what to use for capturing video games (old/current gen) ?

akumajo · Post by **akumajo** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:11 pm

hello guys

i'm looking for a solution to capture video/sounds of old and current generations console

my consoles have various ouput such as SVIDEO, SCART RGB, YUV, VGA and HDMI.

internal capture card, external capture box, hdd/dvd recorded, any idea ?

thanks

Fudoh · Post by **Fudoh** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:56 pm

External boxes compared to internal cards have one disadvantage: they use a fixed codec with often fixed bitrates. The current devices use h or x.264 which can be tricky on older PC systems and which has to be converted if your end format is DVD.

Next up you have to draw a line between SD and HD capture. SD is Video, S-Video and Component Video or RGBs. HD is HD component or HDMI. RGBs input is very rare though.

Nice devices for SD include:

- Sweetspot capture card (Video, S-Video, RGBs and YUV capture) PCI
- Holograph 3D I or II (Video, S-Video, RGBs and YUV capture) PCI
- Blackmagic Video Rekorder (USB Stick with vid, s-vid & component capture)

HD goes over the external ones

- Happauge PVR (external with component HD)
- Hava machines (external with component HD

and to to the internal cards:

- Blackmagic Intensity Pro (HDMI + Component & Vid & S-Vid)

The SD devices named above take 240p and 480i, the Blackmagic does the same and uses 720p and 1080i in addition. Note that you cannot capture HDMI PS3 because of the HDCP protection.

Also note that none of of the internal cards named will capture 480p, but remember that DVD for example is 480i anyway.

I've used a bunch of the above. If you have questions ask

I've also got a Holo II setup for sale, but that might be overkill for your needs.

PS: DVD/HDD Rekoders are nice for SD as well, but it's usually hard to exchange the material with a PC for editing reasons. There's also the NTSC/PAL problem. The devices above all support NTSC and PAL.

akumajo · Post by **akumajo** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:09 pm

hello fudoh

interesting stuff

hum, i'm not sure if its possible to capture from xrgb3 vga output to any of these devices

for ps3, i could use YUV cable to capture ?

Post by **Dave_K.** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:46 pm

Fudoh wrote:The SD devices named above take 240p and 480i, the Blackmagic does the same and uses 720p and 1080i in addition.

Why Blackmagic Intensity Pro supports SD as well as 720p and 1080i, but not 480p is idiotic.

I was not aware of the Blackmagic Video Rekorder, I'll have to check that one out.

zakk · Post by **zakk** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:30 pm

Dave_K. wrote:
Fudoh wrote:The SD devices named above take 240p and 480i, the Blackmagic does the same and uses 720p and 1080i in addition.

Why Blackmagic Intensity Pro supports SD as well as 720p and 1080i, but not 480p is idiotic.

I was not aware of the Blackmagic Video Rekorder, I'll have to check that one out.

Because nothing in their target market does 480p, which is hilarious.

I find the combination of a Hauppauge HD-PVR and a VP30 captures pretty much everything acceptably. Even things with weird vertical refresh. Of course as soon as I got something that captures RFJet correctly the port came out.

Post by **system11** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:36 am

I use a Blackmagic to capture on the 360 - something worth noting, if you watch a film on the 360, it'll turn HDCP on and your screen will go crazy.

I actually use mine with a splitter, so everything is up on the TV as well as being captured. The splitter can cope fine with 1080P but I run the 360 at 720P so the capture can be progressive.

Example:
http://psu.system11.org/screenshots/miyu_moatoob.png