A Few Questions on Capture Cards for the PC

[Teh_Char]

Hello, everyone.

For awhile now, I've had a small (...very small) youtube channel where I posted some videos of different games and stuff. In the last few weeks, my subscribers have been sending me messages about the lower video quality, so now I am on a mission to provide better quality videos.

I have looked into Fraps, but it seems as though it would impact my Frames Per Second more then the Software I'm currently using. Right now I use the recorder on Xfire, it's served well, but it's time for an upgrade, if you know what I mean. I don't like the idea of getting better quality videos, but losing FPS while doing it, it would defeat the purpose.

So, now I'm looking into Capture Cards. It only makes logical sense to me that there would be such a thing. They make them for Consoles, so why not for PCs. Sadly I can't find any information on them and if they effect Frame Rate too, so now I'm asking you guys.

Who makes them?

Do they effect frame rate?

Do they record in full HD?

I could really use the information, it would be much appreciated

Thanks,
Char

 

[Raduque]

If you're trying to record videos of PC games, you're always going to be using software.

Video capture cards are for external sources - connecting a cable/satellite box, or a cable line directly, or a DVD player, etc. I could be wrong, but I don't think there are any hardware capture cards designed to capture the video stream from a computer's GPU.

 

[kamikazekyle]

The best I could think of to get high quality captures without taking an impact on performance would be to use an HDMI or DVI splitter (1 in > 2 out), and an HDMI capture card on another system (you can convert back and forth from DVI to HDMI as needed). Preferably one with hardware encoding capability. That way, you get a digital signal at native resolutions without having any framerate impact on your current system.

'course a setup like this isn't going to be cheap. Probably a few hundred just for the card + software + splitter. That assumes you have a second system lying around. You can always use the same system (kinda doing something like a loopback), but then if your capture card doesn't support hardware encoding you're back at square one with an FPS hit. If you don't use a hardware encoding card, then you're going to need a beefy CPU.

Oh, and cheaper cards won't have hardware encoders or be able to capture above, say, 1080i. Plus don't forget plenty of storage space. FRAPS ripping at 1920x1200 can consume 1GB minimum per minute of capture.

Huh, just found this: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/h264prorecorder/techspecs/

Hardware based H264 HD encoder that can hit up to 1080p60 for only $350. Now I'm interested

 

[Throckmorton]

You're not allowed to recored to record digital high def video because the movie industry thinks you'll pirate.

Edit: Oh wait, see post above

 

[Campy]

Someone i know used a DVD-recorder to record the S-vid out from his graphics card. today you could possibly do something similar with HDMI, if you require quality that high. Using a recorder you already have(?) is obviously much cheaper and more practical than building another system just to record.

 

[Raduque]

Huh, just found this: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/h264prorecorder/techspecs/

Hardware based H264 HD encoder that can hit up to 1080p60 for only $350. Now I'm interested

Wow. USB only, though. I'd be far more interested if that were PCIE. Good find, though.

Also, for the rest of your post, I think the OP wanted to use the same system for gameplay and capture... which limits him to software.