Posts Tagged ‘Xbox360’

How to Capture Videos from PS3 (or XBox360)

Monday, September 13th, 2010

I get this question a lot so I am writing some info here to help you guys.

First you need a capture device. I have tried four different HD capture devices so far, two USB based ones and two PCI-e based ones. They have pros and cons of course, and I like the Hauppauge one best so far.

Hauppauge HDPVR

Product Details

AverMedia HD USB DVR

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Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro

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Avertv HD DVR

Product Details

Price (amazon.com as of 9/13/2010) $184.99 $179.95 $189.05 $89.78
Inputs Component, S-Video, Composite Component, S-Video, Composite HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite
Compression H.264 H.264 MJpeg or uncompressed YUV Mpeg2
Live Passthrough Yes Yes Yes (No for the audio, it has one but it does not work during recording) No
File size per 10 minutes (for the default encoding option) ~1GB ~1GB ~8GB (MJpeg) ~4GB
Deinterlacing for 1080i Yes Yes No, kinda (Mjpeg produces interlaced picture and not many software can handle it correctly) No (?)
What I like about the hardware On/off button, optical audio input/output for 5.1Ch Slick design, HDMI output (No HDCP of course) HDMI Input and Output (No HDCP of course) Low profile (can be installed on small machines)
What I don’t like about the hardware Looks uglier No on/off button, no 5.1ch optical No 5.1ch optical, passthrough is not working while recording No 5.1ch optical, no passthrough option
What I like about the software Option to save in different wrapper, MP4, TS, M2TS MJPEG should give you the best quality especially for the snapshot
What I don’t like about the software Window resizing is not there. Just max or default size. Just TS recording then you have to convert it to more common format like MP4

Connect PS3 through the component cable (no HDMI due to HDCP lock), then connect to the TV using the passthrough cables (if there is no passthrough, you have to split signal, which degrades the picture quality.)

To capture the headset chatting, set the PS3 to use the ‘system default’ audio for the headset.

To capture your voice, you have to mix your voice into the capture input. One easy way is using you computer to be the mixer. Attach an extra mic for your voice to the PC. Connect PS3 audio output into the audio input of the PC. Connect audio output of the PC to the input of the capture device.

Ah… controllers

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Doing some house cleaning (especially around the entertainment center) and realized I have tons of controllers. Most of them will go to back to storage boxes I guess.

All those guitar hero and rockband stuffs are not in here :P, which are two PS2 GH guitars, one PS3 GH3 guitar and two sets of RB guitar/drum/mic.

Ah… memories … of not using them.

I still can use most PS2/1 stuffs using USB adapter on the PS3, which is good. Gamecube ones are working fine with Wii of course. Xbox ones are useless since my old Xbox is broken now. Dreamcast ones are good but not using them anytime soon. A little bit of Ikaruga maybe.