Quit pointing your camcorder at your TV, and take a look at some modern capture solutions.
The process of capturing video game footage has come a long way. Before there were reasonably priced options to play with, the solution was simply to mount a camcorder in front of the TV. It got the job done, but the grainy recordings and quiet tapping of buttons in the background weren't exactly desirable. The initiated could cobble together a good capture station, but the costs would still be quite high. More recently, quite a few products have popped onto the market at rather low prices. We've zoomed in on two products that get the job done for around $100.
Roxio's $100 GameCap is simplicity in a box the size of a deck of cards. The device plugs into your USB port and lets you connect a single console via component cables. The GameCap doesn't record at HD resolutions, but the easy-to-use controls and interface speak for themselves.
Getting a little fancier, the $130 Hauppauge Colossus gives you quite a bit more flexibility, but with an added dash of complexity. It can capture footage up to 1080i over HDMI and component video. As an add-in card for a desktop computer, it's also not very portable.
Roxio GameCap
The Roxio GameCap is about as difficult to use as a bag of microwave popcorn. You simply plug the USB end into a computer and drop in the component video cables from your console. Installing the software is as trouble-free. Our only gripe is that you have to save the CD installation sleeve. If you lose that, you can't install future downloadable updates or the files off the original driver disk. This seems rather excessive considering that you need the hardware in the first place.
Getting the whole kit working didn't take us more than a few minutes. After flicking a few power switches and firing up the Roxio GameCap software, we had stutter-free video and audio on our computer monitor. No fiddling, no settings, nothing. It's pretty hard to get lost using the included software. The software doesn't let you go full screen if you want to use your monitor to play on, but you can maximize the window to get a larger viewable area. The GameCap box also has component video-out for use on an external monitor or HDTV.
Input
1x component video/analog audio
Output
1x component video/analog audio
1xUSB output
There's a big green button in the Roxio GameCap program that says "Start Capture." You won't find any resolution settings or encoder settings to fiddle with outside of choosing whether you want a WMV, DIVX, or AVI file as the output. This makes the GameCap very easy to use but also limits you to the quality settings built into the program. Videos come out at 848x480 regardless of what resolution you set on the console, and screenshots are pulled at 720x480. Audio is captured in stereo. The GameCap software uses a high level of compression that results in small files that add a considerable amount of blocking and artifacting to the visuals. In our test video, the sky gets completely blown out using appropriate brightness settings. The screenshots are also taken at incorrect aspect ratio, which result is a slightly stretched image.
Roxio's GameCap video editing software lets you trim videos, combine them, replace music tracks, add narration, and quite a bit more. The interface is clearly laid out, and the drag-and-drop functionality makes it intuitive. Once you're done editing, the software will render the file; how long that takes is a function of how powerful your CPU is and how complex the file is. Built-in export functions let you make stand-alone videos and post them to YouTube, Facebook, and WeGame with a few clicks. Overall video quality is nothing to write home about, and black levels are pretty bad due to compression.
The GameCap will come in handy for those folks limited to laptops. It's cheap, easy to use, highly portable, and it provides passable video quality. For better video quality, there are products like the Hauppage HD PVR, but they also cost twice as much.
Hauppauge Colossus
Priced at around $130, the Hauppauge Colossus costs a bit more than the Roxio GameCap, but it also does a heck of a lot more if you have a desktop that you can plug it into.
The Hauppauge Colossus requires an open 1x PCI Express slot and fits only in full-height desktop cases; slimline computers need not apply. If you have any experience at installing video cards, the Colossus won't prove any more difficult.
Inputs
1x component video/analog audio
1x optical audio
1x HDMI
Optional daughter card - 1x S-Video and 1x composite video
1x RF receiver
Outputs
1x component video/analog audio
1x optical audio
Hauppauge includes connecting dongles for component video and everything to get you going using them. You're going to have to supply your own HDMI cables if you want to go down that route. Some models of the Colossus include an HDMI splitter. The Colossus supports S-Video and composite inputs, but the package does not include the functionality out of the box. You'll have to purchase a daughter card separately for $15, which isn't a terrible loss since most of us won't be capturing video from devices limited to those connections. Another benefit of the Colossus is its ability to record multichannel audio from sources over optical and HDMI inputs. The Colossus will not record over HDMI on devices that have HDCP enabled (copy protection). In practical terms, this means you won't be able to record PlayStation 3 footage over HDMI, but component video will work fine.
The Colossus comes with two software titles that you can use to record video with. WinTV v7 can be used to record games, but its primary use is to record TV shows. The ArcSoft ShowBiz software is better suited to gameplay recording because it also has a built-in video editor and automatic upload to YouTube. Both programs let you take screenshots at whatever resolution you've set the console to (1280x720, 1920x1080).
The Colossus has a slightly longer learning curve, but it also delivers high-quality recordings and screenshots, and it offers numerous input options for the effort. In addition to being able to capture over various inputs, the card works well as a personal video recording device like a Tivo, provided you have a cable box or a PC tuner card.
Video quality from the Colossus is excellent, especially considering its price. Our only gripe with the Colossus is that it's impossible to play a lag-free game using only the computer. You will need to use the video outputs to properly play and record. Component video users are covered, but certain models of the Colossus do not include an HDMI splitter, so you'll have to fork out an extra $10 depending on the model.
Even though the two products have similar prices, deciding between them isn't terribly difficult. Gamers with laptops are clearly limited to USB-style options like the Roxio GameCap. As long as you're not looking for HD capture or particularly discerning about video quality, the GameCap should serve just fine. Get the Hauppauge Colossus if you have a desktop. The capture quality is excellent, it has a low price point, and it offers great connectivity options.
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