How to: Capture Card under $30.00: Installing, and Capturing.

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Leadingspartan

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Ok, So I've had a lot of people messaging me and asking me in general all about capturing halo 3 saved films. So I'm going to help you do it for around thirty dollars. I think this is the best way to make sure that everyone gets a chance at posting some of their favorite videos on Youtube.

Now the first thing you will need is a capture card. What this does in lay mens terms is put AV ports on the back of your computer. (Ex. The ports on the back of your tv that you plug your xbox into). But before you can install it you will have to buy a capture card. Now, You can get any capture card you want varying from a regular card to an High-Definition card but I'm assuming that most people reading this are eager to post their videos using as little money as possible.

**Important Reminder** Quality is important when it comes to your video. But something you have to remember is if your posting to sites such as Youtube they are automatically going to significantly lower the quality of your video. So the deference between capture cards isn't going to be really noticeable on these sites.

Where to get a capture card?

Alright this is the site that i got mine from. Tiger Direct. They have a Capture card under the Video capture menu located on the side of the site for under 20 Dollars. Now if you see the capture card you are going to notice it doesn't have a spot for the Red and White audio in plugs. For most people this is fine for one reason, they are making montages and putting music over them anyway.

But what if i want to include sound?

So say you want to include sound. Don't worry it's not hard at all. You'll need a connector device that turns your Red and White AV cables into a 3.5 mm jack. You can pick these up at any RadioShack. Here is an example of what you will need. Example. You will simply take the Red and White jacks and plug them into their respective sockets and then plug the opposite end into the Audio in Socket found on the back of your card.

How about installing it?

Now, this is going to be different on every computer. My best suggestion for this is to read the instruction manual carefully and don't just do something because it seems right.If you are unsure about what you are doing ill be happy to show you the correct way to insert your card for your type of computer. Just message me or post in this thread.

Its in now what?

Install the disk of drivers that came with it. Its most likely going to be on a C.D. that comes with the card. If not, Putting your cards model and brand name into google accompanied by the word Driver will often bring up a list of download for your card. If you really still can't find it I will be more then happy to help you find your drivers.

Ok, i have the drivers and windows recognizes it...what's next?

Most of the time your capture card will come with programs for video capture.This program will act as a digital VCR. But for some unforeseen reason you didn't get one or you don't like the one you got i would suggest WinAvi. On that link its the last one that states download full version for free. This is legal because the maker has released it for free. Another one you can also try is Blaze Media Pro. Its free for a limited time but offers a heck of a lot more features. The choice is up to you.

Awesome i have all of that, Ive capture my video...now how do i make it look good?

The wonderful thing about having a PC or a Mac is they both come with video editing software built in. For PC it is Windows Movie Maker, and for Mac it is Imovie. Both these programs are great for basic editing such as: Adding titles, Editing clip length, Adding transitions in between clips, Adding music, Slowing down, Speeding up, And a couple more video effects. Most of this stuff is all you will need for montage making/editing.

Yeah, those programs are great, but what if i want to do something more advanced such as split screen with two different points of view?

Unfortunitly both of these programs don't have this feature. Your going to have to shell out so major bucks for a super editing program. Sony Vegas or Final Cut Pro 6 are two program with very powerful editing abilities. If your looking to do something a little more then i would suggest one of these programs.



Sorry if i missed anything...If i did Post or message me and ill be sure to add it.

Thanks for reading guys and Happy montaging!

Update: If you are intrested in different types of Capture devices that are over 20.00 dollars check this list out:

1. USB 2.0 Video Capture
2. USB 2.0 Capture Box
3. PCI gold Video Capture plus software
4. Magician TV Tuner
5. Dazzle Video Creator
6. Canopus Advanced Digital

**EDIT NUMBER 2: If you have a laptop a capture card will not work for you. You will need a USB 2.0 Video capture Device. The first two i have listed are good inexpensive options.

**EDIT NUMBER 3: *****I think most of you are confused on what an actual capture card does....here is my explanation:

Ill put another update in because i think most of you are confused as to what capturing is. Basically what happens is the capture card basically turns your computer into a TV. Your card will have a Yellow video in jack just like on the back of your TV. You will take your Yellow xbox 360 video in and plug it into the Yellow video in socket on your capture card. No actual capturing or saving is taking place on the card. Your actually not saving to the card itself. When you Open your program such as WinAVI it will open a window Which will act as a mini TV. You will be able to see what you are doing on your xbox on this window. Now, you will go into your saved films and bring up the clip you want.Hit the giant record button in WinAVI and tell your clip to play. Once its done click stop and it will automatically save your clip to any folder you choose.

**Edit Number 3: Here are a list of Video editing programs you can purchase. If you have a PC or a MAC it is important for you to know that you do NOT need any of these programs, because your computer comes pre-installed with either Windows movie maker or Imovie. This is a list compiled strictly for people who want more advanced editing.

1.Sony Vegas
2.Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11
3.Pinnacle Studio Plus 9
4.Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus
5.Final Cut Studio 2 MAC ONLY

Complete list of ALL Video Editing software is located here: http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,4835,00.asp Credits go to http://www.pcmag.com for the complete list.

**UPDATE 4:
I've had a a lot of people saying they need extra space for their archived video clips. Here is a link to some cheap external Hard Drives

**UPDATE 5: If you are currently running a MAC make sure that your MAC is compatable with the card you are buying. How do you do this? Check in the system Requirements in the description and it should say if MAC is supported. If you see nothing you like try here.

Also check this out: http://www.welovemacs.com/vicacrforg4m.html

**UPDATE 6: ********Free video editing software.********

Ok, So alot of you have been asking for some good LEGAL free video editing software. So here is the link to Free Software for the following systems:

Windows
OS X
Linux

**UPDATE 7 MORE DETAILED INSTALL INFORMATION******
If you have an actual capture card check out this Information about installing it into your computer here
 
Excellent info, you apparently know a good bit about this

I have a techie question for you. What Processors/system requirements are necessary for quality video capture. I've tried several capture cards with my system, and can install and use them reasonably well. The problem is though that the frame rate drops, and the audio never synchs up properly. During capture my CPU can't keep up with the rate of the video, and it starts dropping frames more and more the longer the clip..

Heres an example:


So, any advise?
 
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Sean Bradley said:
Excellent info, you apparently know a good bit about this

I have a techie question for you. What Processors/system requirements are necessary for quality video capture. I've tried several capture cards with my system, and can install and use them reasonably well. The problem is though that the frame rate drops, and the audio never synchs up properly. During capture my CPU can't keep up with the rate of the video, and it starts dropping frames more and more the longer the clip..

Heres an example:


So, any advise?

Sean why dont you try compressing the video? I had video's like that from fraps after I compressed it it was fine.
 
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It's not a compression problem though... is it? This is how it appears when captured... and looks the same when subsequently uploaded.

My cap program has a little dialog bar that shows you the number of dropped frames as you capture... and it typically show a really high number. It's got to be a problem with the processor if it can't keep up with the framerate and drops frames like this..

right?
 
Sean Bradley said:
It's not a compression problem though... is it? This is how it appears when captured... and looks the same when subsequently uploaded.

My cap program has a little dialog bar that shows you the number of dropped frames as you capture... and it typically show a really high number. It's got to be a problem with the processor if it can't keep up with the framerate and drops frames like this..

right?

Could be...Whats ur computer's spec?
 
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QUESTION:

The USB 2.0 Video Capture and Video Capture Box. Do I need both? Is there any software I need to install? Does it give me higher resolution and quality than playing my 360 through a DV camera that is hooked up to my computer via Fire-Wire?
 
Chemical.Reaper said:
QUESTION:

The USB 2.0 Video Capture and Video Capture Box. Do I need both? Is there any software I need to install? Does it give me higher resolution and quality than playing my 360 through a DV camera that is hooked up to my computer via Fire-Wire?
Yes, No, Not that i know of but im playing halo 3 on 480i so i dont know.
 
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512mb RAM? I think that's fine.
2.8GHz is fine, Celeron processor is fine.

80GB Hard-Drive??? UPGRADE TIME!!! My computer has several hard-drives, I have about 200GB of space on this computer and ~160GB on my upstairs computer. Then I have a couple of 4GB flash-drives, an external hard-drive, and three 1GB flash-drives.
 
Chemical.Reaper said:
80GB Hard-Drive??? UPGRADE TIME!!! My computer has several hard-drives, I have about 200GB of space on this computer and ~160GB on my upstairs computer. Then I have a couple of 4GB flash-drives, an external hard-drive, and three 1GB flash-drives.
Not really. I had one 30gib HD for quite a while, and it was more than enough, even with all my pics, music, and vids.
 
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M501-1208-out2-hl.jpg

wouldn't this be the easiest and because is that a audio and a video input I see? really I don't know.
 
i got Dazzle by Pinnacle and will i play halo and my laptop(hopefully) or on the tv and have cords comming out of the tv and in to the capturer?
 
Leadingspartan said:
Yes, No, Not that i know of but im playing halo 3 on 480i so i dont know.
Usualy capture cars for a PC give you low quality, if not, you get low fps, my TV card will record live TV at 480p, or display video at 480p, but if you use standard composite cabkles (yellow red, white) you will get crap resolution of 480i, I cant stand 480i, 480p is a big different, clear and sound, but 720p is alot clearer.

If you want crystal clear resolution, hook up your xbox to a dvd recorder, record your gameplay on video 1, or component/hdmi. It should record your gameplay with high fps.

But playing video games off a capture card is no better than playing them off a old TV.

Read my tutorial on how to play your xbox on your PC monitor if you want to still play anyways without recording, you will get high definition beyond your crappy old TV.

Btw the picture of the jack you posted isnt right, thats converting it to the same type of plug, but just 1, a 3.55 jack y adapter looks like this.

http://www.vpi.us/images/sam-2rcaf.jpg

the one radio shack carries is a small stub that plugs both red and white in, the piece is only like 1 inch tall so it wont be having wires hanging out.

It's found for 5 dollars in the electric guitar area, I had 4 radio shack eployee's help me find this until one finally said "oh thats in the guitar isle" and there it was.
 
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