Profile: Hauppauge Digital, Inc. (HAUP.O)

Hauppauge Digital Inc., incorporated on August 2, 1994, is a developer of analog and digital television tuner and other products for the personal computer (PC) market. Through the Company’s Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc., Hauppauge Digital Europe Sarl and PCTV Systems Sarl subsidiaries, the Company designs, develops, manufactures and markets analog, digital and other types of television tuners and other devices that allow PC users to watch television on a PC screen in a resizable window. The Company’s products also enable the recording of television shows to a PC’s hard disk, receiving of digital television data transmissions and the display of digital media stored on a computer to a television set via a home network. On December 24, 2008, PCTV Systems Sarl and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired certain assets and properties of Avid Technology, Inc. (Avid), Pinnacle Systems, Inc., (Pinnacle), Avid Technology GmbH, Avid Development GmbH and Avid Technology International BV. The Company’s products fall under three product categories: Analog television tuners, Digital television tuners and combination analog plus digital television tuner products, and Other non-television tuner products.

Analog TV Tuners

The Company’s analog television tuner products enables a PC user to watch analog cable television in a resizable window on a PC. The Company’s WinTV analog television tuner products include cable-ready television tuners with automatic channel scan and a video digitizer, which allows the user to capture still and motion video images. Some of the Company’s analog television tuner products allow the user to listen to frequency modulation (FM) radio, video-conference over the Internet (with the addition of a camera or camcorder), and control these functions with a handheld remote control. In Europe, the Company’s WinTV analog television tuner products can be used to receive teletext data broadcasts, which allow the reception of digital data that is transmitted along with the live television signal.

The Company’s WinTV-PVR TV recording products include all of the basic features of its analog television tuner products, such as television on the PC screen, channel changing and volume adjustment. The WinTV-PVR user can record a television show to the hard disk using a television scheduler and then play the recording back, edit it and record the show onto a compact disc (CD)-read only memory (ROM) or digital versatile disc (DVD)- read only memory (ROM), using a CD or DVD writer. The Company’s WinTV-PVR products also provides replay and are available in both internal and external universal serial bus (USB) models. The Company provides Microsoft certified Media Center drivers for these products to PC manufacturers and resellers for integration into their Windows XP Media Center PC systems.

Digital TV and Combination Analog plus Digital TV Tuner Products

The Company’s digital television tuner products enable a PC user to watch digital television in a resizable window on a PC or laptop screen. The Company’s has a range of external television tuners called television sticks. Television tuner sticks are used for mobile PC users and others who want the flexibility to simply insert a USB television tuner and watch television on their screen. The Company’s WinTV-NOVA products are digital only televisin tuners for PCs. They support a range of digital television and come in either an internal or external form factor.

The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-T is a digital video broadcasting - terrestrial (DVB-T) digital terrestrial tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial television and listening to digital radio on a PC. The product also allows recording of digital television and radio to a hard drive. The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-T-500 is a dual tuner DVB-T tuner for its European markets, which uses diversity technology and allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial programs while recording another program.

The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-T-USB2 is an external high performance DVB-T digital television tuner, with dual tuners for recording of two digital television programs simultaneously or watching one channel, while recording another. The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-T television tuner stick is a pocket sized external DVB-T tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial televisin and the listening of digital radio on a PC or laptop. The product also allows recording of digital television and radio to a hard drive.

The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-TD stick is a pocket-sized external DVB-T tuner for its European markets, employs diversity technology with the use of two antennas to maximize the reception for the viewing of digital terrestrial television on a PC or laptop. The Company’s WinTV-Aero stick is a small external DVB-T tuner with a built-in telescoping antenna for its European markets, which allows a user to watch and record DVB-T digital television programs. The Company’s WinTV-Ministick is a small and portable external DVB-T tuner for its European markets, which allows a user to watch and record digital television programs on a netbook, laptop or desktop computer.

The Company’s WinTV-HVR products are combinations of both digital television and analog television tuners on an internal television tuner board or external USB television tuner. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-900 stick is a pocket sized external tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial and analog terrestrial television on a PC or laptop. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-930C stick is a triple mode external tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital cable television and radio, digital terrestrial television and radio and analog cable or analog terrestrial television on a PC or laptop.

The Company’s WinTV-HVR-950Q stick is a pocket sized external tuner for its North American markets, which allows for the viewing of advanced television systems committee (ATSC) high definition television and national television system committee (NTSC) cable television on a PC or laptop. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1100 and WinTV-HVR-1300 are peripheral component interconnect (PCI) based tuners for its European markets, which are designed to be installed inside a desktop PC. These TV tuners allow the viewing of digital terrestrial and analog terrestrial television on a PC screen, in addition to listening to FM radio and DVB-T radio through a PC’s audio system.

The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1400 and WinTV-HVR-1500 are dual tuner ExpressCard/54 cards designed for notebook computers with ExpressCard/54millimeter expansion slots. These television tuners are for analog and digital television watching and recording on laptop computers, and allow the recording of digital programs to a hard drive in moving picture experts group (MPEG)-2 format and the recording of analog programs. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1600 is a PCI combination analog and digital television tuner for its North American market. The WinTV-HVR-1600 is installed in an internal PCI slot in a desktop PC and allows the watching and recording of ATSC high definition television and NTSC cable TV.

The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1800 is a combination analog and digital PCI Express television tuner for its North American market. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-3000 is a tri-mode PCI based television tuner for its European markets. The WinTV-HVR-3000 is installed in a desktop PC and allows watching and recording of digital terrestrial (DVB-T), satellite (DVB-S) and analog cable television, in addition to the ability to listen to FM radio and DVB-T radio. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-4000 is a quad-format PCI based television tuner for its European markets.

The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-S is a low cost DVB-S tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of satellite based digital programming on a PC. The Company’s HD PVR is a high-definition video recorder for making real-time compressed recordings at resolutions up to 1080i. The HD PVR records component video from cable television and satellite set top boxes. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1950 is an external USB based television tuner for the PC or laptop. The WinTV-HVR-1950 allows to watch, pause and record analog cable television, clear quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) digital cable television or ATSC over-the-air digital television at up to 1080i resolution.

The Company’s WinTV-HVR-2200 and WinTV-HVR-2250 products are dual tuner PCI Express based television tuners designed to be installed in a desktop PC. These PCI Express boards allow a PC user to watch, pause or record two analog or digital television programs at the same time. The Company’s PCTV products allow Windows or Macintosh users to view television programming on their computers. The Company’s PCTV line consists of a family of USB sticks with a small form factor well-suited for use with laptops and PCI-based cards more appropriate for desktop users, in addition to PCI cards for use in desktop computers.

Other Non-TV Tuner Products

The Company’s other non-television tuner products include MediaMVP, video capture products, software recording products, WinTV-CI common interface module and Xfones wireless headphones for PCs and Macs. The Company’s MediaMVP is a linux-based digital media device and is a PC product, which links television sets and PCs. Media, such as music, digital pictures and digital videos are transmitted from the PC, where they are stored to the MediaMVP, where they are converted from a digital format into an analog format, enabling playback on a television connected to the MediaMVP. The Company’s MediaMVP enables a user to watch and listen to PC-based videos, music and pictures on a television set through a home network. The Company’s MediaMVP also provides an on-television-screen display of media directory listings.

The Company’s ImpactVCB Video Capture Board (ImpactVCB) is a PCI board for access to digitized video. Designed for PC-based video conferencing and video capture in industrial applications, the ImpactVCB features live video-in-a-window, still image capture and drivers for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT and Windows 98. The Company’s USB Live is used to watch video, grab images and video conference on the PC with the addition of a camera.

The Company’s Wing software enables the user to record television shows on a PC for playback on the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), Apple iPod and other portable video players. Wing can also convert existing television recordings to the PSP and iPod formats. The Company’s WinTV-CI common interface module when coupled with a WinTV card, Camcorder (CAM) and SmartCard subscription allows the user to watch pay television channels, such as movies and sporting events, on a user’s WinTV application. The Company’s Xfones wireless headphones allow users to listen to the audio produced by their PC or Mac through a wireless over the ear headphone.

The Company competes with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sony Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc.