Recording DC gameplay to PC?

[ch0pzta]

Gday

I was wondering if you guys could help me with, or know of a guide how to, recording gameplay and audio from my Dreamcast to my PC so it can be uploaded to Youtube etc.

Ive never tried this before, and would like to record some our Quake 3 games to put on Youtube as a first step in my grand plan to build up the online DC Q3A community.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[Aleron Ives]

You need something like a Hauppauge capture card that will take the composite output from the DC and record it. You could also use a DVD recorder, but that involves an extra step of ripping the DVD after you make it.

[ch0pzta]

Are VGA capture cards more expensive?

[Aleron Ives]

You would be hard pressed to even find such a thing as a VGA capture card, because most video equipment uses component as its best output type. VGA is for computers, and there isn't a need to record the input to your monitor, since you can just record the output of a PC video card directly with software. Someone may be able to suggest one, but I don't know of any companies currently making them, and you'll probably have to pay a lot, assuming you can even find one. Wanting to record your DC and wanting to play with VGA are almost mutually exclusive desires. Your best bet might be a VGA to HDMI adapter (which requires external power), and then you could get an HDMI capture card to record your gameplay. I think that's how some of the people here do it.

[ch0pzta]

I did a bit of searching around and this seems to be what i need

Would this be suitable?

[Aleron Ives]

Assuming you have a free PCIe slot, a VGA to DVI adapter, and that card has some sort of audio jack for you to record the sound, then yes.

[ch0pzta]

VGA to DVI adapter?

[Aleron Ives]

The input on that card is DVI-I, not VGA. It supports both DVI and VGA input, assuming you have an adapter to make the VGA plug fit.

[ch0pzta]

Ahhhhh ok, from a quick glance i assumed it was a VGA input. Also i dont see an audio jack. Ill give that one a miss.

So you believe component is the way to go?

[Aleron Ives]

VGA and component are incompatible. You'd need a powered VGA to component adapter to make a component capture card work.