So, you are looking for a dual bay raid enclosure that supports USB3.0?
Sort of like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392054
As for the drives, the new Seagate barracuda drives with 1tb platters would be perfect for your needs. Make sure it’s the newer model, the old ones won’t be as fast. They’ll still get by though. I’d just put your money toward the newer drives as they should be more reliable and are about the same price.
hey guys, the PSU in my HTPC just went out so i’ve decided to get a new cap card as well. i’m not interested in streaming, just capturing. that being said, i think i’ve got it down to two cards:
AverMedia Live Gamer HD
AverMedia Game Broadcaster HD
I’m leaning towards the Game Broadcaster HD as the specs show it can also do VGA/Component in whereas the Live Gamer HD does not. my primary concern is that the Live Gamer HD caps directly to h.264, which in my experience isn’t the easiest format to edit, whereas if i cap it to something else like MPEG2 or AVI it’ll be a lot easier and i can recode to h.264 later if i want.
is h.264 editing still a pain?
Last time I checked it’s still very much a pain. The game broadcaster HD is pretty awesome and will let you capture in several edit-friendly formats in up to 1080p.
avermedia game capture hd (c281) has really caught my attention lately - 1080i or 720p thru component video cables. + can record to internal or external memory. lots of positives, you can search on you tube and find some really good quality videos made from this capture device.
Looking into this thread, a lot of options. But I’m kind of worried of the price as well.
Thing is, I’m in a situation where I’m using a 5 year old computer and it only came with 1 PCI-E slot.
So basically, I want to do some recording, but I’m not going live or anything. Just want to record replays and upload them whenever.
What would considered a good cap card that records via USB?
I’d like HD, but I don’t know how far I can go with USB. I’m trying not to spend over $150 on the device… if possible.
Some kind words from some kind folks over at Cross Counter TV in regards to The Clockwork Flow.
[LEFT]“The Clockwork Flow has been a huge boon to us at Cross Counter TV. In addition to reducing the workflow from shooting and editing on DSLRs to being able to edit on the fly, it has also enabled us to step up our production game in the sense that we can get multiple HDMI sources in now with multiple capture cards. This was simply not possible for us before on a laptop, but thanks to the power of the desktop, we are currently able to do 1 game source, 2 HDMI inputs from DSLRs and 2 webcams which gives us a huge edge in the streaming and content production game.”[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]-Gootecks, Ryan Gutierrez - Cross Counter TV - Clockwork Flow[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Feel free to check it out. (:[/LEFT]
It’s honestly the best trade-off between portability and performance. Not as a person who utilizes the Clockwork Flow, but a desktop streamer who transports equipment to the tournament venue, it’s not that big of an issue. Especially when the benefits of having multiple cap cards, usb ports, and all sorts of expand-ability outweighs just having to lug it around.
DESKTOPS BABY.
I made it as small as I could while still being durable. The case is tough as nails.
I’d love to use Fractal’s case, but for some reason I love full-ATX. 
CoolerMaster Elite 360’s form is great, but modular PSUs and cable management is mandatory for the amount of crap you put in there.
In any case (hohoho), really good stuff. I’m glad you guys chose the GameBroadcaster HD, I think I’ve become a fanboy of the card and AverMedia in general.
I need to man-up and re-case my streaming box. It’s currently in an old lightweight case that I’ve had for years; aluminum construction, nice big plex window in the side. Great for LAN parties, but not the quietest thing in the world. Unfortunately, I’m usually not streaming “on-location” setups like loud tournaments, but instead I’m doing stuff on “sets” – in quiet rooms where the only thing going on is what’s being streamed. There’s a higher expectation of audio quality for that kind of content, and my loud-ass case doesn’t help any. Anybody got any good recommendations for a no-frills, well-sound-insulated-but-still-with-good-airflow, easy to carry case? Anything that’s nice and rectangular will make me happy – I hate the shit with all the “cool” (read: lame) looking angled fronts, etc. Preferably mid-tower, too, since full-ATX is just too big for the parts that I have, and thus impractical (I do need to carry this thing fairly regularly).
Also, it’s good to see people loving the GameBroadcaster; been looking for another card to get a couple of to complement my BMIP. I should probably start shopping cameras sometime soon, too.
So I wanted to capture my oldies using my BMIP, my oldies end in VGA (RGB etc etc) I got that to use it from component and… I can’t seem to get anything going. On ANY of the modes offered by the the box and my BMIP.It even upscales to 720p. I’m not sure what’s wrong but I have a hunch it’s related to the framerate.
I got the Wii going in 480p (something I was told I cannot do) by using a component to HDMI converter from Monoprice. It looks great!
Which component to HDMI converter? I’ve been looking into investing in one, and it’d be nice to have one that’s known-good. 480P on BMIP is a definite plus, too!
Keep in mind that it LOOKS good. It probably lags like nuts.
Results: [media=youtube]iJLSzYfMJEQ[/media]
Got myself a new mixer and some mics for commentating, but I was thinking of getting headsets as well for it…does anyone have any recommendations for broadcast headsets?
Hi all, just started dabbling in recording/streaming, and this thread has been an awesome resource. Big thanks to everyone who has posted info, way too many to name.
I have a question about room mics or something similar. In the ultrachen Tuesday shows, somewhere around ep 11, they switched to a setup where they could just sit in a room and talk with decent sound quality. Does anyone know what mic they used to do that, or have a way they have done it personally?
I’d like to record myself and a friend just chatting in a room while playing something. Seems like crosstalk on 2 separate mics would be a problem, as well as catching audio from the game since it would probably be on. Does anyone have any advice or insight for that kind of setup?
Mics are a lot about proximity. The simplest and most reliable way to mic people on a couch without obtrusive mics is using “lavalier” or “lapel” mics – small microphones, clipped to each person’s shirt. The rule of thumb I’ve heard is basically to have each microphone 2.5x closer to the person you’re mic-ing than the next closest mic’d audio source (next voice); when the lav mic is right under someone’s collar, that’s not too hard to do. Slap a lapel mic on each member of your talent, and be happy.
I use ATR-3550 mics for this purpose, and they’re a great (incredibly cheap) solution, but there’s a couple things you should know about them:
They are completely, sometimes frustratingly omni-directional; this means game sound CAN be an issue. If you’re piping it in raw via the mixer, and you just turn the studio sound down a fair amount, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but don’t expect off-axis rejection from them. I’d recommend inobtrusive earbuds for monitor purposes to eliminate the need for studio sound if it turns out to be unacceptable; might be completely unnecessary, just depends on what you’re looking for. Of course, having a mic on the people means they’ll also be mic-ing any stick noises they’re making while they play… there’s better-rejection lav mics that might be able to help with that, but I don’t know of any that are nearly this cheap.
The modern revisions of them use a TRS connector (not a TS, as shown in the product image). This is important for mixer use, because when you pass it through a 1/8"->1/4" adapter, if you use a stereo adapter, your mixer will see two signals on one connector. Which it will interpret as a “balanced” signal. And cancel out the “noise” compared to ground. Which means that you will hear NOTHING. At all. They did this for lazy noobs who wanted balanced stereo audio out of a mono microphone when they plug it into their prosumer DSLR’s, but it’s just a pain for people who want to use it with any REAL audio equipment. So you need to get a MONO 1/8"->1/4" adapter, and one that connects the Tip and Sleeve to TS at that – if it uses the Ring “position” on the 1/8" connector for the ground signal, you’re gonna have a bad time. If you’re handy with a soldering iron, you can also just solder on the right god-damned connector (what I did).
They have a long-ass cable, and it’s unshielded and unbalanced. Luckily, long-ass cable is good! But also, long-ass cable is bad; you’re throwing it into a pre-amp, so any noise on the line is gonna get worse. Just make sure everyone’s cell phones are off and/or away from your audio path (always a good idea anyway) and you should be able to survive; I haven’t had too much trouble with noise.
Hope that helps. The alternative to mic-ing individuals is mic-ing the room with what’s called a “boundary” mic… Honestly, I’ve never gotten one to work to my satisfaction, but I’m also entirely self-taught, so I’m probably screwing something up. If anyone has good experience with a boundary mic that they’d like to recommend, I’m all ears, because I do have to occasionally mic events with people coming in and out that can’t practically be mic-ing them all, and I’ve got shit for solutions right now. I really wish I had some formal training in this shit.
If we’re using a hardware mixer what’s the best way to monitor the sound? atm I have console audio and two cardioid mics into mixer, rca > 3.5mm out to pc mic jack. I’m thinking Xsplit will pick up the audio if I try to monitor it through the PC and create an echo, do I need to get a headset that can plug directly into the mixer?
anybody used a Game Broadcaster HD with Windows 7 x64?
i did a quick test last night with MPEG2/AVI/h.264, but all i got was broken files that VLC wanted to re-index and wouldn’t play even when i let it. i was RDP’d to the machine that was capturing, but that would be a shitty problem that i’ve not encountered while capturing with other devices. i’ll delve into it more this weekend, just wondering if anyone had some experience they could share.
If all your audio is going into the hardware mixer, then yes headset into the mixer is the best way to monitor sound.
Great info, thanks! I did look into lavalier mics a bit, really appreciate the exact model recommendation.
I was hoping to stay away from wires from each person, which is a reason why I was looking for more of a room thing. Something more like the boundary mic that you mentioned, but I’m guessing that would be an expensive solution.