YouTube Vids

[ComSoft6128]

Early next year (Feb/March) I will be making a few shorts vids for YouTube on some of the serious software that was available back in the nineties for the CPC - DES, Protext, ParaDos, Advanced Art Studio etc. For the next few months my "Amstrad budget" is mostly for repairs so I will have to wait until this is finished before buying any new hardware.
What I looking for is advice/help on buying hardware that will give the best possible quality video output from a 6128 Plus to a laptop, an audio input via microphone for real time voice-over is also essential.


Any ideas?


Cheers,


Peter

[mr_lou]

I also went out and bought new hardware specifically to record all the videos I needed for 8-bit Memoirs.

I ended up buying the X-RGB Mini Framemeister along with a standalone pocket recorder; the Hauppauge HD-PVR Rocket.

The Framemeister can receive the 50,08 hz signal and convert it to a straight 50 fps stream in HD (and more). This was important to me because I wanted a Blu-ray compatible format, which means it had to be exactly 50 fps. Since I turn a 50,08 hz signal into a 50 fps video, I also have to stretch the audio a bit.
An advantage with using the Framemeister is that you can make it zoom the picture, and thus eliminate some of the border. If you eliminate 48 pixels vertically, you end up with a 240p image that you can then magnify 3 times and thus get a very clean HD picture without any uneven blocky pixels here and there due to scaling.

The HD-PVR Rocket then received this 50 fps HD signal and recorded it on a USB stick.

A disadvantage with using the Framemeister is that it doesn't handle changes in frequency that well. In fact, everytime the signal changes resolution, it loses the signal and needs a couple of seconds finding it again. This makes the HD-PVR Rocket also lose the signal and then it stops recording. So Framemeister + HD-PVR is not the greatest solution for recording demos or newer games. For applications I imagine it'll do fine though.

Although I didn't use it for 8-bit Memoirs, the HD-PVR comes with a microphone input you can use for realtime voice recording. I have tested this later by plugging in a Zoom H1 Handy Recorder microphone and getting good results. (Probably going to use this setup for some video tutorials I need to create for work).

8-bit Memoirs will be released this December. Then you can see the resulting videos of this setup.

This setup is somewhat expensive though.


An alternative way to record from the real machine is to go through a harddisk recorder or a DVD-recorder and a capture card in your PC. I have no experience with this approach though, but I believe @chinnyhill10 knows a great deal about it. So he might reply this thread too now that I've tagged him.


EDIT: This thread might be interesting to you: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/off-topic/what-do-i-need-to-record-video-from-the-real-machine/

[chinnyhill10]

An alternative way to record from the real machine is to go through a harddisk recorder or a DVD-recorder and a capture card in your PC. I have no experience with this approach though, but I believe @chinnyhill10 knows a great deal about it. So he might reply this thread too now that I've tagged him.


EDIT: This thread might be interesting to you: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/off-topic/what-do-i-need-to-record-video-from-the-real-machine/

I talk about how I currently do it from about 6 minutes into this video.

[mr_lou]

I talk about how I currently do it from about 6 minutes into this video.

How does that setup handle e.g. The Batman demo?

(Because the Framemeister can't handle stuff like that).

[ComSoft6128]

Many thanks for the replies.

I think this is something I will have to look at carefully over the next few months.

Appreciated,

Peter

[chinnyhill10]

How does that setup handle e.g. The Batman demo?

(Because the Framemeister can't handle stuff like that).

Seems to work fine. Only ever seen minor issues. Depends on how tolerant the device doing the conversion is.