How to record computer screen output?

[Josh Hayes]

In the same vein of recording computer screen output (also to capture slides from a presenter) I purchased a gaming capture device (a few different kinds to test actually) to capture the content. There were several walls to run into before getting it setup (i can list those if anybody is interested otherwise I might make a short video) but now I ran into a big one I prob can't crack.

HDCP. It's there to stop us from copying movies and iTunes content apparently but it means nothing else can be "copied" either. Like a Keynote presentation. So my Avermedia HD II Game Capture device is all setup (and that took a bit including speciality formatting drives), but when I plugged in my Macbook Pro AVerMedia box tells me the content is not copyable. Nothing. Can I seriously not capture mine or somebody else's presentation to a gaming box?

[Seth Bloombaum]

Ouch!

First, the capture device *must* support HDCP. If it doesn't, there's just no way, you'd have to get a capture recorder that does support HDCP.

Once the HDCP handshake has taken place, the Mac should be able to distinguish protected from non-protected content. If it isn't, I can't think of much besides making sure that it's fully updated, and, so is Keynote or Powerpoint or whatever.

Do make sure that your HDMI cable is recent, HDCP certified(?)

[Josh Hayes]

Ouch indeed, ha ha.

Everything I've been able to find says it's an Apple issue. Everything else is brand new and updated. Xbox and PS4 and things like that are HDCP protected as well but have put in modes to allow passthrough for gaming (because gamers were cracking it anyway). However there is a hackaround, but it's seems bizarre to need one to capture something like Keynote. You get certain HDMI splitters like this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and when it hits the device HDCP has been disabled. Ugh.

[Andrew Smith]

Yeah, it's all a bit hard doing it with hardware. :-)

Bypass this grief with a software solution instead. Download and install a copy of Open Broadcaster and use this to record the screen of the source content computer.

https://obsproject.com/download#mp

I've used it before and it works absolutely beautifully. The resulting file also works in with your editing software (Premiere CS6 in my case) perfectly. It's just like having an extra camera to multi-cam edit with.

See

YouTube (Short URL)

for an example.

Andrew

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Josh Hayes

...Everything I've been able to find says it's an Apple issue. Everything else is brand new and updated. Xbox and PS4...
You get certain HDMI splitters like this...and when it hits the device HDCP has been disabled. Ugh.

That makes way too much sense. However, look at the bright side; in many cases you need an HDMI splitter in the signal path anyways.

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

...Bypass this grief with a software solution instead. Download and install a copy of Open Broadcaster...

Software is great when you have control of the presentation computer. I did lots of this with Wirecast, which has a little screencap extension that runs to the WC computer over the network. Very slick - Wirecast, a live software switcher, just sees it as another live source.

But, sometimes you don't know who will use what computer until the last minute, or, they'll walk in with a computer that their IT dept. has locked down - no installs! When you don't control the PC, it's straightforward to require that any computer walked in by a presenter have HDMI out for a hardware solution.

[Andrew Smith]

Yup. That sort of thing happens.

The worst thing is the Mac people who don't understand why you don't have one of the special adaptors their computer needs to talk to the data projector.

One thing that does work for a conference (if you organise one) is to mandate that all speakers supply their PPT presentations ahead of time so that they can all be merged in to the one master PPT file which the conference runs from during the day (including slides announcing lunch etc). This might assist in having a 'known' laptop that you can have some sort of reliable access to.

Andrew

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

One thing that does work for a conference (if you organise one) is to mandate that all speakers supply their PPT presentations ahead of time so that they can all be merged in to the one master PPT file...

Absolutely - that's the best scenario where the client relationships support it!

Sadly, some just aren't organized that way. Don't get me started... suffice to say that it's a real pleasure to work with professional conference organizers, and sometimes a difficult experience when sponsors don't understand how to treat an audience well.

[Josh Hayes]

yeah the majority of the conferences I film are big and all one laptop is a total rarity so the software option goes out the window. If Mark Benioff or Jack Dorsey are giving a presentation getting them or their aides to download software and use it is out of the question. In a few days I'll be recording 21 different talks with all different presentation devices, and a week after that in the early 40's. All different. Especially if there's any live coding or other custom stuff going on. So the hardware solution is the only possibility. Then it's a question of whether the house AV will allow me to grab an output from their mixers. But that's a different battle.