How to Capture the Saturn

[mancity]

Hi guys,

Is there an easy way to capture gameplay footage from my saturn other than pointing a camcorder at it?

I would be using a laptop and dont really want to spend much money at all and also dont know anything about this.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Im just wanting to put gameplay footage on Youtube for some of the games I have which have currently no presense on there.

[prabmire]

an external usb video capture card with av inputs, run the saturn via that, split the signal from the saturn end, so you can play it on the TV without lag as the captured video may have slight lag

Prab

[mancity]

Im not entirely sure what you mean mate with regard splitting the signal?

[mikey]

Split meaning to make each of the AV out wires "split" off into two different directions... so that your television can still receive a signal while the laptop with components mentioned above may also receive a signal from the Saturn. I would recommend purchasing something like this: www.ebay.com/itm/New-AV-Audio-Video-Selector-Switch-4-input-2-Output-/260872451101?pt=AU_Television_Accessories&hash=item3cbd35b41d

as it would suit your needs with the two output capability, and also makes a very useful device for organizing and simplifying a multiple console setup with one TV.


You can also take your original Saturn AV wires and cut and splice them manually... but for the work and ugliness of it, I'd just go with the product above.

[mancity]

At the high risk of sounding like an absolute fool -

My saturn is connected to the TV using a SCART lead, so would I need a SCART splitter box?

And I presume I would have the TV and a Capture card connected to output 1 & 2 with both buttons pressed in?

[mancity]

Is this correct?

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[mikey]

SCART selector box would work the same... I'm not familiar with SCART, but from looking at the number of pins involved I would not recommend manually splitting a cable!

And since that box on ebay has selectable INPUTS only and no selectable outputs, I would safely assume that the selected input is available at both outputs. Always best to ask the seller / manufacturer just in case, but in my experience with these types of components, deductive reasoning is sound reasoning.


Your drawing: Bingo!

[zyrobs]

Saturn -> PC capture card -> use your monitor to see the game while your PC is recording it.
or
Saturn -> standalone capture device, like a DVD recorder or so -> TV, play as normal while the recorder does its job.

Using a splitter is only necessary if you want to play on your TV while recording on another external device at the same time. You are basically feeding your Saturn to two "displays" that way, your TV and your capture device.

And using a pc capture card is only an option if you use composite or s-video input. Not SCART. Unless you have some high-end capture card that can take SCART input, but I've yet to see one. The only capture card I know to accept RGB input uses 3 RCA cables for that, not SCART (but you can just build an adapter for that easy).
I'm not saying that SCART capture cards don't exist, just that I haven't seen one yet.

[buckoa51]

There's lots of capture cards that will do 15khz RGB (SCART). Some of the WinTV PVR series can do it, for instance, and can be picked up quite cheaply on E-bay (careful about what drivers are available though!) . Also since composite video is normally carried with SCART, you could use a SCART splitter and play in RGB while recording in composite, if you were on a tight budget, that would still probably be adequate for Youtube. Capture cards will treat the 240p signal as 480i, of course, but that's just the same as HDTV's do.

[mikey]

I can't speak with any personal experience with video capturing, but Prab's advice was discouraging the use of a single monitor because of lag introduced. Depending on the type of game of course, even a tenth of a second lag can totally wreck gameplay.

If the standalone device is just sampling the signal and recording, then there won't be any lag (which is most likely how they work). If the signal gets recorded first and then fed back into the TV, that's where you might suffer from a time delay... When it comes to signal fidelity and timing, Parallel (Like the schematic you drew, Mancity) > Series

[buckoa51]

Agreed, if you are looking to play to any serious level while capturing with a cheaper capture card I'd absolutely split the signal out as described above.

[mancity]

Cheers for the info guys. I just need to see what I can find now

[mancity]

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[mancity]

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[mancity]

Right,

I already have the SCART splitter on the second picture, and have found the USB TV Capture unit in the first picture off Amazon.

Would these work? Would I get a lead that has a reg, yellow & white male connector at each end and connect the SCART splitter to the capture device?

Also, would I need any form of software for the USB TV capture? (the description on Amazon seems vague).