3D-GAME CAPTURING

[GASCRLSpeedRacer]

First off...software capturing (to me) is not an option.

Secondly, I have the following hardware.

GAMING SYSTEM
Intel 865PERL Board
Intel P4 1.6a Processor
1GB DDR RAM
Sapphire 9600XT (ATI Powered) 3D Vid Card w/256MB DDR

CAPTURE SYSTEM
Intel P3 Board
Intel 1Ghz Processor
1GB SDRAM
ATI All-In-Wonder 7500

Each system runs Windows XP and the latest ATI drivers, multimedia center, etc.

What I'm trying to accomplish is to actually change my primary display to the S-Video port on the Sapphire card, run the cable to the AIW card on the capture box and make a decent video with minimal frame loss of a 3D game.

I did this before with a Radeon 8500LE as the gaming card out the S-Video port with some success however I can't even get the subpar quality out of the 9600XT card as I believe NTSC capabilities of either the 9600XT card or the available software options in the ATI multimedia center don't allow a perfect match.

I do own Pinnacle Studio 8 and Adobe Premier 6.5 however I'm curious what the best method would be for getting the best possible capture factoring in off course the analog conversion in there. I wish I could just go out the DVI port into a FireWire port on the capture machine and keep everything digital however it doesn't appear that exists or it is so expensive the average user can't go there.

I have been setting the capture format on the AIW configuration to make an AVI file. Am I even doing that right?

I figured it was finally time to post...I've been putzing with this for too long now and I know the equipment should be ample enough to turn out a reasonable capture. Any help or reference to if this is discussed somewhere else in detail would be greatly appreciated.

MrD
Confused in Arizona

[mracer]

Go Speed Racer Go, I have an ADVC-100 on order and when I get it one of my test projects will be to capture the s-video ouput of a Radeon 9800 Pro playing back Nascar Racing 2003 Season and all it's mods, plus F1-2002, GTR-2002, F1C 99-02, and Grand Prix Legends. I hope to get at least decent quality so I can put together some music videos of some amazing racing moments I have saved as replays.

[GASCRLSpeedRacer]

exactly what I intend on capturing. I'm confident I don't have hardware limitations but I'm looking for advice whether I'm having software or hardware issues.

[GASCRLSpeedRacer]

sheesh...no advice?

[Admiral Falcon]

What exactly is the problem you're encountering? Is the video just bad or is it not even there?

Also, make sure that your capturing software is set to look at the right port on your AIW. If you're trying to input from S-Video, but the capture software is looking at the coaxial or composite in, you won't get any video.

I would try sending the video out through Composite (probably using the S-Video->Composite adapter that came with the card) and into the Composite-IN on your AIW. The 7500 is old, so I'd try the more basic video link first - to make sure it runs correctly before trying to deal with S-Video.

If everything's fine on the capture end, then I'd check your card's software settings. I use a Ti4200, so I don't know much about ATI's control programs. But I do know that with nVidia cards, nView allows you to "clone" your primary display to the TV-Out. Theoretically, ATI should offer this mode as well, so you shouldn't have to worry about resetting your primary display - just setting the TV-Out to clone your primary display instead.

Hope this helps.

[autodidact]

I was going to suggest Fraps 2.0 from www.fraps.com which can capture 3D games direct to avi at up to 1024x768 and 30fps. However, if that's what you mean by software capture then please ignore this post.

[NewbyNewb]

I want to capture PC games using 2 computers, what hardware would I use?

1st pc will use the latest from nvidia /ati
2nd pc will be the capture computer, but I dont know what card would be in it and what cable would be inbetween.

does anyone have experience doing this? how do the game companies capture games? like the hl2 videos... I know they use bink to encode but how do they originally capture the video?