Capture Advice Needed!

[WhiteSpyderZero]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a bit of help and advice. I want to start capturing footage from all my retro consoles (SNES, Saturn, Mega Drive, N64, Dreamcast). All of these consoles are attached to my Arcadeforge SLG-In-A-Box unit via RGB cables.

For modern consoles, I use an Elgato Game Capture HD, and I was just wondering if there was a way to get a connection between my Elgato unit, and my consoles (either via VGA from the SLG-In-A-Box, or direct via Scart/RGB).

I don't really want to spend more than £30, and I was looking at an EZCap for a slightly lower quality capture - But if I can use my Elgato in some way that would be perfect.

Any ideas?

[akumajo]

do you want your captures with original resolution or upscaled (480p or better) is ok for you ?

[WhiteSpyderZero]

do you want your captures with original resolution or upscaled (480p or better) is ok for you ?

Upscaled if possible (I believe the Elgato supports a minimum of 480i if I went through that route), but I'm open to all suggestions really!

[akumajo]

The problem is that your scaler will output to 640*480 VGA.

Your Elgato have an HDMI input and support 480i/480p/576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p.

You will need a VGA to HDMI converter (I suggest you a Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus). You also may need to have a lock/unlock framerate option because some capture cards need it.

On my current setup I do this :

source > scaler (iscan vp30) with framerate unlocked > hdpvr (I will probably switch to an elgato soon). I can capture anything upscaled @480p or 720p.

We have some power users here, I'm sure they will have alternatives but I'm not sure that It will be cheap :/.

[Fudoh]

You will need a VGA to HDMI converter (I suggest you a Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus). You also may need to have a lock/unlock framerate option because some capture cards need it.

yeah, with the GBS8220 + a VGA to HDMI converter he's out of luck, because the GBS does not output anything related to any standard. There are really just two choices, a) get the Startech RGB capture card (internal) or b) get a video processor as a recording hub (iScan HD would be your cheapest choice at about $100-130).

[WhiteSpyderZero]

You will need a VGA to HDMI converter (I suggest you a Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus). You also may need to have a lock/unlock framerate option because some capture cards need it.

yeah, with the GBS8220 + a VGA to HDMI converter he's out of luck, because the GBS does not output anything related to any standard. There are really just two choices, a) get the Startech RGB capture card (internal) or b) get a video processor as a recording hub (iScan HD would be your cheapest choice at about $100-130).

I think that's probably over my budget at the moment

What about capturing directly from consoles? (via SCART, RGB if possible). Is there any other alternatives that would do a better job than an EZCAP setup, for around the same price?

[akumajo]

You will need a VGA to HDMI converter (I suggest you a Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus). You also may need to have a lock/unlock framerate option because some capture cards need it.

yeah, with the GBS8220 + a VGA to HDMI converter he's out of luck, because the GBS does not output anything related to any standard. There are really just two choices, a) get the Startech RGB capture card (internal) or b) get a video processor as a recording hub (iScan HD would be your cheapest choice at about $100-130).

I think that's probably over my budget at the moment

What about capturing directly from consoles? (via SCART, RGB if possible). Is there any other alternatives that would do a better job than an EZCAP setup, for around the same price?

I dont think ...

Cheapest solution is EasyCAP + composite/svideo cables...

My sugestion is to save some money for a video processor or startech capture card as Fudoh said. You can't have something good for cheap (unless your are very lucky on ebay ).

[Pyongyang]

On my current setup I do this :

source > scaler (iscan vp30) with framerate unlocked > hdpvr (I will probably switch to an elgato soon). I can capture anything upscaled @480p or 720p

Mr. Fudes told me to lock the framerate on my VP20.

I had the old HDPVR and now have the new one. Highly recommend it, even if the bundled software is a bit 'cacapoopooweewee'. I've still to determine if the sound issues I had were the PVR2 or the VP20. I still think it's the VP20 but hey ho, it works perfectly now.

[Fudoh]

Mr. Fudes told me to lock the framerate on my VP20

depends on your source. Older systems REQUIRE the unlock function. On newer systems you can use the framerate lock.

[WhiteSpyderZero]

I think I've found a cheap solution. Looking at the featurelist for the next version of the Elgato's software (The Beta version of which, I have access to)

http://www.gamecapture.com/documentatio ... .2.en.html

Looks like it promises SD capture via composite. It won't be perfect quality, but I think I'll definitely test it out and report back on the results.

[Fudoh]

Looks like it promises SD capture via composite

but I think this refers to enable composite at all and at 480i level only. The 240p vs. 480i limitation is a chip implementation problem. Same as the refresh rate / frequency problems...