How I capture stuff (Patreon)

A Patron asked about capturing footage from handheld games, and that made me realise that it might be fun to share some info on how I capture gameplay from different systems.

Above is a picture of the main gear I use.

Number one is an Elgato HD 60. This is the bomb: you plug your console into one end via HDMI, then use another HDMI cable to go from the Elgato to your TV. And finally a mini USB to connect to your computer.

The reason you use two HDMIs is for two reasons: so you can play the game on your TV just like normal. And because the image on your computer is delayed by several seconds while the Elgato does all kinds of processing magic.

This thing spits out perfect, 60 frames per second, 1080p loveliness. It also buffers like an hour of footage so you can have it running and be like "wait! That last bit was awesome!" and just scrub back and catch it. And the files are reasonably small.

Number two is the older Elgato. And I still need this because the HD 60 is HDMI only while the new one takes in component. This is necessary for the PS3 which has some gross digital rights management that means you can't capture from HDMI. So it has to go through a special PS3 component cable doohickey.

It can't do 60 FPS so hopefully I never need to capture a PS3 exclusive that runs at 60 or I'm boned.

The old Elgato also comes with number three - a component connector that also does composite. This is useful for older consoles: I've done some GameCube stuff with it, and I used it to capture a glitchy NES game from the nostalgia episode. Typically, though, I just use emulators for old consoles.

Number four is a magic piece of kit: it's a 3DS modded with a mini USB port on the back that can spit out video footage to a computer. It's really cool and I used it for Ocarina of Time 3D footage on Boss Keys and Kid Icarus gameplay on Star Fox Zero.

I got this off someone who used to work for Pocket Gamer. He sent off the 3DS to Japan to get it all fixed up. Nintendo once offered us a legit video-out unit for the 3DS but they never came through: that would have been fun to play with.

Number five is a lightning to HDMI connector. This is for capturing footage of iPhone and iPad games. Just plug the HDMI into an Elgato and go.

Number six is a mini display port to HDMI connector. I use this on my Mac, with the Elgato, to capture PC games (often in Windows through boot camp). This will be weird to some people: why not just use FRAPs or some other software thing?

And, well, this works for me. It's the same program and workflow as console footage, it looks excellent, as a lot of the processing power is done through the Elgato it's not too intensive on my system, there are fewer compatibility issues, and putting the cable in instantly drops my resolution to 1080p which makes life easy. 

The other thing not shown is a Wii to HDMI dongle which I now use for GameCube games. I've also ordered a VGA connector for Dreamcast off eBay in case I need to do that. And I've got a PSP to component thing which works okay but I haven't used it on the channel yet.

This basically means I can capture anything I need, expect Vita. Haven't needed to do that yet, but there are some solutions (Vita TV. Maybe that new Vita hack will lead to something).

Some special considerations: PS2 (and PS1) games go through a PS3 with backwards compatibility. I pray to Cthulhu every night that it never bricks. For old PC games like Ultima Underworld, I use an awesome Mac skin for DosBox called Boxer.

DS games are mostly emulated but I'll probably use the 3DS for Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks Boss Keys. Most Xbox games work on Xbox 360 - for the ones that don't, well I'll need to figure that out when I get to it. 

This is pretty much all I need. I'll follow up in future on things like emulation versus original games, console versus PC, and so on. That's a bit different. 

Lemme know if you have any questions!