Micomsoft SC-500N1 RGB Capture Card

[Fudoh]

240p60, 480i60 and 480p30 are all the same. Since the card captures full frames, 30 "fps" is the maximum you can get out of a 480i signal. Field order might be wrong from this particular source, but even if it is, that's easily changed in Virtualdub, Avisynth or any other post processing app.

[dieKatze88]

I'm guessing Supernova 2 outputs 480i if it's displaying at 15khz, so the input is interlaced and you simply need to software deinterlace the image for it to appear normal.

DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA and up have resolution switching features. If Tilt on the JAMMA harness is held down while the board starts up, they switch to 480p. If not, they switch to 480i. The newer cabinets have the 480p capable monitors, while the older ones don't. Reasonably clever solution that provided full backward compatibility.

That said the youtube video doesn't help us much because it's a screen cap and the only way to tell the difference between a 1st generation cabinet (15khz only) and a 2nd generation cabinet (15/30khz autosync) is to physically look at the cabinet.

[lettuce]

I'm surprised none of you have started discussing the new Micomsoft 1080p60fps card coming out:
http://micomsoft.co.jp/ceatec2012.htm

It has double DVI but no HDMI socket??

[lettuce]

Am trying to use my Xbox 360 with this via HDMI, have selected, w=1920, h=1080, fps=59.94, fcc=YUY2, bit=16 but i get this message...

the card cannot capture 1080p60, so you probably have to set your XBox to 1080i60 and define the timing as 1080p29.97.

http://intrl.startech.com/AV/Converters ... t~PEXHDCAP

so the info is wrong then, says it CAN capture @ 1080p?

[blizzz]

http://intrl.startech.com/AV/Converters ... t~PEXHDCAP
so the info is wrong then, says it CAN capture @ 1080p?

The info on their site is wrong, at least no one here claimed that he could capture 1080p with it.

I'm surprised none of you have started discussing the new Micomsoft 1080p60fps card coming out:
http://micomsoft.co.jp/ceatec2012.htm

It has double DVI but no HDMI socket??

DVI-D is basically the same as HDMI, at least for 2D video. I'm not sure how you would connect digital audio to it, but maybe they'll include a HDMI to DVI + audio adapter. Would be weird to sell a 1080p60 capable card that lacks input for HDMI audio.

Edit: I think I read somewhere that the card can capture 1080p24, but there's no case in which this would be useful.

[lettuce]

Is there any other worth while alternatives for a 1080p capture card in this price range?

[Fudoh]

No, 1080p60 is hardly supported by anything. For example there's basically no media player out there which can playback 1080p60 AVCHD (h.264).

[blizzz]

Is there any other worth while alternatives for a 1080p capture card in this price range?

If you just want to record consoles in 1080p and don't care about the framerate, then yes, there are alternatives. There's a card from AverMedia which records 1080p60 as 1080p30 for example, or a new device by Elegato. Playback isn't a problem either with 1080p30.

[lettuce]

might wait until the new Micomsoft card.

I have also pin pointed the approx lag of this card whilst capturing, my setup is as follows:

Micomsoft card to Xbox 360 via HDMI
2 port on PC GFX card to LCD TV via HDMI
AmarecTV placed on 2nd display fullsreen on LCD TV
Digital Optical cable from xbox to A/V amp

I notice that when i had both my amp on for the sound from the Xbox 360 and also the PC speakers on the amp sound was lagging behind, i have to change the audio sync to 120 ms so it was in time. So im guess there is a lag of 120 ms on this capture card

[Fudoh]

that's hard to believe, since 120ms lag render anything COMPLETELY unplayable. Also the tests done before with capture of a DVI 720p PC signal indicated a lag of only 1-2 frames depending on the settings and the software in use. There's no reason why a XBox360 should any higher lag.

That is unless you feed 1080i and have a deinterlacer running at some instance. This can cause severe additional lag.

[lettuce]

cant explain it, thats just what i had to set the audio sync at

[TheCount]

Just want to say many thanks to all on this thread.
Purchased Startech PEXHDCAP and a ArcadeForge Sync Strike.
They do everything i needed to do.
I am having some issue with amarec and VGA input with certain resolutions, but otherwise everything works great.
NOT a gamer but using the card and sync strike for something else.

Thanks again.
Regards Pierre.

[TheCount]

Regarding amarectv.
Has any one managed to get the presets to work properly?
They don't seem to select the right input for this card.

Best Regards,
Pierre.

[Stefan_L]

I was wondering if the "colour horizontal adjustment" in AmarecTV is a hardware feature of the sc-500n1 or it is software by AmaracTV?
Accordíng to this page so does it on work in "720x240" mode: http://amalabo.blog35.fc2.com/blog-entry-168.html

I really need this to work with 288p (PAL) so i hope it is a software thing that could be added... i just wonder if it is worth trying to contact the AmarecTV author to add this feature.

[Stefan_L]

Found this page: http://www.videogameperfection.com/av-g ... -software/

It says that the colour adjustment works on 288p also? Is this a Startech feature only?

**edit** oh.. it's BuckoA51's webpage.. i'll PM him

[Stefan_L]

Here is an 288p vs 240p comparison with the adjustment option checked in AmarecTV:



Explains why i really want it to work with 288p

[Stefan_L]

Its fixed now... blizzz suggested to use the Startech drivers and now so does 288p look good.

1.1.0.114.3 is 288p approved

[Stefan_L]

I wonder why the Micomsoft drivers don't have proper 288p support? Maybe they had to sacrifice it to make it more compatible to strange syncs of arcade PCB's?

Well... now my Atari ST recordings look ok at least

Micomsoft 1.1.0.116 drivers:



Startech 1.1.0.114.3 drivers:

[lettuce]

Have been trying Lagarith codec (was using Huffyuv b4) and have noticed ive been getting screen tearing when watching the capture back, now the game in question (Far Cry 3) i never tried with the huffyuv codec but never noticed this problem with other captures using that codec and dont get thet tearing when playing the game so i think it could be the Lagarith codec thats causing the issue!?. Here i a example....

http://youtu.be/XK0wbs_hU7I

Is there an option in the Lagarith settings that i need to enable or disable at the moment i only have 'Use Multithreading' option enabled.

Also can the Micomsoft pass through a 1080p signal i know it cant capture @ 1080p but i though i saw/read that a drive update was coming that allows 1080p pass through? Just as at the moment i keep having to change mt 360's display to 720p every time i want capture gameplay, would be nice if i could leave the 360 in 1080p display mode all the time

[Fudoh]

would be nice if i could leave the 360 in 1080p display mode all the time

why ? what's the point ? Last year at least the dashboard was rendered in 1080p, but with the update to the metro gui now even the dash is natively running at 720p. Not even talking about the games.

[lettuce]

For games that are actually 1080p Halo 4 for instance, i can defo see a difference when playing in 720p to 1080p

[Fudoh]

For some games that's right, but there really aren't too many out there.

[BuckoA51]

Halo 4 is 720p not 1080p http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... ative-720p

[lettuce]

Have been trying Lagarith codec (was using Huffyuv b4) and have noticed ive been getting screen tearing when watching the capture back, now the game in question (Far Cry 3) i never tried with the huffyuv codec but never noticed this problem with other captures using that codec and dont get thet tearing when playing the game so i think it could be the Lagarith codec thats causing the issue!?. Here i a example....

http://youtu.be/XK0wbs_hU7I

Is there an option in the Lagarith settings that i need to enable or disable at the moment i only have 'Use Multithreading' option enabled.

Any ideas on the tearing issue?

[DanAdamKOF]

Has anyone tried this card on Windows 8?

[airthrow]

Hey guys I have a problem. I made a fingerboard inbetween my MVS and the card to capture Neo Geo games directly. It captures, but when I use the included software, for some reason I can't set the resolution, it only does "auto" and it thinks it's some widescreen image so I get a totally skewed image. BTW I am going from MVS RGB to a VGA pinout, to the DVI converter that came with the card if that makes a difference.

What software is the best so I can set the picture for 320x240 manually so I get the best possible picture?

edit: Oh darn, I forgot this thread is for the legit card, but I have the cheapie clone if it makes a difference:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007U5 ... 02_s00_i00

[Fudoh]

I was under the impression that the card required split sync (H/V) for capturing RGB. Does it work with RGBs as well ?

I think the skewed is normal, since your capture resolution will be something along the way of 720x240, so you always have to run through a scaling engine (AVISynch or VirtualDub or ...) to get a 4:3 image before archiving or uploading.

[Drakon]

Huh the screen cutoff is a bit disappointing. My supergun uses a cheap rgb to s-video encoder. When encoding to s-video my tv gets stuff cutoff sometimes but my cheap easycap usb s-video capture device always gets the entire area which is great. I never get anything cut off when capturing for some reason my easycap captures a much larger area than my tv does.

[airthrow]

I was under the impression that the card required split sync (H/V) for capturing RGB. Does it work with RGBs as well ?

I think the skewed is normal, since your capture resolution will be something along the way of 720x240, so you always have to run through a scaling engine (AVISynch or VirtualDub or ...) to get a 4:3 image before archiving or uploading.

It definitely does not require seperate sync since I'm feeding it a composite sync from the MVS, and it's syncing fine. I also have the Sync Strike which I bought because it's way easy for console capture to just hook up SCART connectors (I'm American so I have to import the scart cables first but they're pretty cheap).

Unfortunately I captured like 4-5 hours of video last night, can I use virtual dub to convert the video I captured into 4:3?

The weird thing is I am using the supplied software and it SAYS it is capturing it at 4:3 already, but it isn't, but I get a normal 4:3 image when I use the sync strike and scart cables on SNES.

[Fudoh]

Unfortunately I captured like 4-5 hours of video last night, can I use virtual dub to convert the video I captured into 4:3?

of course. You should do a 2-step scaling: 1st just double the lines using nearest neighbour and then resize to whatever 4:3 res you like using lanczos3. Just open the video and add the resize filter twice. You need to disable the aspect ratio control on the filter though.

The weird thing is I am using the supplied software and it SAYS it is capturing it at 4:3 already, but it isn't, but I get a normal 4:3 image when I use the sync strike and scart cables on SNES.

the software probably assumes that you're capturing 29.97fps with two fields per frame. You capture a field at a time with 59.94Hz instead.... It's technically the same.