Ultimate Video Guide Hey guys, this is my ultimate, highest level, video game recording guide. If you wish to see a simpler, or rather, cheaper version of this, than please visit Penguinish’s Advanced Video Capture Guide or my Basic Video Capture Guide. If you are interested in having the most kick-ass video quality and recording your awesomeness in any video game, then step into my office... Ok guys. So... First thing your going to need is either, a Black Magic Intensity Pro, or an Hauppauge HD PVR, which we will be using in this guide. Second, an Xbox. Third an HD TV... if you want to play while you record, which is the case for most games... sorry for the extra cost there. Here is everything you need. Now if you look at the back of the PVR, you’ll see the Green, Blue and Red High-Definition cabels as well as the common Red and White RCA jacks for the audio. I know that most people use HDMI cables to play in HD, but you’ll need to get the RBG (Red-Blue-Green) Cable for this to work. Once, you have that connected, you are going to need to get your twin, male ended, RBG/RCA Audio cable and connect it to the output, located above the input from the Xbox. Then connect the other end to the HD TV (the same ports that we’ve been using). Once you’ve done that you’ll have to have noticed the ports on the opposite side of the back of your PVR. Here is your power jack (to the right in the below picture) and your USB connector (Directly next to the power, to the left in the below picture). Simply connect the cables to the ports, plug in your power, and connect your USB. Don’t forget to power it on! Now we’re going to move on to the computer. You will need a recording software to record you HD PVR footage. The software that comes with the system is called Arcsoft Total Media Extreme. This program is very easy to use and the basic gist of the instructions can be explained in a few lines. When the program boots up, click record and follow the menus (there is only one path) and you will end up in the capture module, which is pictured below. Now its pretty simple. In the module, select the HD PVR as your source, YPrPb as your video input, RCA Back as your audio input and 2Channel Stereo as your PC audio mode. Below that, you have the listings of Playstation 3, AVCHD and Xbox 360. Always record under the Playstation 3 setting, even if you are playing on xbox. It outputs in .M2TS format, which is higher resolution than the .mp4 that is under the Xbox setting. FAQ How good of quality does it come out to be? Well, it depends on how you output the video. it is recorded in highest quality 1080p or 1080i, but most people prefer to render in 720p as it tends to lag less and have a marginal difference in the quality. Here is one I uploaded straight off of MY PVR in 1080p. YouTube - HDPVR test How do I livestrem with my HD PVR? Your good folks over at the Justin.tv forums have figured this out quite nicely. http://community.justin.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=4171 What Video Editing software do you use? I use Cyberlink Powerdirector version 9.0 and it works great for me. I have no use for the crazy things and complicated steps it takes to edit a video in after effects and Sony Vegas. The program does what I need it to and I can even get some cool effects and such. It's an easy to use program (with a little know-how) with a lot of capabilities for beginner and more advanced editors. It does cost a pretty penny though, but there are always ways around that....don't ask me though....just Google it....like your homework. What definition should I render/record in? Well we had a lengthy conversation in the comments below, if you wish to read it go ahead, but to sum it up...
I'm not sure whether you can get rid of interlacing, maybe when you re-encode the video you can get rid of all interlacing, otherwise it's not possible if the hardware limits it to 1080i and there is no software alternative.
Nah, you can't make it record in 1080p... it'll record in 1080i and then you can convert it to 1080p with any software, but it's just doing the same as recording in 720p and publishing it as a 1080p recorded video, the quality is no better than 720p (if not worse as it's upscaled). Although the pixels aren't being stretched or anything, the encoding is different and the quality itself will still be 1080i regardless of how the footage is described by any software.
No, wasn't a software bit. They even said you could set your xbox to 1080p and record. You're better off asking them since I didn't understand it at the time.
What stevo said. You can convert, but the difference is marginal at best. What i do is i convert the 1080i to 720p and upload as such, it actually lowers the quality a tad, but it's unnoticeable to someone who doesn't stare at the screen for 3 hours only studying my videos lol. late edit: Sarge, yeah there is a setting on your xbox that you can change from 1080i to 1080p, but i don't believe that will effect the quality in which the PVR Records.
hmmmm that's interesting, let me check that out for ya... HMMMMM interesting, seems that sarge is right as usual, you can only record in 1080i, but i know you can convert to 1080p or 720p
I recall being able to record still on 1080p tbh, but i was pretty sure there were frequent framerate drops and issues with it. I don't really know what the output format was because it never said anything other than resolution being like 1600 x 1080 or whatever. BUT, generally a piece of hardware will only support what it can support. If the device itself CAN decode 1080p without issue (which it appears it might be able to as the display can be shown through 1080p) then it comes down to how the software is managed and how the drivers can interact with the device. I have an issue with my BMIP at the moment being I can't get 1080p xbox through my BMIP despite it supporting 1080p signals. However, the software only permits 1080p 29.97fps instead of 1080p 59.97fps like the xbox 360 signal is sent, so I can't get a signal through the BMIP. Old software models allowed this though.. so I'm gonna try use premier pro to do the recording in the future
Not much I can do when editing lol. Yeah When you switch to 1080p the screen will not work. IDK why but it doesn't work. prolly because it doesn't support it. Premier Pro is a good program though, used it once with an old set up, it was ok I like the HD PVR system though.
If you ever capture in full 1080i, round down to 720p. Never round up to 1080p, because really it's a completely different video format.
Aye, I'm pretty sure you "can" record in 1080p on Arcsoft Media Xtreme 2 for Windows 7 (and by "can" I mean have the output signal from the xbox on 1080p settings but the device recognise it as something different). I managed to get a copy of that from their site when trying to use the hauppauge on Win7 and I left my settings on 1080p which it worked fine, despite the recording settings set on 720p. I think it just compressed it down into a 720p format in this instance. I honestly have no idea, I just know you can't make hardware record something it can't understand.
Lol, translation from Stevo " I have no ****ing clue why it works, but it does... don't question it."
If it says it can't record 1080p, then it can't. It will still, no matter what, record 1080i. It's harder to notice this small change between interlaced and progressive, but if you were a very big video editor, you'd see it.