DVD recorder vs MiniDV camera for computer capture

[Argento]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to capture some in-game footage off my computer and I was wondering if I would get better results, in terms of image quality, capturing it to a DVD recorder rather then to a MiniDV camera? I have an ATI X850XT that outputs S-Video and I'll be runing the game at 1024x768.

I did run a test with a Canon Optura camera, but the footage looked very blury. I spent quite some time tweaking all the card/camera/screen resolution setups I could imagine but still no major improvements. I believe it has something to do with the camera's CCD resolution, am I right? So, would capturing computer screen footage on a DVD recorder using a S-Video cable yield a sharper image than MiniDV, or is it going to be about the same?

Thanks for any info and sorry to ask a bunch of questions on my first post here

[redwudz]

I am confused. You are capturing video from your computer? Why? If it's in your computer, why not just capture/transfer it to your hard drive there? When you say game, do you mean video game? If so, there are better options.

You might want to clarify what you want to do with the 'captured' footage.

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: Check out these programs. They may be what you are looking for. CamStudio is one that is popular for game screen captures. Fraps is another: https://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=110#110

[edDV]

Agree. If you are happy with your game as viewed over S-Video on a TV, then that is exactly how it will look when recorded.

[Argento]

I am confused. You are capturing video from your computer? Why? If it's in your computer, why not just capture/transfer it to your hard drive there? When you say game, do you mean video game? If so, there are better options.

You might want to clarify what you want to do with the 'captured' footage.

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: Check out these programs. They may be what you are looking for. CamStudio is one that is popular for game screen captures. Fraps is another: https://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=110#110

Hi redwudz, thanks for the reply!

Sorry about the confusion. I think I skipped some details It is PC video-game that I'm refering to. I've tried Fraps and it works ok in my system. The thing is, the game I use(MSFS2004) is high demanding on computer resources, so I loose a good deal of framerate when I'm using Fraps or any other capturing program running in the background and saving footage on the HD. That's why I want to find a way to capture it FROM the computer I'm playing to one of those devices. When I tested with the DV camera I did get a much fluid/smoother video than with FRAPS, but like I said, kind of blurry.

Once I have the footage I intend to edit videos with it. The bottom line is, I want to know if it is possible to capture a smooth video with a good quality image that doesn't involve running a program in the background. I'm new to video capturing, so if the answer is "obviously this is not possible!" haha I'll understand. Thanks again.

[thecoalman]

Try reducing the resolution you're running the game at, that will free up some resourcs. Even if you run it 800x600 that's still a higher resolution than the DV Cam is going to capture at, beside you won't be going through the digital>analog>digital conversion. If you're going to be using these videos online you can even go 640x480 ... make sure to wear eye protection...

That brings us to the second point, if your viewing this game at high resolution, say for example 1280x960... When you're capturing it to DV cam you're reducing the resolution to approx. 1/3 the original. Less clarity can be expected.

[edDV]

S-video is the only available desktop output that has a recorder.

There are no graphics cards with DV format output, only YPbPr, DVI and VGA.

YPbPr or DVI could be converted to DV for recording if you can afford the equipment. ~$600-1000+. Cheaper to buy a faster computer and use fraps.

S-Video issues are described in this thread
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=296772&highlight=

[Argento]

Thanks guy for the help! edDV: thanks for the link I'll check it out.

So I guess FRAPS would still be the best way to go. I'll try to reduce the game's resolution. If during game play I capture footage to a second HD using Fraps, would that improve the overall performance?