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

Hauppauge Digital Inc., incorporated on August 2, 1994, is a developer of analog and digital television receiver and other products for the personal computer market. Through the Company’s Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc. and Hauppauge Digital Europe SARL subsidiaries, it designs, develops, manufactures and markets analog, digital and other types of television receivers that allow personal computers (PC) users to watch television on a PC screen in a resizable window. Its products also enable the recording of television shows to a PC’s hard disk, digital video editing, video conferencing, receiving of digital television data transmissions and the display of digital media stored on a computer to a television set via a home network. The Company has administrative offices in Luxembourg, Ireland and Singapore, and has sales offices in Germany, London, Paris, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Taiwan and California. Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s products fall under three product categories: analog television receivers; digital television receivers and combination analog + digital television tuner products and other non-television tuner products.

Analog Television Tuners

The Company’s analog television tuner products enable, among other things, a PC user to watch analog cable television in a resizable window on a PC. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2008 (fiscal 2008), the Company had stopped developing pure analog television tuners, concentrating its engineering resources on Digital television tuners and combination analog and digital television tuners. Its 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, Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s WinTV analog television tunner 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.

Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s WinTV-PVR television recording products include all of the basic features of its analog television tunner products, such as television on the PC screen, channel changing and volume adjustment. They also add the ability to record television shows to disk using a built-in hardware Motion Picture Experts Group 2 (MPEG 2) encoder. In addition, the WinTV-PVR user can pause a live television show and then resume watching the television show at a later time. The maximum amount of recording time and the maximum amount of paused television is dependent upon the hard disk space available on the PC.

Digital Television and Combination Analog and Digital Television Tuner Products

The Company’s digital television tuner products enable, among other things, a PC user to watch digital television in a resizable window on a PC or laptop screen. There are different digital TV standards throughout the world and Hauppauge Digital Inc. develops products to receive on a PC many of these digital television broadcasts. The Company’s WinTV-NOVA-T is a 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. Its WinTV-NOVA-T-500 is a dual tuner DVB-T receiver for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial program, while recording another program. Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s WinTV-NOVA-T-USB2 is an external DVB-T digital television tuner, with dual tuners for both recording of two digital television programs simultaneously or watching one channel, while recording another. Its WinTV-NOVA-T-Stick is a pocket sized external DVB-T tuner for the Company’s European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial television and the listening of digital radio on a PC or laptop.

Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s WinTV-HVR-900-Stick is a pocket-sized external receiver 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-950-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 tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial and analog terrestrial television on a PC in addition to the ability to listen to FM radio and DVB-T radio. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1400, introduced during fiscal 2007, is a dual tuner ExpressCard/54 for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital and analog television on a laptop.

The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1600, is dual tuner PCI receiver for its North American markets, which allows for the viewing of ATSC high definition television and NTSC cable television on a PC. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-1800, introduced is also a dual tuner single slot PCI express receiver for its North American markets, which allows for the viewing of ATSC high definition television, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) television and NTSC cable television on a PC. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-3000 is a tri-mode television tuner PCI-based tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial(DVB-T), satellite (DVB-S) and analog cable television on a PC in addition to the ability to listen to FM radio and DVB-T radio. The Company’s WinTV-HVR-4000 is a quad-mode television tuner PCI-based tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of digital terrestrial (DVB-T), satellite (DVB-S), high-definition digital satellite (DVB-S2) and analog cable television on a PC in addition to the ability to listen to FM radio and DVB-T radio. Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s WinTV-NOVA-S is a DVB-S tuner for its European markets, which allows for the viewing of satellite-based digital programming on a PC. The product also allows for recording and playback of digital TV. Its WinTV-HVR-2250 is a dual tuner PCI-express card. Its WinTV-HVR-2200 MC is a compact, low profile and dual tuner, PCI-Express card that fits in all the Microsoft Vista Home Premium and Ultimate PCs with a PCI-Express 1 x slot.

Other Non-Television Tuner Products

Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s MediaMVP is a Linux-based digital media device. 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. Hauppauge Digital Inc.’s ImpactVCB Video Capture Board (ImpactVCB) is a PCI board for access to digitized video. The Company’s Wing software enables the user to record television shows on a personal computer for playback on the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), Apple iPod and other portable video players. Its WinTV-CI common interface module when coupled with a WinTV card, 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 headsets allow users to listen to the audio produced by their PC or Mac through a wireless over the ear headphone. The XPhone has the ability to broadcast to more than one headphone allowing multiple users to listen to the audio from their PC or Mac.

The Company competes with ATI Technologies Inc., Sony Corp., Toshiba Corporation and Cisco Systems Inc.