Video capture from a supergun

[Icarus]

I'm having a bit of trouble captureing video footage from a supergun, due to the strange framerates and video signals that are outputted by an arcade PCB. The problem I'm having is that, although the RGB card I'm using is detecting the video, the video is actually all in white, with very light grey shadows. The shadows are the on-screen objects such as sprites, titles and so on, and you can see them moving quite clearly. Just no actual colour, or proper signal display

I need help with this as I am trying tofind a solution to capture on one of my two cards without the need for investing in an X-RGB2 to hook up to my VGA-composite convertor. (Already overspent this month )

Can anyone help?

[iatneH]

Do you have a JROK or similar circuit?
Might help to convert the video into a more commonly recognised format (e.g. NTSC composite or S-video) before feeding it into the capture card. It shouldn't matter that the signal quality is worse since I'm sure you'll be compressing it later on anyway.

[Icarus]

Do you have a JROK or similar circuit?
Might help to convert the video into a more commonly recognised format (e.g. NTSC composite or S-video) before feeding it into the capture card. It shouldn't matter that the signal quality is worse since I'm sure you'll be compressing it later on anyway.

I'm not familiar with a JROK. Could you tell me what it is, how cheap, how available? If it helps, I'm using a preconstructed mini-supergun (a MAK to be precise, the ones that pop up on eBay a lot) and it's connected to my regular SCART splitter which feeds SCART to the TV and a composite signal to the capture card.

The SCART splitter works great for consoles, just not with a supergun

[iatneH]

Hmm, I didn't notice that you were in England... PAL conversion & capture is beyond my knowledge, sorry...
I believe the framerate & scanning frequency differences might be causing all the problems, since I got black and white when I tried to play the Ikaruga Appreciate DVD on a presumably PAL television set.

I'm using a JROK for RGB->NTSC convertor, although RGB->PAL units are available. They aren't cheap, however. I think matt mentioned being able to use Sega Genesis systems to do an RGB->composite conversion, but again I don't know how differently things work in PAL territories.

[D]

Try for NTSC setting while capturing, or your pc captering card is just for PAL video! Try it with a PAL console. Then try it with a 60 Hz modded PAL or Japanese console. Or any game you have that can be run in 60 Hz. Dreamcast/GC/PS2/XBOX.

If you can't get the 60 Hz to be captured than you know what the problem is. Sorry if this isn't helping.

[Icarus]

The problem is, it's not capturing in black and white - which is what I would get in PAL 60, or a screwed up PAL-NTSC hybrid which I once had when I tried to capture from a dual-switched UK Saturn - but rather the image is completely white, with only very light grey "shadows" marking the location of sprites and titles and stuff. Almost like someone is etching lineart into a flat metal plate.

The best way I can describe it to you is to actually show you.



This is the Cave logo from the Ibara PCB. And this is the Ibara title screen. (Squint a bit and you can just make it out.)



I've adjsuted the levels a bit on both, but that's basically what my capture cards are receiving. Here's a video clip of the attract sequence (XVID - 4MB), again with adjusted levels to show you what it looks like in motion.

I don't think my cards have any problems, as they both can capture from Japanese and UK consoles (with their native signals - NTSC, NTSC-J, PAL50, PAL60 etc) no problem. It's definitely a signal problem I guess, since the cards are receiving the signal, but don't seem to be able to process it properly. And yes, I've changed the signal to everything I can find, even [Unknown] signal options.

I'm at a loss here. Is there any way I can remedy this problem in a cost-effective manner, or do I have to fork out for an X-RGB2 after all?

[Dave_K.]

Not that this is going to help any, but I have a broken dreamcast that outputs that same kind of picture when using s-video. Composite works fine though (go figure).

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I just use a mini DV camcorder and record the video footage directly off my RGB monitor and burn it to a DVD-R disc. You'd have to manual adjust the mini DV camcorder so that the picture is at it's sharpest when actually recording directly off RGB monitor...otherwise, the picture won't as sharp. Also, disable auto-focus and switch to manual focus so that the DV camcorder doesn't have to auto-focus during portions of the actual arcade PCB game session when it is all "black or white" screen, otherwise, the picture will be a bit out of focus when the image appears again on-screen on the RGB monitor. I had to learn by trial & error of making my own arcade shmup Super Replay DVDs myself.

I used a Supergun that both outputs in NTSC S-Video and native RGB signals and used a 27" TV monitor as the actual game monitor while I had my mini DV camcorder aimed at my 14" RGB monitor for video recording purposes...all this took place inside a dark room for best picture recording purposes.

Then with the burned DVD-R disc, take that and download it to my PC's hard drive to further compress it using two video compression programs to get it compressed even further to fit on a 256MB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo card and watch some cool arcade shmup replay videos on my PSP. That is what I've done with my own NTSC version Ketsui Super Replay DVD-R disc. Honestly, my ESP.ra.de Super Replay DVD-R disc looks better than my Ketsui DVD-R disc as my DV camcorder was set to manual-focus and it looks absolutely razor-sharp (with video capture from a 14" RGB monitor).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Kiken]

I just use a mini DV camcorder and record the video footage directly off my RGB monitor and burn it to a DVD-R disc. You'd have to manual adjust the mini DV camcorder so that the picture is at it's sharpest when actually recording directly off RGB monitor...otherwise, the picture won't as sharp. Also, disable auto-focus and switch to manual focus so that the DV camcorder doesn't have to auto-focus during portions of the actual arcade PCB game session when it is all "black or white" screen, otherwise, the picture will be a bit out of focus when the image appears again on-screen on the RGB monitor. I had to learn by trial & error of making my own arcade shmup Super Replay DVDs myself.

I used a Supergun that both outputs in NTSC S-Video and native RGB signals and used a 27" TV monitor as the actual game monitor while I had my mini DV camcorder aimed at my 14" RGB monitor for video recording purposes...all this took place inside a dark room for best picture recording purposes.

Then with the burned DVD-R disc, take that and download it to my PC's hard drive to further compress it using two video compression programs to get it compressed even further to fit on a 256MB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo card and watch some cool arcade shmup replay videos on my PSP. That is what I've done with my own NTSC version Ketsui Super Replay DVD-R disc. Honestly, my ESP.ra.de Super Replay DVD-R disc looks better than my Ketsui DVD-R disc as my DV camcorder was set to manual-focus and it looks absolutely razor-sharp (with video capture from a 14" RGB monitor).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Why not record directly to the camcorder in VCR mode (assuming your camcorder has video-in)?

You're losing so much fidelity by recording externally rather than via direct input (not to mention the attrocious audio you're going to get). You should NOT be recording replays in this manner.