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OG Xbox Forums => Hardware Forums => Xbox Audio/Video Technical => Topic started by: noob123 on April 11, 2005, 12:01:00 AM

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: noob123 on April 11, 2005, 12:01:00 AM

hi everyone
i just softmodded my xbox with the ltool pacage a week ago and man am i excited.
i got ftp and stuff, and now i wat to record what i play (i wanna make some thing like 'redvsblue'-www.redvsblue.com-). I'v searched and searched but just cant figure out what to do. Some people say that you cant do that. Please someone help. i also read that you can capture video by the XDK debug xbox thingy...I there any simple way....like some sort of app that will let me do thins....anythin.
And one more thing i dont have a video capture card and my PC video card is shit as.PLEASSEEEEEE HELP <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Mr Ed on April 11, 2005, 10:59:00 AM

Well find out how the redvsblue people did it.

You basically will need a video capture card in your computer.  If you can buy the XDK (major $$$) you are correct that it supposedly has a program that will record video.

There's nothing else out there that will do that. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 11, 2005, 03:20:00 PM

Click on the link under my sig, that will show you how to capture xbox video via a tv tuner card.

I checked out those vids on that web site you linked. Those were really well done, with some major editing. I'm not sure of their capture method, but i seriously doubt it was through a tv tuner. They probably have some professional A/V equipment. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: noob123 on April 11, 2005, 10:10:00 PM

thanks for the reply guys.
but the thing is that i dont have a tv tuner or a capture card on my pc(and i dont think my dads gonna buy me one of those just to do this-dosen't those cost about AUS $80-)
But some tutorial say that i can turn my xbox in to a debug xbox and this can capture my gameplay as video. So how come there isnt a app/program that would let me do this without a debug xbox?
thanx for the help <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 11, 2005, 10:35:00 PM

This tut, How to take screenshots and video captures for newbies, utilizes XDK, but good luck using it.

This post has been edited by xboxbox451: Apr 12 2005, 05:36 AM <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Jameson42 on April 12, 2005, 11:41:00 AM

your only options are the XDK, a video capture card on your computer, or just recording stuff with a VCR...  tough break, but that's all there is to it. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: fahrenheit on April 12, 2005, 05:05:00 PM

Screenshots with a debug BIOS, yes. Video capture? I doubt it. You need 128mb ram for that. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: jamiep21 on April 14, 2005, 11:06:00 AM

ok i know you can capture without SDK. so how do you do it? cant you just buy a vid capture card and plug it into there? <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Jameson42 on April 14, 2005, 11:31:00 AM

QUOTE(jamiep21 @ Apr 14 2005, 09:01 AM)

ok i know you can capture without SDK. so how do you do it? cant you just buy a vid capture card and plug it into there?

I believe three of us already said that. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: jamiep21 on April 14, 2005, 11:35:00 AM

yea welll how the hell do you do it then? <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Mr Ed on April 14, 2005, 11:48:00 AM

QUOTE(jamiep21 @ Apr 14 2005, 08:30 AM)

yea welll how the hell do you do it then?

Uh, buy video capture card for your computer.

Install it in your computer.

Connect XBOX A/V to your computer's new video capture card.

Capture video.

other option if your computer has FireWire (IEEE 1394) and you have a DV camcorder

Connect camcorder to computer via FireWire.

Connect XBOX A/V to your camcorder.

Capture video as it is passed through your camcorder to your computer. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: jamiep21 on April 14, 2005, 02:45:00 PM

ok but i want to watch it while i play. i need splitters basically. i figured it out. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 14, 2005, 05:50:00 PM

Did you even click on the tut under my sig? It shows you in detail what to do and how to do it. At the very least it'll give you an idea of what to do. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: jamiep21 on April 15, 2005, 08:30:00 AM

yea i got it working only thing is i cant find an svideo splitter. anyone know where to find one? preferably in a store. <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Mr Ed on April 15, 2005, 10:02:00 AM

Here's one, it's only $120.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.c...r=180-009&DID=7

This looks like the same thing for $80
http://www.digitallyunique.com/ceiav400sv.html

Wow!  Only $60, that's the lowest price one I've ever seen!
http://www.trianglecables.com/svideo-amp.html


 <

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 15, 2005, 11:12:00 AM

You have two options when it comes to splitting the S-Video signal, passive or amplified.

I've tried both. Passive is good but you may experience a slightly darker image at your television due to signal loss. Amplified splitter will boost your image signal so there is no image loss at all. Though an amplified booster is more expensive. I placed a link to both. Radio Shack has the least expensive amplififed splitter I've come across.

Amplified S-Video Splitter

Passive Splitter

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: jamiep21 on April 15, 2005, 12:03:00 PM

thats it xboxxbox! ok well i dont really care about signal loss cuz its just going to the capture card the other one is plugged in straight to TV to box so now loss on TV just capture. which is not bad.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: XBMods on April 18, 2005, 03:44:00 PM

Doe neone know how i can record halo 2 and view it on my comp?

If so. Detailed tut plz.



thx!


-XBMods

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Mr Ed on April 18, 2005, 06:44:00 PM

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Mr Ed on April 18, 2005, 06:53:00 PM

QUOTE(jamiep21 @ Apr 15 2005, 10:09 AM)

thats it xboxxbox! ok well i dont really care about signal loss cuz its just going to the capture card the other one is plugged in straight to TV to box so now loss on TV just capture. which is not bad.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 18, 2005, 09:03:00 PM

I've used both, passive and amped. The only difference I saw was at the TV end. The signal at my PC really did'nt improve. Though the signal at my PC was damn clear with both passive and amped. Dont know why.

Claritys goona suck as soon as you compress your vids anyway, which you most likley will in order to show case on the net. Theres so many codecs that claim better compression and clarity, but I have'nt found any to work that great. I dont like using codecs anyways, once you start futzin around with them, you got to start explaing where to get the codec for others to view your file, and once people see they got to install somthin just to view, they'll say forget it.

Though I would definetiely reccomend adding an amplifier, just so your gaming does'nt degrade at the TV side.

In fact I'm revising my tutorial with an amplfier as a hardware method.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: fahrenheit on April 20, 2005, 06:16:00 AM

You can capture video with just a debug bios, you need RAM. The debug xbox has double the ram of a retail Xbox. It can perform other tasks (ie. video capture) and play the game at the sametime. Retail Xbox's dedicate all the available ram to running the game, so there is nothing left for other tasks.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 20, 2005, 02:02:00 PM

I'm curious as to the quality of the debug capture method. Does anyone have a captured segment they can post or a link to hosted segments?

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 20, 2005, 04:05:00 PM

Thanks for the reply. I'm always looking for better ways to output video.

I never used the Advance AV pack. But I'm revising the tut to incorporate an amplified splitter, that allows the splitting of composite and s-video. I think thats a better method then the advance av pack since the output signal is amplifed to ensure no signal loss. What are your thoughts?

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Jameson42 on April 20, 2005, 05:40:00 PM

You don't get signal loss with the advance A/V pack...  The composite and S-video are on seperate channels.  Besides, when s-video output is enabled, so is composite.  doesn't matter if you hook something up to the connection or not (or even if the connection is there), the xbox outputs to that connection.  If there is any signal loss, you won't be able to tell, because it's always there.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 20, 2005, 07:29:00 PM

QUOTE(Jameson42 @ Apr 20 2005, 05:46 PM)

You don't get signal loss with the advance A/V pack...  The composite and S-video are on seperate channels.  Besides, when s-video output is enabled, so is composite.  doesn't matter if you hook something up to the connection or not (or even if the connection is there), the xbox outputs to that connection.  If there is any signal loss, you won't be able to tell, because it's always there.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: RocafellaSqualie on April 21, 2005, 02:02:00 AM

QUOTE(xboxbox451 @ Apr 20 2005, 01:08 PM)

I'm curious as to the quality of the debug capture method. Does anyone have a captured segment they can post or a link to hosted segments?

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 21, 2005, 02:47:00 AM

Thanks for the links.

I'm not that crazy about the definition, like you said too jagged. But the coloring is good.

Do you know if it lost definition due to compression, or is that the way it actually records?

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 21, 2005, 03:40:00 PM

QUOTE(-FourDoor- @ Apr 21 2005, 03:33 PM)

xboxbox451: You're the same guy that posted on the AVS forums. I remember your comparison pics. Anyways, like I said in AVS, the only reason I went with composite in to the TV and svid to the pc as opposed to splitting svid all together was because I didn't want to spend $50 on the svid amplified splitter. If I want better PQ, then I plug in the HD AV pack instead to get 480p and not record the games. Besides, svid and composite in looks just as bad to me on my set.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: Mr Ed on April 22, 2005, 11:43:00 AM

QUOTE(xboxbox451 @ Apr 21 2005, 01:46 PM)

You must have one crappy TV not to notice the difference between s-vid and composite. On my TV, S-Vid is clearer, brighter, sharper, and much more defined than composite. The difffernce is night & day.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 22, 2005, 11:52:00 AM

Maybe I'm giving s-video a bit too much credit, but I feel it renders text and images a bit sharper, proof being in the photos below and when it comes to recording, every little bit helps.

Title: How To Capture Gameplay?
Post by: xboxbox451 on April 22, 2005, 06:16:00 PM

I finished expanding the recording tutorail linked in my sig to include an amplified method, among other things. I took four door's advice and added a part describing the use of an Advance AV pack, though I did not illustrate its installation since I never used one.

If anyone has a problem viewing the tut or sees a mistake pm me. thanks.