Setting up a HD Recording setup, Why, How, Results. Updated!

[dieKatze88]

Now, I show Otomedius in the tutorial, which doesn't really need a live recording solution. No, with Otomedius, You're free to just save a recording (Unless you want to record Multiplayer Mode... in which case, keep reading!). However, I am putting this tutorial for people playing games that may not feature such a playback mode. I used Otomedius because I was familiar enough with the game to be able to tell if there was lag on the video converter or not. Hint: I'm using the converter I am because it doesn't have lag.

Why?
Well, Who the hell wants to watch shitty video quality on the internet? I for one, enjoy being able to see 720p clips of Otomedius Gorgeous, or for that matter, EVERYTHING ELSE. Let's put a stop to this horrible video quality for super plays and self improvement, when we can all easily afford the parts involved. Screw watching Low quality 480i clips of Xbox 360 games, Screw watching 480i clips of PS2 games that support 480p! We have HD, and we're going to take it.

How?
First, some background.
Digital Or Analog?
Trick Question. The correct answer is "Analog"
Why?
1. Only the Xbox 360 supports Digital (HDMI), and it needs to be hot-plugged EVERY time you turn the console on. Also, Not all of us have HDMI capable 360s. It also makes That whole "Lagless display" bit a tiny tad more complicated, as then you have to have capable display hardware, which is easier if you can drag in a VGA monitor.
2. Every OTHER console doesn't support Digital. So your Gradius V super play isn't going to happen via HDMI even if you do have a backward compatible PS3, because the PS3 outputs HDMI with HDCP at all times. The 360 only enables HDCP during HDDVD Playback, so we don't need to worry about it.

So, Analog then. Analog is exactly what what we need in this case.

Now then. Stuff I know you're gonna need:
1x Avermedia AVerTV HD PVR. Newegg Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815100049
It's good and its cheaper than a Hauppauge HD PVR, it also fits inside your computer, which means less crap laying around your computer, which if you saw my desk you would agree, is a good thing.
1x Chinese-As-All-Get-Out Video Converter. JAMMA Boards Link: http://www.jammaboards.com/store/cga/eg ... d_291.html They're on Ebay too, cheaper, usually. Single output versions of this board exist, but I use the dual monitor jazz to do cool things. You'll need a Power supply for this. Hint: a Zip Drive power supply matches voltage, polarity, and amperage. Oh yeah, you probably have one laying around and they come in European Configurations too.
OR
1x Some other lagless YPbPr to VGA converter. I think there's a couple by Extron. You could use an XRGB if you had one, or something that's just better. Look, the converter I picked out was reasonably priced, and when it showed up, it did the job.
OR
1x HDTV Near your computer. But you guys are with me in the scheme of things about lagging TVs, so you probably don't want to do this at all.
1x Component cables for your favorite game console. The Xbox 360 comes with them, Everything else doesn't. I am using a set by Gamestop that has ends for the Wii, PS2/3, and 360 so I have to do a whole lot less editing of the wiring to play different consoles. This cable costs 15 dollars, and is actually good compared to their previous offerings. So Unless you already own first party cables from everyone else, buy a set of these. Outside the USA? Contact me, I'll help you get it done.
1x VGA Cable - You'll need this to connect your Video adapter to your monitor if you have a flat screen. Otherwise, connect your monitor directly.
5 to 7x RCA Splitters. (Depends on your installation for audio) You need 2 male ends if you plan on putting the converter behind your computer in a hard to reach place (Read: Don't do this) If you decide to put the converter board where you can touch it (Read: Do this, it's Important) then you need two FEMALE ends on each splitter, and some RCA cables to move the fight away from the back of your computer. This solution is wildly preferred if you can spare the 15 bucks to buy these things (I consider this to be a pretty big possibility if you are buying these expensive components).
1x Speaker Solution. You will need to connect your audio out to some kind of lagless speakers if you're using a computer monitor. You Figure it the hell out, it's RCA Audio, you guys aren't dumb.

OK, Got your major purchases out of the way? Shipped? Arrived? Great.

Step 1. Install your HD PVR card.
You know the drill, Open the PC, Insert into PCI Express Slot, Install latest drivers from website. It isn't fun, but it's gotta be done.

Step 2. Get to know your Upscaler.
If you got the Chinese-O-Matic device I suggested, you had better. This thing comes up in Chinese by default, you had better change that to English. Use the Menu key, push down 4 times, push Menu again. Self Explanatory from this point. Plug your Console up to the converter, learn how to switch inputs (Left key, I think. I set mine and promptly forgot. Try them all) and make sure you're getting picture. You managed a picture? Great. Play with the other controls to make it look right. You're going to have to stare at that picture when you're playing, so you had better fix the fact that out of the box, that converter has some of the worst picture in the world (Quick tweaks make it pretty though) so fix it now, when it'll be less complicated to fix it.

Step 3. Do something really intelligent. (Don't skip this step even though you technically can)
If you're like me, you probably have a really nice comfortable spot where your arcade stick lives that you sit when you're playing video games, and it probably isn't right next to your computer. Get some RCA extension cords, spend the money for component colored ones, and run those to your HD PVR. That way, you don't have to crawl behind your desk and all that Jazz to get new stuff connected. Get ones long enough to run to where your converter lives, You'll be much happier that way.

Step 4. Test the HD PVR.
Connect your console to those extension cables and test that you get picture, etc on your computer. You'll need this step to work, for obvious reasons. When you've done that, you're ready for everything. Familiarize yourself with the software at this time, adjust your image quality.

Step 5. Split using the splitters, and get to doing what you need to do. You want to connect the AV cable from your console to the splitters, and then to both your extension cables and your Upscaler. Remember to match colors and make sure you don't confuse "Red" from "Right Audio" because that might create a unreasonably uncool situation. Make sure you get a picture on both the lagless display, and your Computer, make sure that picture is reasonable. Make sure you get audio in both places, make sure it doesn't sound like complete garbage.

Step 6. Play some games. Press the record button when you want to start, push it again when you want to stop.

Now this thing spits out huge MPEG2s that are easy on the eyes and terrible to playback in real time, you'll have to re-encode them. At a later date and time I'll add a tutorial on using MediaCoder to accomplish this. Plus, they're Huge. If you want to upload them to youtube or some other website, a bigass mpeg 2 file that can't be played back on a pretty nice machine like mine probably isn't what you want. You PROBABLY want something a TINY bit smaller and more useful.

However, some of you may remember this that I posted in the Otomedius Gorgeous thread when someone wanted to know how to download replays? In case you forgot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ38sUQJO_o

This card did this, and is outputting the same quality with this extra stuff connected, except its doing it on two screens. Both appear to be real time, but you can use 1080i into the capture device to get better quality and play lagless on the display. This provides a great solution, no lag, and at a total cost of less than 200 dollars. Considering what people have done in the past to record games in SD, a 200 dollar investment to record games in HD doesn't seem too bad to me.

[dieKatze88]

Mediacoder is a fickle beast. The one rule to remember, is that every time you start this program, you go into the file menu and select "Resvert all settings"

If you can remember to do that, you'll be golden.

Now, almost every single time you start this application, It's going to want to update. MediaCoder moves quite quickly in terms of updates, you don't always have to update, but if you're having problems, or if you want the latest codecs which have the potential to be faster, you should update fairly regularly. That being said, I haven't updated in like 6 months on my desktop and I'm still fine. I'm sure If I updated I'd be much happier, but I'm lazy.

OK, when you use Mediacoder, you are given a file list that you should add your recordings to, and the encode settings below that. The Left side selects the big settings you want to use, Codec, bitrate, things that don't change between different codecs and encoders, the right side is where you fine tune things.

Now I took a random stab in the dark in terms of getting the right codec settings, but you're starting with a 2+ gb MPEG file for anything longer than a stage or so at 720p, so anything smaller than that to upload to youtube is great. Here are the settings I used:

On "Video" Tab:
H.264, Average bitrate, 4000 Kilobits per second.
On the right side, change profile to "Main"

Now click start.
Really. Everything else is fine by default.

This video comes out way better than Youtube will display, and looks great on my 720p laptop, should be more than enough for any non professional purpose. If you don't think so, please correct me, I'll update this.

Now, on my Core 2 Duo machines, this encodes video at about 15fps, which isn't bad, but it takes a while if you're recording a nice long file like the videos I'm hoping people will start recording with this technique. Now, These files should be MUCH smaller. Upload these to youtube, burn them to your DVDs, etc.