Capture Advice

[redtail]

My new laptop's given me so many headaches trying to run SSF that I'm sorta leaning towards capturing from an actual Saturn at this point. Owning a laptop, I need a USB capture device, and I've read that the Roxio GameCap HD Pro pretty much gives you the best bang for your buck. What I'm looking to do is get the very best picture quality I can out of a Saturn, so I'll need some kind of adapter or converter box to go between the Saturn and the GameCap. I'm thinking SCART to HDMI or SCART to component. If I go with the former, it'll digitize the signal before going into the GameCap. If I pick the latter, it should go into it analog and be digitized by the GameCap itself. Both options look about equal in price. I'm just wondering if one method would be better than the other.

So what do you all think? Which is the best way to go? Am I even going about this in a way that make sense?

[buckoa51]

I'd go for the Micomsoft XCAPTURE-1 personally. It's the only USB capture device with built in 240p compatibility. Trying to adapt the Saturn for something like the Roxio isn't as straightforward as you might hope. While I've not used the Roxio personally I do know that cards like the BlackMagic will simply reject the signal because it's not NTSC/PAL spec.

A lot of capture cards will also reject 240p so transcoding is hit and miss. Converting 240p to HDMI either means deinterlacing (which effects picture quality) or buying a expensive converter like an XRGB Mini.

[redtail]

Nov 12, 2013 9:44:31 GMT buckoa51 said:

I'd go for the Micomsoft XCAPTURE-1 personally. It's the only USB capture device with built in 240p compatibility. Trying to adapt the Saturn for something like the Roxio isn't as straightforward as you might hope. While I've not used the Roxio personally I do know that cards like the BlackMagic will simply reject the signal because it's not NTSC/PAL spec.

A lot of capture cards will also reject 240p so transcoding is hit and miss. Converting 240p to HDMI either means deinterlacing (which effects picture quality) or buying a expensive converter like an XRGB Mini.

From what I'm seeing in this review, it looks pretty good, but that $350 price tag...yeesh! I'd prefer to stay around the $200 price range, but I realize that might not be realistic if I'm expecting excellent quality video without too much fuss. I may just break down and buy one.

[buckoa51]

Yeah it's pricey but you're basically future-proofing your capture setup until the end of this console generation (unless you want to capture 4K from a PC )

You will need a bunch of extra adaptors for the Roxio too, so in the end you might spend close to what you would have done on an XCAPTURE (though looking at the specs you might need to buy a sync strike to go with the XCAPTURE too, further pushing up the cost).

[superdeadite]

I just use an old progressive dvd/hdd recorder. Plug in S-Video, done. Quality is good enough for youtube and the like.

[mick_aka]

Nov 12, 2013 13:18:15 GMT superdeadite said:

I just use an old progressive dvd/hdd recorder. Plug in S-Video, done. Quality is good enough for youtube and the like.

I use the same method but my Bush recorder accepts RGB SCART in.

[redtail]

I could forgo the Sync Strike if I just used S-Video, correct?

[buckoa51]

I suppose, but seriously, spending all that on a capture card then skimping on cables?

[redtail]

Nov 14, 2013 9:54:29 GMT buckoa51 said:

I suppose, but seriously, spending all that on a capture card then skimping on cables?

It's $40 for the Sync Strike and and then over $50 if I add an enclosure (which i would absolutely want to do if I invested in one). As for shipping, I don't even know yet, but since it would have to cross the Atlantic, I'm probably looking at spending at least $60 total on it. The difference between SCART and S-Video isn't supposed to be huge, and how much of that is going to be lost in the YouTube encoding process? I'm not trying to be cheap, but this would be a pretty hefty investment. If the picture quality isn't significantly affected, then I'd prefer to save some money.

[buckoa51]

Side by side there's a clear difference (was going to post pictures someone took over in Shmups but I can't find them). Just for the likes of Youtube, sure it will do just fine and probably be better quality than what most people upload, but a shame to have such a powerful capture solution and not use the best connections possible.

[redtail]

Alright... Lemme see if I got all of this right then.

The Saturn will output the signal through the SCART cable to the Sync Strike. The Sync Strike will convert it and output through VGA to the XCapture. The XCapture can then output an upconverted signal to an external HD or a PC via USB and also split the signal and send it to my television via component, VGA, or HDMI (whatever I choose really). Or do I need to get a splitter too?

[buckoa51]

I don't actually own one (I do own one of their earlier model cards in PCI-E though and it's pretty good) but there's a full review here www.sixfortyfive.com/streaming/xcapture1.html The Sync Strike basically replaces the X-SYNC unit.