DrakeAldan
Follow the rules!
I've been wanting to make videos as teaching devices for a while now. Text on a forum is good, but we don't play text games- we play video games! Subtleties can be explained in a book, but it's not really "real" until you see it.
I had experiences with capture equipment before (a Hauppauge 1192 WinTV HVR-1950)- it was a hassle, basically. You have these cables everywhere, you have to get a distribution amplifier, you're wrestling with the software... I didn't make many videos at all because it was just a pain.
Getting an HD PVR would have been the same thing... and I just don't have the computing power necessary for the Blackmagic Intensity.
I thought maybe I would pick up making videos again some other time.
Well, one day, I'm just bumbling around on Youtube, looking at videos of Tritton headphones (what they had at EVO- they were really nice, actually!) when this product came up in the related section... It was supposed to be an all-in-one, easy solution, hook it up and record. Since I use HDMI (EVO VH236 monitor) I thought this was gonna be a problem (you can't record using HDMI with the PS3 because of HDCP), but apparently they thought of that, too!
The whole thing runs you about $160. But, considering the amount of equipment it replaces, I think it's a pretty fair value.
More boxes in boxes (...)
Comes with a quick start manual and all the cables (a component in, a PS3 cable, a HDMI cable, and a USB cable to your PC).
It's pretty small for a capture device! Kind of like a deck of cards.
You download the software from their website (it's a pretty slick program, actually). Everything is pretty much plug-and-play. The encoding is done within the device so there's no strain on your computer (the main reason why you'd get an external capture card).
First thing I notice is that the picture is a little fuzzy compared to what I'm used to. I have a sneaking suspicion that this doesn't happen with the Xbox (that can record from HDMI); it seems like the culprit is the component input taken from the PS3 (stupid HDCP). The "fuzziness" seems forgettable when looking at rendered videos on Youtube though, I'd have to really be a stickler about it to see it, I think.
Speaking of which, analog to digital conversion happens in the Elgato's passthrough (what prevents the need of distribution amplifiers) so- there's the question of lag. Is there any?
I don't know. I don't have the equipment to check. Elgato says that the passthrough is lag-free, but I'd just have to trust them on faith.
The Elgato can record 720p 60 FPS video, which is... pretty good I'd say, you get all the frames (no 30 FPS nonsense) and I heard from a little birdie a long time ago that you're probably supposed to be playing on 720p for most games anyway. It can go up to 1080p 30 FPS, but I don't see a need for that.
It has some adjustable quality settings. I ran a few tests... Honestly, I can't see a noticeable, stark difference.
It doesn't seem like throwing a whole lotta bits at the video does any good, but I know it does increase my filesize by 2 or 3 times. We're doing compressed h.264, and we're going through component on the PS3 so I think this is pretty much it. I'm pretty happy with the quality though (compared to the 480p PS3 render that the game can make... Yuck.)
The wonderful thing about the Elgato is that it has a "DVR" feature while the software is active; if you remember to start it up before you play, it will automatically record up to an hour of footage. You don't have to manually hit record and set everything up like "oh I'm making a video", you can just play as normal and if something cool happens, you just walk over, rewind, and grab the moment. I don't know if anyone else has this feature on the market, but it's really convenient.
The above videos were made spur-of-the-moment, same day I got it in. The software even has straight-to-Youtube export, so you can just put stuff up right off the bat if you don't want to edit it. Recording is a lot easier than I remember it to be, and for me, easier recording means more videos made.
If you want more information, you can look up their website, or look it up on Youtube, there's a lot of reviews there. (but ugh, Youtube commentators… like comment subscribe it’ll really help me out. Ptui!)
This thing is supposed to blow the Youtube world wide open. Of course, it's up to the user to create content that's actually worth something, and not... you know, not crap on a screen.
I had experiences with capture equipment before (a Hauppauge 1192 WinTV HVR-1950)- it was a hassle, basically. You have these cables everywhere, you have to get a distribution amplifier, you're wrestling with the software... I didn't make many videos at all because it was just a pain.
Getting an HD PVR would have been the same thing... and I just don't have the computing power necessary for the Blackmagic Intensity.
I thought maybe I would pick up making videos again some other time.
Well, one day, I'm just bumbling around on Youtube, looking at videos of Tritton headphones (what they had at EVO- they were really nice, actually!) when this product came up in the related section... It was supposed to be an all-in-one, easy solution, hook it up and record. Since I use HDMI (EVO VH236 monitor) I thought this was gonna be a problem (you can't record using HDMI with the PS3 because of HDCP), but apparently they thought of that, too!
The whole thing runs you about $160. But, considering the amount of equipment it replaces, I think it's a pretty fair value.
More boxes in boxes (...)
Comes with a quick start manual and all the cables (a component in, a PS3 cable, a HDMI cable, and a USB cable to your PC).
It's pretty small for a capture device! Kind of like a deck of cards.
You download the software from their website (it's a pretty slick program, actually). Everything is pretty much plug-and-play. The encoding is done within the device so there's no strain on your computer (the main reason why you'd get an external capture card).
First thing I notice is that the picture is a little fuzzy compared to what I'm used to. I have a sneaking suspicion that this doesn't happen with the Xbox (that can record from HDMI); it seems like the culprit is the component input taken from the PS3 (stupid HDCP). The "fuzziness" seems forgettable when looking at rendered videos on Youtube though, I'd have to really be a stickler about it to see it, I think.
Speaking of which, analog to digital conversion happens in the Elgato's passthrough (what prevents the need of distribution amplifiers) so- there's the question of lag. Is there any?
I don't know. I don't have the equipment to check. Elgato says that the passthrough is lag-free, but I'd just have to trust them on faith.
The Elgato can record 720p 60 FPS video, which is... pretty good I'd say, you get all the frames (no 30 FPS nonsense) and I heard from a little birdie a long time ago that you're probably supposed to be playing on 720p for most games anyway. It can go up to 1080p 30 FPS, but I don't see a need for that.
It has some adjustable quality settings. I ran a few tests... Honestly, I can't see a noticeable, stark difference.
It doesn't seem like throwing a whole lotta bits at the video does any good, but I know it does increase my filesize by 2 or 3 times. We're doing compressed h.264, and we're going through component on the PS3 so I think this is pretty much it. I'm pretty happy with the quality though (compared to the 480p PS3 render that the game can make... Yuck.)
The wonderful thing about the Elgato is that it has a "DVR" feature while the software is active; if you remember to start it up before you play, it will automatically record up to an hour of footage. You don't have to manually hit record and set everything up like "oh I'm making a video", you can just play as normal and if something cool happens, you just walk over, rewind, and grab the moment. I don't know if anyone else has this feature on the market, but it's really convenient.
The above videos were made spur-of-the-moment, same day I got it in. The software even has straight-to-Youtube export, so you can just put stuff up right off the bat if you don't want to edit it. Recording is a lot easier than I remember it to be, and for me, easier recording means more videos made.
If you want more information, you can look up their website, or look it up on Youtube, there's a lot of reviews there. (but ugh, Youtube commentators… like comment subscribe it’ll really help me out. Ptui!)
This thing is supposed to blow the Youtube world wide open. Of course, it's up to the user to create content that's actually worth something, and not... you know, not crap on a screen.
