Mak-X
10-01-2003, 10:50 PM
I got a new video capture card, for taking screens and movies, last Friday. I got it from Comp USA, it's a Pinnacle PCTV Pro (http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=103&Langue_ID=7) and was the most expensive in the PCTV line. From what I've read from reviews (http://www.tv-cards.com/pctvpro.php) of the 3 models of the PCTV line, they apparently all contain the same card, from the looks of this PCTV screen http://www.dscaler.org/screenshots/Dead_Or...Screenshots.htm (http://www.dscaler.org/screenshots/Dead_Or_Alive_2_Screenshots.htm) , even the cheapest model, the $50 PCTV Rave, must get the same results. I just got the Pro to get the works and have a card that can do a lot and not have to buy a third video capture card, plus Comp USA was out of the regular PCTV when I went.
Compared to my old ATI TV Wonder VE, this card is a lot better, and it actually Deinterlaces, smoooths out the scanlines, where the TV Wonder VE did not, so the pictures look a lot better. Plus it has S-Video input which makes a huge differences over Composite (Yellow video in cable). I can take 640x480 screens.
Here's a screen of Hyrule Field from OoT GC saved at 75% quality
http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...hyrulefield.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/hyrulefield.jpg)
I've put some captures here and here
http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/smashbros/screens.html
http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/soulcalibu...bur2/index.html (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/soulcalibur2/index.html)
Dscaler (http://www.dscaler.org) is the best program to view and capture game screens (I know of) of course, and that's what I've used. Like my TV Wonder VE, the packaged software isnt' very good at viewing video, and games on the Gamecube show very chunky and not smooth, like it can't keep up with the framerate, while Dscaler can.
When I use Dscaler I get a delay when I save a single screen capture, like the pictures pauses with the screen I took while it saves, meanwhile the action is still going on and it shows up again about 5secs later. The only way I can get by this is to use the new 4.1.7 release and use the 'save stills to memory' feature and go back and save the stills that are in memory to files later, that way I can play and not have it freeze up with every screen.
A problem I am noticing now is that when I take screens of things in motion, the captured pic does not seem to be interlaced and makes horizontal lines around everything, making it pixled and ugly, instead of smooth. Like if I have something on screen that's still, the screenshot is deinterlaced right, but if stuff is moving, like text, it comes out wrong.
Here's some examples
Bad - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...garbledrank.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/garbledrank.jpg)
Good - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...e/clearrank.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/clearrank.jpg)
Bad - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...garbledtaki.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/garbledtaki.jpg)
Good - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...e/cleartaki.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/cleartaki.jpg)
This is a really bad one - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt.../linkpixled.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/linkpixled.jpg)
See how there are lines or jagginess going through the pics in the bad shots? It's like the program stops deinterlacing when some screens that are in great motion are taken. Which sucks because it makes a lot of screens ugly. You can see this on the pages I posted above, some of the screens are more blurry because of this jagginess, while the good ones are clear, even after resizing.
Compared to my old ATI TV Wonder VE, this card is a lot better, and it actually Deinterlaces, smoooths out the scanlines, where the TV Wonder VE did not, so the pictures look a lot better. Plus it has S-Video input which makes a huge differences over Composite (Yellow video in cable). I can take 640x480 screens.
Here's a screen of Hyrule Field from OoT GC saved at 75% quality
http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...hyrulefield.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/hyrulefield.jpg)
I've put some captures here and here
http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/smashbros/screens.html
http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/soulcalibu...bur2/index.html (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/soulcalibur2/index.html)
Dscaler (http://www.dscaler.org) is the best program to view and capture game screens (I know of) of course, and that's what I've used. Like my TV Wonder VE, the packaged software isnt' very good at viewing video, and games on the Gamecube show very chunky and not smooth, like it can't keep up with the framerate, while Dscaler can.
When I use Dscaler I get a delay when I save a single screen capture, like the pictures pauses with the screen I took while it saves, meanwhile the action is still going on and it shows up again about 5secs later. The only way I can get by this is to use the new 4.1.7 release and use the 'save stills to memory' feature and go back and save the stills that are in memory to files later, that way I can play and not have it freeze up with every screen.
A problem I am noticing now is that when I take screens of things in motion, the captured pic does not seem to be interlaced and makes horizontal lines around everything, making it pixled and ugly, instead of smooth. Like if I have something on screen that's still, the screenshot is deinterlaced right, but if stuff is moving, like text, it comes out wrong.
Here's some examples
Bad - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...garbledrank.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/garbledrank.jpg)
Good - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...e/clearrank.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/clearrank.jpg)
Bad - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...garbledtaki.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/garbledtaki.jpg)
Good - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt...e/cleartaki.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/cleartaki.jpg)
This is a really bad one - http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapt.../linkpixled.jpg (http://advofhyrule.racknine.net/screencapture/linkpixled.jpg)
See how there are lines or jagginess going through the pics in the bad shots? It's like the program stops deinterlacing when some screens that are in great motion are taken. Which sucks because it makes a lot of screens ugly. You can see this on the pages I posted above, some of the screens are more blurry because of this jagginess, while the good ones are clear, even after resizing.