mm tape camera to convert to DVDs). After those two tapes is when trouble happened. For the next 5 tapes it will randomly lag. The camera screen shows the tape playing without issue but the computer shows the footage lagging, frozen, skipping frames, etc. It will randomly do this but it seems to happen most when the camera stopped recording and started again. I replayed the first two tapes that worked fine the first time and they both lagged, I re-installed drivers and updated and it still lags. Not sure what is going on but it is very annoying. Does anyone have any ideas?

This sounds like a connection - data transfer - problem.

The 8mm camera (film?), projector, device, or whatever you are using is connected to the PVR in some fashion that I can only imagine sitting over here. What are you using to connect the two? A USB cable? Firewire? What is the 8mm camera, projector's transfer rate? (MBs/sec)

I would stop trying to reinstall the driver though. The PVR's driver just makes the PVR work in Windows, it will not correct the functioning of the PVR when interfacing with other equipment. You need to focus on the capabilities of the PVR and the camera/projector (or whatever it is that you are using).