Support NeoGAF

[monkeymagic]

I'm looking for capture cards (preferably for Mac) that will allow for component/HDMI/DVI inputs from X360, PS3 and Rev to capture games at full res at 480p, 720p, and 1080p.

I've looked at Elgato EyeTV but it only has composite inputs (from what I've seen) and it's aimed more at consumers (and I don't think it does HD anyway).

Does anyone who has experience capturing games have any suggestions?

Willing to spend up to $4000-$5000.

 

[Blimblim]

Ready to get a monster Raid array that can sustain at least 141 MB/s for 720p/60 capture?

 

[monkeymagic]

Will an XServe Raid suffice?

I've found this via Google - not sure if it is any good

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hd/specs/

Only supports component in though.

 

[Blimblim]

This one would also require a Component -> HD-SDI converter. Not cheap.
AFAIK there are no hardware out there that can capture digital signals like DVI/HDMI. Maybe I'm wrong, but at least it's nothing a normal human being could afford.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Capture card w/ component in. That's what I want. I don't care for digital video input at the moment due to price. Either way they're both very expensive.

 

[maskrider]

Capture card w/ component in. That's what I want. I don't care for digital video input at the moment due to price.

Same case, even without HDMI/DVI, cards that can take component at 480p and above are at least $2000 last time I checked.

 

[crunker99]

Capture card w/ component in. That's what I want. I don't care for digital video input at the moment due to price.

blims right there is no such thing that will cost u under 1000 bucks

your only option is this:

http://www.pixelsmart.com/vga.html

and use the xbox360 vga adapter as the input

still gonna run u about 400 bucks

thats about the only solution

 

[Blimblim]

I'm getting in a few weeks a Blackmagic Multibridge PCI Express, with a dual opteron setup using a 6x250 SATA drives RAID0 setup. That's about the cheapest thing I could find to capture true HD videos from component.

 

[Blimblim]

blims right there is no such thing that will cost u under 1000 bucks

your only option is this:

http://www.pixelsmart.com/vga.html

and use the xbox360 vga adapter as the input

still gonna run u about 400 bucks

thats about the only solution

That's a frame grabber though, you can't do videos with this.

 

[monkeymagic]

This one would also require a Component -> HD-SDI converter. Not cheap.
AFAIK there are no hardware out there that can capture digital signals like DVI/HDMI. Maybe I'm wrong, but at least it's nothing a normal human being could afford.

You're right - there doesn't seem to be.

They are all component in under $10,000 but I think I've found a decent component in one

Canopus Edius SP system for HDV

http://www.dvdoctor.net/content/item.php?item=1168&page=8

The Decklink HD is looking good as a starter option though so will probably go with that.

Incidentally what are you using for video capture Blimblim?

 

[crunker99]

That's a frame grabber though, you can't do videos with this.

ya it just for screens but for 300 bucks screen only isnt TOO bad

 

[monkeymagic]

BTW that Multibridge looks sweet!

 

[Blimblim]

You're right - there doesn't seem to be.

They are all component in under $10,000 but I think I've found a decent component in one

Canopus Edius SP system for HDV

http://www.dvdoctor.net/content/item.php?item=1168&page=8

The Decklink HD is looking good as a starter option though so will probably go with that.

Incidentally what are you using for video capture Blimblim?

Hehe, another one fooled by Canopus. This card can do HD, but only with a HDV signal. Meaning it's JUST a... firewire input. Yes. Forget about it.
For the moment I use a PDS PDI card, it's rather "cheap" and it can capture a 480i signal with a YUV input. Excellent quality. Using some custom deinterlacing setup I can do a 856x480 video at 60 fps and it looks quite good. Capture from such a video (XVID compressed) :

 

[Blimblim]

BTW that Multibridge looks sweet!

Indeed it does. I'm just waiting for the french reseller to get it in stock and it should be mine.

 

[BlueTsunami]

BTW that Multibridge looks sweet!

O_O

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Why the high price tag? I work with stuff I would never be able to afford, but I'd at least think there would be consumer level products that have these abilities. These are more 'pro-sumer'.

 

[Blimblim]

Why the high price tag?

Actually the Blackmagic hardware is *very* cheap compared to anything else you could get. Really.
This is professional stuff, not consumer hardware. Blackmagic's stuff could be considered usable for very rich consumers or for a very specific need I guess.
And you can be sure the RIAA and everyone else involved will do everything they can to make sure this stays as is.
Still, you have to keep in mind that an uncompressed 720p60 video requires more than 1 gbit per second of bandwidth. If you want to capture it already compressed, then the price point is slightly higher. Like $10000 higher or something.

 

[maskrider]

Hehe, another one fooled by Canopus. This card can do HD, but only with a HDV signal. Meaning it's JUST a... firewire input. Yes. Forget about it.
For the moment I use a PDS PDI card, it's rather "cheap" and it can capture a 480i signal with a YUV input. Excellent quality. Using some custom deinterlacing setup I can do a 856x480 video at 60 fps and it looks quite good. Capture from such a video (XVID compressed) :

Only component is ok from that PMS PDI card as it is on SAA7118H, the other inputs seem to be with the same old Fusion 878A.

 

[monkeymagic]

Hehe, another one fooled by Canopus. This card can do HD, but only with a HDV signal. Meaning it's JUST a... firewire input. Yes. Forget about it.
For the moment I use a PDS PDI card, it's rather "cheap" and it can capture a 480i signal with a YUV input. Excellent quality. Using some custom deinterlacing setup I can do a 856x480 video at 60 fps and it looks quite good. Capture from such a video (XVID compressed) :

Yeah I had concerns about the whole HDV thing - thanks for clearing that up.

I may even opt for the Multibridge now that you've shown me the light

So my setup will probably end up consisting of:

- 30" cinema display
- Quad G5 w/8GB RAM, internal 250GB HDD
- 1TB XServe RAID (Apple claims upto 400MB/s but I haven't seen any real world benchmarks)
- Multibridge PCI Express
- Final Cut HD

Am I missing anything? Or will this suffice for end to end capture and editing?

What kind of PC setup are you going to be going with?

 

[Blimblim]

Only component is ok from that PMS PDI card as it is on SAA7118H, the other inputs seem to be with the same old Fusion 878A.

Could be, I bought it specifically for the component input so I don't really care about the rest.
I have a YUV switch that allows me to play normally on my tv (albeit in 480i for the moment), while capturing. It's really nice.

 

[Blimblim]

Yeah I had concerns about the whole HDV thing - thanks for clearing that up.

I may even opt for the Multibridge now that you've shown me the light

So my setup will probably end up consisting of:

- 30" cinema display
- Quad G5 w/8GB RAM, internal 250GB HDD
- 1TB XServe RAID (Apple claims upto 400MB/s but I haven't seen any real world benchmarks)
- Multibridge PCI Express
- Final Cut HD

Am I missing anything? Or will this suffice for end to end capture and editing?

What kind of PC setup are you going to be going with?

I already more or less detailed my PC setup :
Dual opteron, 2 GB RAM, 6x250 SATA drives on a hardware raid controller (PCIe 4x)
For software I will use my own stuff, the blackmagic card comes with standard directshow drivers so I'll be able to code/hack my own capture software rather easily. Then I can feed everything to virtualdub through avisynth for final encoding.
Yes, I'm a bit hardcore with this, but so far nothing beats avisynth for my needs.

 

[maskrider]

I already more or less detailed my PC setup :
Dual opteron, 2 GB RAM, 6x250 SATA drives on a hardware raid controller (PCIe 4x)
For software I will use my own stuff, the blackmagic card comes with standard directshow drivers so I'll be able to code/hack my own capture software rather easily. Then I can feed everything to virtualdub through avisynth for final encoding.
Yes, I'm a bit hardcore with this, but so far nothing beats avisynth for my needs.

Not just a bit hardcore, definitely hardcore for non-studio professionals.

I did almost all my stuffs on my average PC (P4 3G) with TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress, and sometimes with Adobe Premiere Pro.

Encoding speed for the 2nd pass 852x480 29.97fps WMV9 is just 2fps, ha ha ha !

I am planning on upgrade, but not yet decided on the spec.

 

[Blimblim]

Not just a bit hardcore, definitely hardcore for non-studio professionals.

I did almost all my stuffs on my average PC (P4 3G) with TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress, and sometimes with Adobe Premiere Pro.

Encoding speed for the 2nd pass 852x480 29.97fps WMV9 is just 2fps, ha ha ha !

I am planning on upgrade, but not yet decided on the spec.

That slow, wow. On my P4 3.0 that 856x480 video was encoded at around 14 fps (XVID). I'd get mad if it was below 5.

 

[maskrider]

That slow, wow. On my P4 3.0 that 856x480 video was encoded at around 14 fps (XVID). I'd get mad if it was below 5.

Xvid is much faster, but I guess I will stick with WMV9 for a while.