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Post by buckoa51 on Jun 21, 2012 18:13:03 GMT
Introducing the StarTech.com PEXHDCAP video capture board! Okay, once upon a time there was a company called Micomsoft. This company makes crazy cool retro gaming stuff including the XRGB series of video processors. Round about the time they bought out the XRGB Mini they also announced the Micomsoft SC-500N1 RGB Capture Card. This card came bundled with all the cables etc needed to capture any source (except HDCP protected sources) from 240p up to 720p in FULL RGB! Of course several enthusiasts bought one and the results were stunning. Check out this capture from the SNES for instance:- dl.dropbox.com/sh/sc8u9c5urbkme8u/5ohamYc77F/videos/r-type-iii.mp4So what was the drawback? The card was expensive, and that's before you took the cost of importing it from Japan into account. Fast forward a few months and thanks to RGB32E on the shmups forum, it was realised that the Micomsoft card was just a rebranded/repackaged version of a generic card, with a special adaptor cable. StarTech.com PEXHDCAP video capture board is the same card and all that is required to use it with RGB SCART is a sync splitter such as the Sync Strike So, the card is just under £100 (http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?region=GB&prodID=B878736) The Sync Strike will set you back around £30 shipped (http://wp1114205.wp150.webpack.hosteurope.de/xtcmodified/product_info.php?products_id=15&XTCsid=cfivchun6gtbbpsc2a6o10upg2) So a complete, easy to use RGB capture solution for £130, now it's possible! ;D
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Post by MIK on Jun 21, 2012 20:13:48 GMT
Not sure if this is of any interest. I was looking at this today. Not for my self, but a Tube bud had uploaded it so I got the usual mail from them as you do. Sega Megadrive RGB SCART Capture. He says quickly how it was done... colours look a bit washed out but on the whole not too bad. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-6kF-Z7l4
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Post by buckoa51 on Jun 21, 2012 20:44:22 GMT
Yeah it's not bad if you have all the bits lying around, can't really touch the above solution though, the SNES capture blows that away.
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jokolo
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Post by jokolo on Jun 23, 2012 8:10:39 GMT
It's been a long time since I played R-Type, but the colors seem a little washed out to me. Still, the picture is crisp and otherwise, spot on. It's surprising that there aren't cheaper/easier ways for capturing RGB video. I mean, you can get a composite USB capture device for about £3 yet this set up costs £130. I don't know much of audio/video but there must be some kind of technical limitation to capturing RGB for it to be this difficult.
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Post by buckoa51 on Jun 23, 2012 8:40:49 GMT
The colours look perfect to me. Here's a Yoshi's Island cap to compare:- dl.dropbox.com/u/3459629/videos/yoshi.mp4Yeah and we've seen how well they work out Remember this card does HD (720p and 1080p/24) too. As well as component.
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jokolo
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Post by jokolo on Jun 23, 2012 8:43:41 GMT
The colours look perfect to me. Here's a Yoshi's Island cap to compare:- dl.dropbox.com/u/3459629/videos/yoshi.mp4Yeah and we've seen how well they work out Remember this card does HD (720p and 1080p/24) too. As well as component. Haha yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware of how bad the composite capture devices are, but £130 still seems so expensive to me. I'd be willing to pay a decent sum of money for a reliable RGB capture card, but not quite that much.
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Post by MIK on Jun 23, 2012 10:04:55 GMT
Only thing that spoils the whole idea are people that use emulators to get a better recording picture which sucks because the peasants don't have the real hardware/software or means to record anything. I guess it's just as bad when Retro Gamer print screen shots straight from an emulator and pass them off as the real deal and you have to pay for the pleasure. Defeats the very definition of Retro Gaming. Original rulez as always!
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Post by buckoa51 on Jun 23, 2012 10:31:09 GMT
Well as I said in my latest article, I'm no anti-emulation snob. I do love to use the original hardware but when you look at an emulator like bsnes it really is extremely accurate. Plus with an emulator you have to worry less about upscaling etc.
Neo Geo's another good example, with it's weird vertical refresh lots of TV's and equipment have problems with it. On an emulator you can triple buffer the output to prevent stuttering etc.
Still, I don't think a better picture is possible than with the capture card, especially as it captures at 240p native. I suppose you could play on a 320x240 window on the PC emulator.
The Saturn of course is a different kettle of fish altogether, we're unlikely to see cycle-exact emulation of that any time soon.
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Post by MIK on Jun 23, 2012 10:44:43 GMT
There is a time and a place for emulation, even I have a dabble but no way on earth would I sell up and make do with second best especially my Sega stuff. If I need to make a vid it will always be the real thing even if the quality is crap. haha!
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jokolo
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Post by jokolo on Jun 23, 2012 19:49:04 GMT
Speaking of crap quality, does anyone have any footage recorded with the cheap composite capture devices? I wanna see exactly how bad it is.
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Post by buckoa51 on Jun 24, 2012 10:10:35 GMT
I'm not sure anyone's actually got them working with the Saturn.
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mick_aka
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Post by mick_aka on Jun 24, 2012 10:42:39 GMT
I have, but bizzarely only running the Saturn through a VCR first.
Mine is I think the same hardware as the easycap but a re-branded one called something like easy DVD converter, marketed at converting VHS to DVD.
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Post by MIK on Jun 24, 2012 10:59:03 GMT
Speaking of crap quality, does anyone have any footage recorded with the cheap composite capture devices? I wanna see exactly how bad it is. I recorded this on my Panasonic DVDR via RGB and then plugged the recorder via composhite into my old WinTV card to make an .avi recording for uploading. Obviously once youtube gets hold of it it spoiles the original quality of the picture. I think it's just about do able and servers the purpose to allows others to see any way. This is what I mean by crap quality any way lol.
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
"Mick is moderately adequate."
Joined: April 2007
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XBL: mickloaf
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Post by mick_aka on Jun 24, 2012 11:07:31 GMT
I use a DVDR to record from RGB SCART, then burn to a CDRW and copy to my PC, it's a bit long winded but it works well.
My DVDR also has a special HQ recording mode that gets about 30 mins on a DVD which is nice.
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Post by MIK on Jun 24, 2012 11:59:12 GMT
I did think about how cool it would be to upload the original but your looking at a gig+ on the highest quality and I lack any software to change the file format on PC.
WinTV turned that Daytona movie footage in to an 80meg avi at the compression settings i use. Got to remember my WinTV card is stone age from 2000-ish.
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