Whats the best HDMI / Component / VGA video capture device?

[dieKatze88]

I haven't tested this. I could test this, I own a PS3 (Which does HDCP All the time always) but I hear it only lets you preview HDCP sources in Avermedia's software, also, it was *ADDED* to newer versions, not removed, because when I got it it absolutely refused to play nicely with my Playstation 3.

Although if you can find something about capturing HDCP encrypted video with this, please do let me know. Thats one of those things that you put on a flash drive and tape to the inside of your computer case.

I don't have the version number handy (but I do know it's the exact version I have installed), but what you do is launch the Avermedia software but do NOT put it in TV mode. The Avermedia software completes the HDCP handshake as long as it's running, freeing you to use another capture program on the HDMI pin.

This exploit was, of course, patched out of the newest version.

Can I get that EXE via PM?

Thanks for the info....

Not going to get too anal on this as the Avermedia software (current version) seems to work well enough for what I want to do encoding with H.264. I then use Sony Vegas for my editing, so unless I am "missing out" on something key I doubt I will be arsed to install something else.

However... I'm all up for being enlightened if anyone can be "arsed".

The Avermeida software isn't outputting H.264 unless you have a Core i7 thanks to its software encode, and the sheer amount of CPU required. You're likely saving those hugeass MPEG2 files that it likes to output.

[StarCreator]

Here's the source thread post on the AverTV HDCP workaround, including driver links that appear to still work.

[fagin]

I haven't tested this. I could test this, I own a PS3 (Which does HDCP All the time always) but I hear it only lets you preview HDCP sources in Avermedia's software, also, it was *ADDED* to newer versions, not removed, because when I got it it absolutely refused to play nicely with my Playstation 3.

Although if you can find something about capturing HDCP encrypted video with this, please do let me know. Thats one of those things that you put on a flash drive and tape to the inside of your computer case.

I don't have the version number handy (but I do know it's the exact version I have installed), but what you do is launch the Avermedia software but do NOT put it in TV mode. The Avermedia software completes the HDCP handshake as long as it's running, freeing you to use another capture program on the HDMI pin.

This exploit was, of course, patched out of the newest version.

Can I get that EXE via PM?

Thanks for the info....

Not going to get too anal on this as the Avermedia software (current version) seems to work well enough for what I want to do encoding with H.264. I then use Sony Vegas for my editing, so unless I am "missing out" on something key I doubt I will be arsed to install something else.

However... I'm all up for being enlightened if anyone can be "arsed".

The Avermeida software isn't outputting H.264 unless you have a Core i7 thanks to its software encode, and the sheer amount of CPU required. You're likely saving those hugeass MPEG2 files that it likes to output.

I have a i7 processor and H.264 is selected as the encoding method. It doesn't produce massive files even at 15Mbps.... circa 100Mb per minute iirc.

[dieKatze88]

I have a i7 processor and H.264 is selected as the encoding method. It doesn't produce massive files even at 15Mbps.... circa 100Mb per minute iirc.

Ahh, OK, yeah without that kind of Iron you get like 8gb an hour.

[Fudoh]

compared to 400 GB per hour on the BMD for uncompressed 720p recording

[akumajo]

blackmagic h.264 pro recorder should be released soon, support 1080p60

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/produc ... techspecs/

cant wait to see reviews

[Fudoh]

but have you noticed the price jump ?

I also expect 1080p60 only to work via 3G/s HD-SDI.

[akumajo]

my supplier in europe say that the price should be 300/350€ and that sucks if its only limited to 3G/s HD-SDI.

[Fudoh]

I know, 259 EUR (netto, plus tax) is/was the pricing, but my guess is that they just didn't get the new price info yet.

[fagin]

compared to 400 GB per hour on the BMD for uncompressed 720p recording

That must be one of those "anal" features then!

[alamone]

I just have to mention here that even with the latest 8.00 drivers, I'm unable to get the Intensity Shuttle to capture at anything other than NTSC (480i at 29.97) outside of the Media Express program. If I try to change the resolution to 720P 59.94, then for example Flash Live Media Encoder complains that the card is in use, even though no other program is open. Since people don't seem to have this problem with the Intensity Pro, it seems that this problem is specific to the Shuttle (USB 3.0 version).

If I had a free PCIe slot, I would probably get the AverTV HD PVR.

[Fudoh]

The BMDs in general are NOT compatible with alternative recording programs. BMD basically only rates Media Express and Adobe Premiere as working. Other programs are just luck. With my BMD Multibridge I can use iuVCR but with 720p60 exlusively, nothing else. Have you tried the japanese recording software which was recommended recently ?

[alamone]

I did try out Amarectv but it too could not attach to the DeckLink (Blackmagic Intensity) device.
I also tried GraphStudio (variant of Graphedit), Media Player Homecinema, Virtualdub,
Livestream, and a bunch of other software and NONE of them would connect to the DeckLink device at 720p.

[dieKatze88]

compared to 400 GB per hour on the BMD for uncompressed 720p recording

You can get that too with the Avermedia, I've done it in Virtualdub.

Or you can be clever and do less than 400gb an hour with a lossless compressor like lagarith. Doesn't need a raid. Just saying.

I did try out Amarectv but it too could not attach to the DeckLink (Blackmagic Intensity) device.
I also tried GraphStudio (variant of Graphedit), Media Player Homecinema, Virtualdub,
Livestream, and a bunch of other software and NONE of them would connect to the DeckLink device at 720p.

if you want to stream right now, FME and Aver HD get along great.

[akumajo]

iuVCR/VCS is *the* recording software (keeps 100% a/v sync even if the video or audio hardware drops frames)
VirtualDub is *the* editing software for i-frame-only encoded material (= NOT h.264)
SmartCutter is *the* editing software for all non-frame-based codecs (like MPEG2 or h.264)

too bad, iuvcr and iuvcs expired on my windows

[Fudoh]

I bought iuVCR in 2004 or 2005 and used it for roughly 1000 hours of capture. Best software investment I ever did.

You can get that too with the Avermedia, I've done it in Virtualdub. Or you can be clever and do less than 400gb an hour with a lossless compressor like lagarith. Doesn't need a raid. Just saying.

you didn't get my point. I don't say that the Avermedia isn't bad in any way. I just advise to think about the whole workflow before getting the hardware. Using a BMD is fantastic if you want to do lots of hardware effects and HEAVY editing in Premiere or After Effects. It's wonderful to work with the uncompressed codecs as it's all hardware accelerated.

I totally agree that it can make sense to record in a codec like Lagarith, but you lose the realtime editing and you lose the hardware preview output of the BMD. I have a three monitor setup, two monitors for working and a third with the live preview, it's just nice.

Then again, for archiving or youtube uploads h.264 is the way to go and I personally dislike the idea of doing hundreds and thousands of hours of h.264 encoding in software, so for me it's hardware h.264 all the way. If you don't want to do HEAVY editing, a direct h.264 capture just makes more sense than capturing in anything else, so a HD-PVR for analogue HD or a Colossus for digital HD just seems to make more sense than using a Avermedia card.

If you want both (uncompressed for editing) + hardware h.264 the combination of a BMD capture card (e.g. Intensity) and a HW encoder (HD-PVR or h.264 Pro rekorder makes sense), so you can capture on the BMD and then use the BMD's output to feed the HW encoder - again something you can't do with the Avermedia.

So, please don't get me wrong. The Avermedia card is great at it's price IF that's what you want. In other words, if somebody is fine without hardware h.264 encoding, without video out to feed another encoder and without hardware acceleration for editing other codecs, it's absolutely fine..... Just don't close your eyes when it comes to (possibly better) alternatives.

[akumajo]

iuvcs is ~30€, thinking

could it be interesting to make an FAQ about capture devices, editing tools, capture tools, streaming tools for gamers ?

I'm not a pro likes Fudoh with capture card, but I tested many of them and for a gamer I can say that best current combo is Blackmagic Intensity Pro + HDPVR Colossus (maybe Blackmagic h264 pro recorder in a few weeks)

[dieKatze88]

I bought iuVCR in 2004 or 2005 and used it for roughly 1000 hours of capture. Best software investment I ever did.

You can get that too with the Avermedia, I've done it in Virtualdub. Or you can be clever and do less than 400gb an hour with a lossless compressor like lagarith. Doesn't need a raid. Just saying.

you didn't get my point. I don't say that the Avermedia isn't bad in any way. I just advise to think about the whole workflow before getting the hardware. Using a BMD is fantastic if you want to do lots of hardware effects and HEAVY editing in Premiere or After Effects. It's wonderful to work with the uncompressed codecs as it's all hardware accelerated.

I totally agree that it can make sense to record in a codec like Lagarith, but you lose the realtime editing and you lose the hardware preview output of the BMD. I have a three monitor setup, two monitors for working and a third with the live preview, it's just nice.

Then again, for archiving or youtube uploads h.264 is the way to go and I personally dislike the idea of doing hundreds and thousands of hours of h.264 encoding in software, so for me it's hardware h.264 all the way. If you don't want to do HEAVY editing, a direct h.264 capture just makes more sense than capturing in anything else, so a HD-PVR for analogue HD or a Colossus for digital HD just seems to make more sense than using a Avermedia card.

If you want both (uncompressed for editing) + hardware h.264 the combination of a BMD capture card (e.g. Intensity) and a HW encoder (HD-PVR or h.264 Pro rekorder makes sense), so you can capture on the BMD and then use the BMD's output to feed the HW encoder - again something you can't do with the Avermedia.

So, please don't get me wrong. The Avermedia card is great at it's price IF that's what you want. In other words, if somebody is fine without hardware h.264 encoding, without video out to feed another encoder and without hardware acceleration for editing other codecs, it's absolutely fine..... Just don't close your eyes when it comes to (possibly better) alternatives.

Ahhh, I don't do realtime editing but I do work with a live preview when capturing, I bought a 4 way HDMI Distributor for that.

[Ramza]

could it be interesting to make an FAQ about capture devices, editing tools, capture tools, streaming tools for gamers ?

Just what I was thinking... there are just so many options to do this. Right now I haven't decided if I will get a BMI or something hardware h.264 based. The Clossus seems interesting, though.

What always kept me from buying a h264 capure unit is the lack of editing options. I don't need to do any heavy editing in After Effects, but adding a few logos and cutting is still essential to me. I heared that Videoredo can trim and cut h264 files without reencoding. But are there any more advanced editing tools like Virtualdub (without frame serving) available for adding logos etc?

[Fudoh]

Strict cutting/trimming/joining (in the sense of editing) is easy for h.264 files. I've tried most of the programs that claim to be able to handle h.264 without reencoding and found Smart Cutter to be the best one - works very nice.

Anything involving logos requires re-encoding, no matter what program you use. You can use something like Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas or Avid or you can still use Virtualdub. There's a VfW x.264 codec available or you just frameserve the h.264 using Avisynth.

[fagin]

iuvcs is ~30€, thinking

could it be interesting to make an FAQ about capture devices, editing tools, capture tools, streaming tools for gamers ?

I'm not a pro likes Fudoh with capture card, but I tested many of them and for a gamer I can say that best current combo is Blackmagic Intensity Pro + HDPVR Colossus (maybe Blackmagic h264 pro recorder in a few weeks)

Why is that better for a gamer over and above my AVerTV CaptureHD set-up then? Not a dig but a genuine question. The AVerTV CHD captures games and works with the inputs I have.... not sure why I would want anything else from a "gamer" perspective.

[Fudoh]

I'm trying to find some review on the internet which compares the Hauppauge HD PVR to the Avermedia Darkcrystal HD DVR. Both are very similar, but I'm trying to find some words on their actual h.264 realtime encoding capabilities. Either I'm too stupid to use google or nobody really ever compared these two over the past year....

[dieKatze88]

if this article is to be believed, the Darkcrystal has HDMI out, not in.

http://www.thegameraccess.com/reviews/t ... dvr-review

So I would say theres not much difference, seeing as both deliver H.264 over USB 2.0

Although Newegg does list the Darkcrystal as 30 bucks cheaper, and the darkcrystal doesn't support optical audio.

however, I have neither so I will not comment as to their qualities, just specs.

Edit:
DING. If that thing has HDMI out and Composite in, theres a chance that it might be a scaler and scan converter.

[Fudoh]

The HDMI out is only to use it as a media player. It can't even show the component input on the HDMI out. Just video files played back on a software suite on the PC.

I'm just wondering about the h.264 quality because the DarkCrystal should be able to record with up to 20mbit while the old(er) encoder in the HDPVR is limited to 13.5mbit/s.

[akumajo]

2 capture samples with a Colossus, both 1 minute

Capture 1 : 720p59,94 source, CBR mode, 20 Mb/s bitrate, 151 MB filesize
Capture 1 : 720p59,94 source, VBR mode, 20 Mb/s bitrate (24 Mb/s peak), 129 MB filesize

Intensity Pro MJPEG for 1 minute will make a 875 MB file.

Note that there is a small delay while using Intensity Pro hdmi output to Colossus hdmi input (~1 second).

[Fudoh]

Thanks, will download!

Are you using the BMD and the Hauppauge in the same PC setup ?

[akumajo]

Yes, my setup is :

Iscan VP30 > HDMI splitter
> output 1 to projector
> output 2 to intensity pro, intensity pro output to colossus

with this setup I can capture to h264 and capture uncompressed (or mjpeg) or streaming at the same time on same pc

[Fudoh]

Can you play back a captured MJPEG or losless BMD file on the Intensity and capture this with the Colossus ? (not asking to actually do it, just if it works). I'm asking because I was expecting problems with the Media Express losing the focus....

[akumajo]

yes, playback in Media Express output to colossus. It will display the captured file only.

If I want "live capture" I must switch to Master or Capture.

[StarCreator]

dieKatze88, have you had a chance to test the AverTV HDCP workaround I linked to a few posts back? Haven't had time to mess with it myself.