Next-gen console HDMI video capture with Intensity?

[Jack Zhang]

I'm confused. I'm thinking about is there ICT in games in the PS3? If not ICT then there must be HDCP, And that's not good for Intensity. I am so confused... so to all PS3/360 Elite and Intensity owners... can you capture HD off of the PS3/360 or not? If not, there goes an extra 1500 or more bucks for a component capture device... (which I definitely can't afford.).

And if it works, would you care to post links to self made screenshots? (of the XMB if you don't mind or of the 360's main menu.)

And how do these guys do it? -> http://www.digitalfoundry.org/showca...efinition.html

I'd love an answer to this thread.

[Jack Zhang]

So? Is it possible to capture from HDMI from those sources or would we have to go to the Intensity Pro to capture analog HD?

[Jack Zhang]

Allright, since no one knows, I'm posting how the pros do it which I just found out on Doom9 from "easy2Bcheesy":

You require a PS3 debugging station from Sony which has the ability to turn off HDCP. HDCP is on all the time. Debugging stations are available to all games developers and other industry partners (I have one myself) but you will need to sign a Sony non-disclosure agreement. Also these devices have all multimedia playback disabled. It's games only.

So now you know how the pros capture...

Now we know it is not (legally) possible for direct HDMI capture on retail next-gen consoles. However, you can still use component with the Intensity Pro up to 1080i and get a M-Audio Optical in card/external box to record AC3 from the optical out through the BeSplit ddwav method.

And the pros have actually gone one step further... With Digital Foundry developing a proprietary 1080p60 in RGB24 HDMI (but still, I'm guessing no HDCP) capture card: http://insidethedigitalfoundry.blogs...s-capture.html
P.S: David Newman, you'd be glad to know they used CineForm at one time on that blog.

There. So if you still want to capture in HD from your PS3/360 Elite, there's all the info you need.

[Daymon Hoffman]

Thanks for posting Jack. I have been wanting to be able to capture Xbox 360 and PS3 output with an Intensity card (haven't bought one just yet) via HDMI but deff looks like thats out of the question now. Though 1080i over component will probably be fine. Just would prefer HDMI.

I new the PS3 had this limitation. WHich would of been fine if it turned off during game play and XMB, but sadly it doesnt! :( However i had forgot to think about the new 360's with HDMI. Does this mean they have the same issues and the intensity wont work for it either Or is it unconfirmed as yet?

[Jack Zhang]

All consumer electronics with HDMI is sure to have HDCP. So 360 is also affected by this. Just get a Intensity Pro instead of a Intensity and you'll be set.

And get the M-audio Optical in stuff if you want to capture AC3 audio via ddwav through BeSplit.

[Marcelo Lima]

I made quickly testes capturing PS3 trailers and games (720p) outputting by component video to intensity pro and i got great results...

[Jack Zhang]

Great to know.

I'd also remind people this method is not cheap (for laptop users anyway).

1 Intensity Pro + 1 Magma ExpressBox1 + 1 M-Audio Transit = $1209.50 + Tax (Prices from B&H)

For PCI-E Desktop users, it's cheaper, Same as above without the ExpressBox.

For Mac Pro users, it's cheapest since you don't need the M-Audio box nor the ExpressBox. But you might need XP on your Mac for BeSplit.

[Jack Zhang]

Update:

In a surprising turnaround, the Xbox 360 actually does not have HDCP for games in HDMI...

Confirmed by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAcvHI4rSCM

So only the PS3 HDMI can't be captured using Intensity, and even if it could, the format is RGB24 which can't be captured.

If there's another Intensity, support for RGB24 might be needed... If there's a capture unit that could capture RGB24 HDMI that's out there (besides Digital Foundry), post info about it here.

[Kevin Tostado]

Originally Posted by Marcelo Lima

I made quickly testes capturing PS3 trailers and games (720p) outputting by component video to intensity pro and i got great results...

Can you tell me which Blackmagic Project settings you used? Did you use it with Adobe Premiere?

[Jack Zhang]

I'd love to know as I've just ordered an Intensity Pro. (No Expressbox Yet)

[Drew McCoy]

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

All consumer electronics with HDMI is sure to have HDCP. So 360 is also affected by this. Just get a Intensity Pro instead of a Intensity and you'll be set.

And get the M-audio Optical in stuff if you want to capture AC3 audio via ddwav through BeSplit.

The Xbox 360 doesn't use HDCP when playing games, only DVD/HD-DVDs (afaik). The PS3, otoh, is always HDCP enabled so you'll need a debug/test kit to record game footage.

I picked up an Intensity with the sole purpose of capping 720p60fps footage from either a 360 or PS3 test kit. You say I can grab one of those M-Audio Transit's and use it to also record DD 5.1 AC3? How would I go about doing this in the most efficient manner, assuming whenever I'll be recording it'll be live gameplay being "driven" by someone else? i.e. I'll have about 5 seconds notice to "hit record" while they're playing, and then they'll want to see quick edits 2 minutes later in 720p60fps and 5.1. Is this possible in Premiere?

[Jack Zhang]

Sorry in advance about bumping this thread,

The 5.1 method is not necessary for editing footage for "non-personal" reasons. If you're planning to record unprotected HDMI debug video, 2 channel uncompressed at 48k through HDMI (you only use one cable) would suffice. And the raw 5.1 data coming into the optical in has to be processed first from a wav file to a AC3 file, so it's not suited for on-the-fly editing.

[Jack Zhang]

I just tried capturing 720 and 1080 from component on the PS3 in MJPG and it looks pretty good (aside from frame drops). The image is very sharp coming out of the capture. Also found out my HC7 never outputs HDCP protected video via HDMI in the process, even when playing back a tape.