Console capture & Viewing

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Soldato
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As things currently stand I have my PS3 plugged into one of my PC monitors and using the awful built-in speakers for audio. And I think we can all agree that this is perhaps the worst setup possible.

I've been wanting to stream some PS3 games anyway, so I've started looking into options that would let me record gameplay from the PS3 onto my PC so some sort of capture device that would then let me watch what I'm recording on my monitor while also letting me listen through my PC headset, thus killing two birds with one stone.
(I know the issues with HDCP and it won't be a problem).

Now, I've currently been looking between the Blackmagic Intensity Pro and the Avermedia Game Broadcaster C127 as the two options, since being PCI-E they will be out of the way, while also not being limited by USB speeds or anything. My main questions are if anyone has experience with using either of these, and if they are able to basically playback what I'm playing in fullscreen as I'm recording. Worst case I'll have to use my HDMI splitter to send the video to my monitor while just grabbing the audio from the stream that I'm recording (Assuming there is no delay).

But yeah, if anyone's done something similar, it would be good to hear. Alternatively, if any of the external boxes I've seen would do the job I would like to hear it, I'd been avoiding those simply because streaming 1080p over USB doesn't seem like the fastest way to do things.
 
The BMI Pro has HDMI Pass-through so you can have the HDMI cable coming out of the Pro into a monitor so you can see it with no lag like you are playing the game.
The Avermedia Live Gamer HD, would be a newer PCIe option than the c127, and has the same pass-through option.

The 2 work slightly different though:
BMI captures RAW video, no compression at all, whilst all Avermedia Products (bar the U3 extreme) compress the video for you.
The Av-LGHD allows 1080p@60 input, but can only output @ 1080p@30.
BMI won't accept 1080p@60 input, only 1080p@30. (all set from the console side)

Absolutely fine if you can have the internet connection for 1080p. I stream @ 720p@60 with a decent bitrate, which needs 5-6MB upload. (BMI Pro using Xsplit)

At the moment without buying Japanese / Chinese imports USB 3.0 is the option for 1080@60fps. (unless you have the cash for the Blackmagic Decklink4k extreme )
 
Thanks for the reply. My upload is around 9Mbps, so should be fine for streaming 1080, though I don't really do much streaming at the moment anyway, this would be mainly for recording. However it would be nice to have the option available in the future, so it makes sense to future proof myself.

Looking at the two cards, would it matter if the Avermedia does compression automatically? I'm used to recording raw video in fraps and then editing and compressing it in Sony Vegas, so I had ideally been looking for a raw option for this as well so there's no issues with it being compressed once, then me having to edit parts around it and thus rendering it a second time, likely in a different format as that could cause a loss in quality.

As for the USB options, I would rather avoid importing off branded stuff from China, I'd rather pay a little extra for a known brand that I know will do the job!

Looking at the LGHD and the BMI, would either of them let me watch the game as I'm recording it full screen in 1920x1080 resolution on my monitor? I've not found a solid answer either way, but things seem to be leaning towards no, is this something you could confirm? At the very least, would I be able to get the audio through my PC while using the pass through to get the video displaying on my monitor.
 
Yes you can, the HDMI passthrough does video and audio.

something like this:
123.jpg


So the Console video and audio are on the screen on the left, whilst I am recording from my PC on the right?
 
Kind if, would I still be able to hear the audio through the PC rather than the monitor? Just because the monitor has terrible speakers and the PC has my headset attached, so I would rather just hear through it like that.
Or ideally, could you just fullscreen the right had monitor and have it playing fullscreen without needing to passthrough at all? Which would be slightly easier because it would then function just as a normal window rather than having to switch between the HDMI and DVI input on the monitor.

Thanks again for your helpful replies!
 
You can full screen the right hand side, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Reason why is because you are viewing your stream, not the live game, so can suffer from frame drops and lag. Whilst it is possible, you won't be playing your best by all accounts.
If the monitor sound is that poor I'd try connecting your headset to the monitor if it has a 3.5mm out or the PS3 itself.
But audio goes into both, so you can give it a try.
 
although saying that. if you have the audio going into audacity or something you could just have it going from the capture card to your PC speakers/heaset....
hmmm, if you can hold off to tomorrow night I'll give it a try for you.
 
Unfortunately I only have a logitech USB headset, so I'm rather limited to the options for listening, which was part of the issue I was hoping to solve with a capture card. Listening to the stream with the delay would indeed be an issue if I was trying to play against the delay, and while the monitor does have a 3.5mm port, I'm pretty certain it's only audio in. I guess I could find a cable that connects from the PS3 to the 3.5mm line in on the mobo and play it through audacity like that. Not ideal as I'd rather not have even more cables, but it would work at least.
 
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