Heya folks,

I currently have a usability station set up that records the player (using a webcam) and captures PC game footage using FRAPs. I am currently using a single PC to capture the video game footage and camera footage. The sources are recorded separately so after each session I go into Premiere and manually edit the footage together.

I am hoping there is a way to reduce the editing time by using picture in picture (PiP) to capture both signals at the same time. The restrictions are 1) Budget, I have multiple quad core systems available, but I don’t want to spend over $300 (if possible, but flexible) on additional accessories/software. 2) The set up must allow for smooth game play, little to no chop while playing or recording. 3) The user can’t be distracted by the recording process. Ie. It should be occurring in the background. 4) Capture quality must be good, almost DvD quality. 5) PiP positioning and size should be adjustable. (player footage is used in foreground with game play footage in the PiP window.)

I have tried connecting two PCs (one was sending camera footage, the other game play footage) to a PiP box. And then connecting the PiP box to a DVR, but the image quality was less then desirable.

I have two Picture in Picture boxes I have attempted to do this connection with:
MULTI-FUNCTION CONVERTER
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=4717187&CartID=done&nextloc=

AV Toolbox
http://www.provideosound.com/tv1-avt8020.html

The problem with this idea is 1) the DVR I have only supports Composite or Svideo, which results in a lower then desired recording quality 2) The multi-function converter has a VGA out, but I am not aware of a DVR or affordable video capture card that supports VGA (or DVI with an adapter) in.

I have searched for software that does on the fly PiP recording, but haven’t ran across anything that manages to capture both the game play footage and camera footage at a good FPS/resolution. I am in the process of trying out Morae, but my initial impressions is that the program doesn't do a good job of capturing game play footage. It seems to be dropping frames no matter what I set the capture settings to.

I have also tried talking to employees from multiple a/v & PC stores, but no one has any idea of how I could get this set up.

So does anyone have any other ideas/suggestions I can attempt to get something like this working?


Detail on PCs I am using, I can use up to 3 of these if required in the setup.

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / http://www.techspot.com/review/51-nvidia-geforce-8600/
Processor: Intel Quad Core @2.40 Ghz
Memory: 4 Gig
Vista Business x64


Thanks in advance.