Buying A Videogame Game Capture Device...

Okay, so I've been mulling this over for a while. I'd quite like to create some play-through/walk-through videos of my own, as I'm a big fan of watching them on YouTube. I've kind narrowed down the options to these three video capture devices:

Hauppauge HD PVR Gaming Edition £159.99 (Amazon)

AverMedia Game Capture HD C281 £119.99 (Amazon)

Roxio Game Capture £69.99 (Amazon)

Anyone know about this stuff? I suspect it would make the most sense to buy the most expensive unit, whilst I know the Roxio (the cheapest) won't record video at HD. Also, if I wanted to do commentaries at the same time as playing (as opposed to adding them after) which of these units could do that?

So you're going to make walkthroughs of you playing other peoples walkthroughs?

Go for the HD PVR. I've got one (although not the 'gaming' one. Ours has a blue light rather than a green one), and I'm fairly sure athiestium has a similar one which I assume she's been filming her playthrough vids on (see the Silent Hill/Ridge Racer topics).

FRAPS.

That is all.

Frank wrote:Go for the HD PVR. I've got one (although not the 'gaming' one. Ours has a blue light rather than a green one), and I'm fairly sure athiestium has a similar one which I assume she's been filming her playthrough vids on (see the Silent Hill/Ridge Racer topics).

Yeah, Frank, I was tending to favour the Happauge HD PVR - I know it's the most expensive, but everything I've read about them sounds good.

TK: I have FRAPs on my PC. I'm after the Hauppauge to record from my 360. I'd like to go back through some of my console games and put together either some walkthroughs or some reviews.

I look forward to retsupurae ripping your videos to shreds.

And you never thought of asking me Cal? :cry:

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/uk/products/intensity/

Meant for recording gameplay
Styled like Apple hardware.

wut?

I'm in the same boat, Cal, and I was leaning towards the AverMedia...

Akai XIII wrote:http://www.blackmagic-design.com/uk/products/intensity/

This is the highest quality you can get (especially if you have a RAID-0 setup and record lossless, but the file sizes are HUGE). The HD PVR has the bonus of being able to record in 480p (Wii/PSP), but if it's 360 recording then the HD PVR will do the trick on the highest setting (around 10Mbps using the H.264 codec). This also means no need to re-compress the final output and it can be uploaded to YouTube as-is for speed.

I personally use the Intensity Pro and have been doing so for the last 3 years. For me, it provides the most control over my output and whilst the included capture software isn't the best (doesn't display the realtime output in 720p), the resulting video has been very good (even when using MJPEG) and if you have an older style 360 (pre-slim) with HDMI-out, you can also capture via HDMI for a pure digital signal at 720p60. It does means I need to re-compress my videos from the 'master recordings', but by using Adobe Premier Pro I can use whatever codec I then like for maximum quality and control.

So:

HD PVR for simplicity and Intensity for quality. Depends which one is more important to you (and if you have a spare PCI-Express 1x slot for the pro card).

tnman wrote:I'm in the same boat, Cal, and I was leaning towards the AverMedia...

Don't get the AverMedia Dom, the EG report on it showed some shocking artifacting. Get the HD PVR instead of the AverMedia, much better video quality.

Actually, I've just bought this capture card today as it apparently does 480p AND with the right drivers, disables DHCP from HDMI sources (including PS3 and 360). Half the price of an Intensity Pro too.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4311511 ... ?srcid=369

If this works well, I may have a new recommendation...

I used to have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro but it was incredibly temperamental.

It offered the best quality by far, especially when taking screen shots, but the video passthrough never worked and I had to fiddle with the settings every time in order to get it to record at all. When it worked, though, the picture quality was superb.

Word of warning though: it requires a RAID setup and the videos (because they're captured uncompressed) are absolutely huge in file size.

These days I use the Hauppauge HD PVR for recording. It's useless for taking screenshots, but incredibly easy to use and the video is great quality. I'd definitely recommend it.

In terms of commentary, you'll need to do this simultaneously through Audacity and then merge it with the gameplay in video editing software. As far as I'm aware, there's no way to capture both commentary and video audio/gameplay through the HD PVR at the same time.

Last edited by Andrew Mills on Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Dave wrote:I used to have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro but it was incredibly temperamental.

It offered the best quality by far, especially when taking screen shots, but the video passthrough never worked and I had to fiddle with the settings every time in order to get it to record at all. When it worked, though, the picture quality was superb.

Word of warning though: it requires a RAID setup and the videos (because they're captured uncompressed) are absolutely huge in file size.

Passthrough works with me (although I agree it can be temperamental at times). But there's no NEED for a RAID setup, just capture using MJPEG on a 7200rpm drive and you'll be fine.

YouTube

Dave wrote:In terms of commentary, you'll need to do this simultaneously through Audacity and then merge it with the gameplay in video editing software. As far as I'm aware, there's no way to capture both commentary and video audio/gameplay through the HD PVR at the same time.

Recording in Audacity is your best bet. However, you could input your mic as a phono input on your PVR if it has one spare. Only problem is there is no way to check the levels, unless you have a seperate mic amp. So like Dave said, record and sync up.

Best way to do this is the Rifftrax approach, say when things disappear off screen and when characters stop speaking so you can sync it up right. Then take the syncs out during the post-production stage.

Also for god's sake wear headphones when you're playing. It'll make your commentary clearer. And remove the breathing between your commentary. And only make videos i'll like. And give me your money.

Andrew Mills wrote:
Dave wrote:I used to have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro but it was incredibly temperamental.

It offered the best quality by far, especially when taking screen shots, but the video passthrough never worked and I had to fiddle with the settings every time in order to get it to record at all. When it worked, though, the picture quality was superb.

Word of warning though: it requires a RAID setup and the videos (because they're captured uncompressed) are absolutely huge in file size.

Passthrough works with me (although I agree it can be temperamental at times. But there's no NEED for a RAID setup, just capture using MJPEG on a 7200rpm drive and you'll be fine.

What type of computer do you use, Andrew?

Now that I'm thinking about it, I seem to remember Blackmagic significantly stating a few months ago that their technical support teams will not handle queries related to Dell PCs. Guess what? Mine's a Dell PC. I have no idea why, but I guess that could have something to do with the problems I was having.

Dave wrote:
Andrew Mills wrote:
Dave wrote:I used to have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro but it was incredibly temperamental.

It offered the best quality by far, especially when taking screen shots, but the video passthrough never worked and I had to fiddle with the settings every time in order to get it to record at all. When it worked, though, the picture quality was superb.

Word of warning though: it requires a RAID setup and the videos (because they're captured uncompressed) are absolutely huge in file size.

Passthrough works with me (although I agree it can be temperamental at times. But there's no NEED for a RAID setup, just capture using MJPEG on a 7200rpm drive and you'll be fine.

What type of computer do you use, Andrew?

Now that I'm thinking about it, I seem to remember Blackmagic significantly stating a few months ago that their technical support teams will not handle queries related to Dell PCs. Guess what? Mine's a Dell PC. I have no idea why, but I guess that could have something to do with the problems I was having.

Just a pre-built AMD quad-core rig with 8gigs of RAM and an HD5770. Funny thing for me is, is that I could never get the HD PVR to work on my rig. Tried two of them and none of them worked once.

I've just seen an HDMI PS3 sample from the Avermedia card I bought and it looks strawberry floating sweet! :shock:

May just end up replacing my BMIP completely if this works out well

I have HD PVR it is a pretty good machine but you won't be able to use HDMI's with your console also you might need extension USB connector.

I do playthrough as well etc but after a while your audince gets annoying and they demand gooseberry fool that you don't even want to play. For example MW3 etc.

From the very start of making playthrough make sure you do all sort of different games. The moment you stick with one game you're strawberry floated.

Good luck. It's an over crowded area but i make decent change out of it now

Buying A Videogame Game Capture Device...

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