So I'm a total dunce when it comes to PC's, but I figured some of you guys would be able to answer my question. I've been making playthrough video's of SMS games, and up 'til now I've been using my phone to record the TV screen, but I'm not happy with the quality. It's watchable but it's not as good as I'd like it to be and the camera gets in the way of the screen which bugs me whilst playing. What I want is to record the playthrough straight to my laptop, I'm guessing I need some sort of TV card for that. But here's the catch, I want to play the game on a normal TV (I'm guessing I could just use a splitter to send the signal to my TV and Laptop at the same time) and I want to do a live commentary whilst playing (mic?). So is there a way to do this? And if so what will I need?
TV Capture Card? You can pick them up in maplins or ebay for like a fiver, just split the composite signal.
I did a video on how to capture game play footage while still playing. Check it out here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj7Kr3OdAD8
I just use a DVD recorder. DVD-RW, copy the .VOB(s) to my PC and make my video in Movie Maker Live (A lot better then normal Movie Maker). This would cost more than Yakumo's method though.
That's a very cool tutorial, thanks. But it has kind of put a spanner in the works for what I wanted to do. If all the capture cards have lag then a live commentary would be a total mess! So unless anyone knows any other way I suppose the only option if I wanted decent picture quality would be to edit a commentary over the top of the video afterwards.
The only way i can think of that is quite easy to do is use a DVD recorder then rip it and edit the resulting file as needed but if you wanted to add live commentary over the top then you'd have to have the dvd recorder and TV in the same room as your computer so you could use it to record the commentary whilst playing the game then adding it later on. I'm sure there has to be an easier way that involves a capture card or similar but doesn't lag and will cope with adding live commentary.
Not really. I used to do the same with Retro Core. First I'd make the video using the method used in my YouTube clip. While playing the game I could do the live commentary using a separate device. Once I'd finished I'd mix the commentary with the captured video audio using Gold Wave on the PC. It is a bit of messing about but you'll get used to it over time.
I have the ATI TV Wonder VE, bought it for $25 almost 3 years ago and it gets the job done, not the best quality but decent, and yes, a splitter worked for me. In this way you could do AVGN style videos as said. Honestly, TV Card captures are so easy, it makes it worth it. Also, anyone using TV cards should check out http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/ Great alternate application.
If you cannot talk well, do not do live recordings of your voice. That is where people often fail, myself included. I know I cannot talk in a clear and consistent manner while both making the commentary and playing, so I choose to record voice afterwards, not that I release any of the things Ive done really hah. People don't realize that 99% of the Youtube videos sound awful because they simply can't speak well enough.
DrDoak: Darksydephil, aka TheKingOfHateHD(he now has multiple accounts on youtube), has made a tutorial about it too. And it is pretty good. Sadly, you need to do the digging yourself.
