I have already written a guide covering the topic on using the Colossus to record your PC footage. This time around, I will be sharing with you how to record your PS3 (or any other game consoles, apply accordingly) footage. It is fairly straightforward but there are still some things that you will have to take note of. Again if you don’t like reading, I’ve made a video that show you the different steps to get your recording up and running. Read on for the written and video guide.

Video Guide

Hardware Setup

There is only one way to connect your PS3 to the Colossus and that is by using Component output. Do note that Component and Composite output is different. You will be required to get the PS3 Component cables (official or 3^rd party, both works fine). It looks something like this:

HDMI will not work because the PS3 only outputs encrypted HDMI signals which the Colossus cannot read and record. Do not worry about the quality difference between Component and HDMI output because there isn’t any that is noticeable to the naked eye. This worry is even more redundant especially when you are going to encode the video and compress it by quite a bit when uploading online. Simply connect the component cables to the input breakout cables of the Colossus (matching the colors accordingly. Take note of which belongs to the audio left and right, colors are repeated but they carry different signals).

Once you have it connected, you are theoretically able to start recording your PS3 footage. However, you will not be able to play your game smoothly at all because of the delay present in the display of the recording software (Arcsoft Showbiz). You will be required to use the output breakout cables and with the AV passthrough feature of the Colossus, output the audio and video to your display. Now if you’re using a PC monitor you will most likely face the problem of not having Component inputs (not a problem if you’re using a TV). You will be required to get a Component to HDMI converter. It looks something like this:

Using the converter HDMI out, connect to your display. Do note that if you are using a cheap converter there might be a significant decrease in video quality that is being displayed. Do not worry though as this does not affect your recording quality at all. Once you got everything connected, you are ready to set up your PS3.

PS3 Setup

With your PS3 already connected to the Colossus and turned off, power up your playstation by holding on to the physical power button till you hear a beep. Soon after, you should be greeted with the starting screen. The thing about holding on to the physical power button is that this will reset whatever display and audio settings you had before and will detect whatever that is currently connected to your PS3 (in this case the component output). Log into any user and navigate yourself to Settings and then Display Settings.

Choose Video Output Settings to set your display.

Select Component (Component and not Composite)

Select all the resolutions EXCEPT 1080p.

Confirm that you can see the display.

Set your audio settings and you’re done!

Conclusion

That is basically it. All you have to do is to select the video input as Component (YPbPr) and audio to whichever you are using and you should be able to see your PS3 footage being displayed. Do note however that there is significant delay in the capture screen of the software. You will have to use the AV passthrough and view the PS3 display directly if you want to play your game smoothly. Other than that, your recording should be up and running!

There is this saying that the energy and effort spent into starting to do something is more than that of continuing to do that something, whatever that something is. Its simply harder to start than to continue.

So I fell ill and couldn’t continue to do my “every other day physical exercise” for a week or so. That week of break totally disrupted my rhythm and motivation. Felt terrible, didn’t want to continue exercising anymore. Its just so much harder to start what you have stopped than continue what you have started. Oh man, got to pull myself together again. It is just two more weeks before I partially reap the benefits of this activity that I’ve embarked on. Oh yes, I’ve got to consider my new year resolution too! All the talks about this year being the first ever year that I’ll succeed in fulfilling my resolution… I shall succeed!

Now time for some rest.

If you’ve followed me for the past few weeks you should know that I’ve come to own a Colossus. The Colossus is basically a HD-PVR (High Definition Personal Video Recorder) that you can use to record video footage from a source. My main objective then to get such a device was mainly to record game content and to try out doing video related content such as video reviews, gameplay showcases etc. I also wanted to do gaming commentaries so here it is, my first try on a gaming commentary video. The game I used and will be using for this particular series of commentaries will be Fifa 12 on the PS3. Read on for the video.

This series of Fifa 12 gaming commentary videos is called “The Quest for Style and Substance”, I did explain what the title mean but I’ll just do it here if you didn’t catch it. Basically the objectives of this series is to improve my skill in game, mainly in terms of style. I don’t particularly use any fancy footwork or fleshy skills in the game but I do want to learn that aspect of the game because it is always nicer and cooler to have those moves performed first before scoring. I am also leaning towards learning how to use the customized set pieces online as I’ve seen opponents use it against me to great effect. So yeah, the quest for style and substance.

The audio quality isn’t particularly great because I’m merely using my headset’s microphone to record my voice. Don’t have any professional or semi-professional type of microphone so the quality is pretty bad. I wouldn’t call it terrible though but yeah, there is much more to improve on. In terms of the video format, I’m not really sure if this will work out but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what the viewers’ comments are (if any, hoping there are though) and then improvise and modify accordingly. Other than that the commentary content itself lacks quite a bit, still rather unfamiliar and inexperience in coming up with interesting stuff to say. Nevertheless I believe I will improve, and will do so at a greater rate should you guess provide any kind of feedback and constructive criticisms. I mean I do talk a whole load of bullshit in real life, its just that when it comes to speaking to the computer and a virtual audience I get a bit confused and shy.

So yeah, hopefully this gaming commentary series will take off and I’ll improve my game to greater heights (and maybe try out entering some competitions whenever possible).

Being an avid Windows user since the day I’ve learnt how to use a computer, I’ve recently decided to step out and broaden my mind and experience the various other different operating systems. I’ve installed Ubuntu on my old laptop a year ago and just a few days back tried to build a Hackintosh. I must admit that I’m always in awe of the user interface and innovation put into the Mac OS. Having a bit more time on my hand, I’ve set up a system that will allow me to start my apple adventure. 

First off, a Hackintosh is basically a computer that isn’t sold by Apple but running the Mac OS. What I basically did was to get another hard drive (not wanting to lose all my Windows stuff) and installed OS X Lion on it. It is pure coincidence that my 2-year-old computer had components that were well supported by OS X. For those planning to build your own Hackintosh, do read up a little more on the different parts to buy to avoid any incompatibilities. Anyways, I’ve got everything up and running and most things seem to be functional (I have yet to encounter any problems so far).

Besides the sleek looking Apple Cinema Display and all that wonderful white apple peripherals, I believe I am experiencing the full mac experience. With that said, here are some of my thoughts on it so far:

Firstly, I have to say that the user interface is just pure beautiful. I’m not sure if its because I’ve used Windows for too long a time that I got bored with it and thus something new and refreshing appeals to me that much but it is really that awesome. I’m purely talking about aesthetics here. Functionality wise it seems pretty much the same as with Windows. Well, I don’t find much difference in navigating through the different folders, accessing applications etc. However, the aesthetics is pure gorgeous.

OS X Lion has introduced several new features (that I cannot compare with previous OS X versions since I’ve never used them) such as Mission Control, the Launchpad, Full Screen Control and many more. While most of these added features are refreshing and new, the functionality of each are not fully clear to me. Please note that I’m expressing my personal opinion on such a topic, different people use their computers differently. Let me give you an example: The Launchpad sure is a fancy way of launching programs and stuff but honestly I haven’t found myself using it at all. If I want an application launched, I simply navigate to the application folder and open whatever I want.  Maybe that’s because I have yet to clutter my Application folder with much programs but as of now, it isn’t exactly that much of use to me but that may change in the future.

That is without to say that I do love some other features that are present in OS X Lion. There is this feature that I absolutely love and that is the Mission Control. The ability to setup different “desktops”, to view the different windows and full-screen apps works brilliantly. It really helps in organizing my workspaces and ensures that everything is kept neat and tidy. I have also found the Full-Screen control function to be particularly useful. Combine that with switching between desktops it works fantastically well. It simply gives a better working experience.

I am also fascinated at how applications and programs are installed in a Mac OS. It is so simple and direct that when I first started installing my first few programs it was a rather frightening experience. Simply mount, drag and drop and that’s it. My god that is just so amazing. I do find that fully uninstalling the application can become quite a chore should the developer not provide an uninstall application. Because everything is so fast and furious during installation, you will have to find the individual folders for the application should you want to fully uninstall that particular program.

The one thing that I might have to try out is the use of the gestures. For that to happen I will have to get the magic trackpad or the apple mouse. But as of now keyboard and mouse shortcuts seems to work perfectly fine with me, especially since I’m a Windows user and such macros are part and parcel of most Windows users anyways. Other things that I will have to use more frequently to compare (if any) with the Windows counterparts are the video and photo editing softwares. As of now I’m typing on OS X Lion and for some intangible reason it just feels much better. It might be due to the placebo effect and my mind playing tricks on me but whatever.

The only downside to the Mac OS is the lack of games. Gaming and Mac don’t go particularly well. Not to say that there aren’t any games on the Mac but it just doesn’t feel right. Oh and yes you have to admit that many games don’t come out for the Mac.

Overall, I think it has been a great experience so far with the Mac OS. I particularly love it for the interface it provides. The different features built in also help increase organization and productivity. I’m glad that I’ve spent some time working this out. As of now my conclusion is that I have the best of both worlds, Windows for my gaming needs and the Mac for everything else.

New Star Soccer (NSS), a series that left me with much fond memories. I remembered reviewing the previous game a few years ago; NSS 4 was brilliant and so was NSS 3. NSS is a soccer/football simulation game where you play the life of a footballer. Whether you become a legend later solely depends on your skills and the way you manage your career and life. Back then the game offered something different from your bigger developers such as EA Sports and Konami with their FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) franchises respectively. Both of those games didn’t have a player simulation mode then. However in their recent few releases, Be a Pro (BAP) and Become A Legend (BAL) are modes that are well polished and provide much fun. With that said, how does NSS 5 fair against the big guns?

To see the game in action, I’ve recorded a short live commentary and video footage to showcase it:

I’ve went back and read over my previous review of NSS 4. Indeed, what NSS 5 offers over FIFA and PES is the options and depth in player life simulation. BAP and BAL focus mainly on the football side of things, overlooking the minor details such as relationships, lifestyle etc. This doesn’t equate to bad in any way, it just lacks that little depth and choice that would be gladly appreciated. With that said, the player life simulation and even the football simulation in NSS 5 felt way too simplistic and overly straightforward. There isn’t much improvement over the years and I have to admit I am greatly disappointed. Many if not all of the different things of the player’s life are based of mini-games and simple mouse clicks. I was hoping for more complexity and diversity rather than a shallow implementation of it.

Even the aspect of contract negotiation is a mini-game where you have to guess if the next number is bigger or smaller than the current one. To put it nicely, it is plain stupid. I may be harsh but seriously? Why, in my opinion, many independent developers manage to excel is because of their ideas and concepts behind the game. They often provide something special, something out of the norm that wows people. NSS was a series that made me excited. It touched on football simulation that no one did (then at least). Now with the big developers slowly exploring such an idea, it is to their advantage that they exploit the foundations that are already there and improve on it. Sadly, that didn’t happen at all.

The match game engine felt familiar. AI is still as basic as ever but it is fine. NSS 5 is developed by independent developers that lack the budget and manpower that EA Sports and Konami have. The engine for what it is now is fine. It is a simple engine that requires user to use the directional keys and 3 different other keys to press. You basically have the option to execute a pass, a lob or a shot. There is also the option to choose the beginner or easy mode where actions are executed with just a key press. When defending, you have to option to slide. Holding any button when you do not have the ball will make your player chase the ball. After an action is executed, you have the ability to apply after touch, basically to apply curl and spin to the ball. The match engine takes some time to get used to. It is a rather steep learning curve even for a player like me who has played the previous games before. However, once you start getting a grip over the controls, the game plays fine.

Character development is tweaked from the previous game. It is neither an improvement nor is it worse in any way. From the various different stats you had in the past, the developers decide to split the attributes into two main categories. One of which is the core attributes of a footballer player; you have things such as heading, passing, shooting, tackling etc. The other is called Player Ratings. These basically affect your overall value of your players and can be increased by playing well in matches. The core attributes can no longer be increased during matches, instead you have to play a mini-game where you have to perform a particular drill successfully to increase it. The drills are pretty fun and the difficulty increases according to your particular skill level.

Player life simulation has been pretty much the same as the previous game. You have to manage your relationship between different parties such as your team mates, boss, friends, fans and sponsors. There are the occasional events where you have to choose between two different parties. Relationship between career related parties can be improved by performing in matches. You too can choose to spend some energy and play a matching mini-game to improve the relationship. It is disappointing that there is only one main mini-game to play in terms of improving relationships. As shallow as it is, some kind of variety would definitely make it more interesting. Else, maybe the developers could have spent some time exploring a deeper and more meaningful system.

There is also the casino and horse betting mini-games that you can play with as well as different items to buy to increase your lifestyle. There doesn’t seem to be anything new added to the game. There are, however, some major revamps in the way the game works. Firstly, instead of progressing by days, you simply progress through the game by weeks or matches. Every time you end a turn you a brought to the very next match. For me it works fine as it helps increase the pace of the game.

There is also the new implementation of an online system. The whole world now consists of player created footballers. As much as it is a rather interesting design choice, I would prefer and like the option of having real life footballers existing in my game. There is much fun when you can pretend to be playing alongside your favourite footballers but with the new implementation, all of such hopes are lost. In NSS 5, you cannot view different teams and the players in it. Players in your team will be occupied by other characters should they be in the same team but else they will simply be nameless footballers.

Graphics and sound effects are about the same as before. You now have graphical indications whenever you make a good move. Your manager will shout from the bench to either praise or scold you. The background music at the menu screens can get quite irritating after hearing them for prolong periods of time. Thankfully you can mute it in the options screen. For a one man team I don’t really expect much changes or improvements to the graphics or sound. But with the gameplay showing not much improvement or freshness from before, I really wonder what exactly has been done to the game for all these years.

Overall, NSS 5 seems to have taken some steps back from its previous game. There isn’t many, if not any, improvements over the previous game. Minor additions are easily overlooked and there is the major disappointment that comes from the lack of development or exploration in the aspect of personal life and out of field activities. The design choice of involving user created players in the world seems to be interesting but isn’t exactly beneficial in any way. Yes, it is developed by one guy. And yes, he had made a fantastic game before. What exactly happened between NSS 4 and 3 to NSS 5 leaves me much to wonder. With the FIFA and PES franchise catching up in the player career simulation, I don’t see how the NSS games can compete should it continue in such a direction. If you’ve yet to try out the New Star Soccer series, do give it a go. It is free to play for the first few matches while allowing you to play 3 matches every day thereafter. If you want to play more, you have to purchase a premium account, similar to that of purchasing the game. If you’ve owned NSS 4, there are not many reasons, if any, to get this version.

P.S: Do note that this review is largely influenced with NSS 4 and 3 in mind. I’ve played those games and I’ve enjoyed them a lot. Throughout the review I’m constantly having those games in my mind and constantly making comparisons.

2012, the year I will finally manage to succeed in fulfilling my New Year resolution. I’ve set many goals in the past, none of which I have even got closed to. This time around, I swear it will be different. This time around I will, with much confidence, succeed. Look, I’ve even gotten my resolution written down minutes before the New Year. This just shows my resolute and determined attitude.

My New Year Resolution for twenty twelve is… to be damn bloody fit. Oh yeah, that’s my twenty thirteen resolution as well. I don’t just mean healthily fit, I mean healthily and muscularly fit. Might as well have such a goal since for the next 22 months I will be serving compulsory national service. I highly doubt I will have much extra time to do any other things. It all depends though but with my terrible time management and my procrastinating skills I doubt I’ll be able to do anything with the little time I may have. So yeah, get fit and muscular for 2012 and 2013. Oh the feeling of meeting a goal is just so awesome.

That may all change though once I receive my results for my international baccalaureate examinations a week later. If I managed to get incredible results, I may be spurred on to do something such as the SATs or something to allow me to study abroad. I’m totally clueless to all of the overseas studying stuff mainly because I didn’t care to listen or attend any of the talks and seminars. You can’t blame me, all of such talks are merely dreamy and fantasy since I’m neither smart nor hardworking to begin. The irony and contradiction in my speech! Whatever, a week later and I’ll either be crying or studying. Oh and obviously undergoing rigorous physical torture training to fulfil my New Year resolution.

[image by: XWRN via flickr]

After learning how to record your PC footage, we will now touch on the topic of recording live commentary. Recording commentary is simple. Get whatever footage recorded first and then record your commentary. You will then place your commentary over the audio of your footage using whatever software that you are comfortable with. Live commentary can be as simple. However, it will require a bit more tweaking and additional tools over a normal commentary. Read on for some viable methods for recording live commentary.

Introduction

There are two main ways of getting your live commentary recorded. One is with an additional software/tool, the other is simply tweaking some settings within Windows and then using the Colossus to record. Both methods are relatively simple to implement; the former being a bit more tedious during the editing stage while the latter being more tedious before your start recording. Anyhow, each has its own disadvantages and advantages and I will be discussing them below in a bit more depth. Choose whichever you feel more comfortable working with.

For whichever method you choose to follow, you will need a microphone. Well that may be self-explanatory but you never know. It can be a dedicated mic, a headset mic or whatever. It will all work as long as you can use it to record your voice and input it into the computer. From here on you can watch my video or read my written guide.

Recording With Additional Software

For this method, you will have to sync the audio (commentary) during video editing. You will have two dedicated sound tracks, one for the commentary and the other for your PC footage. The crucial part to enable a near perfect sync (nothing is perfect) is the preparation or initiation (whatever you want to call it) stage. It is the time when you basically try to give an indication of where the commentary starts with respect to the footage that you are recording. I will go more into that later. For now here is a software that I recommend you can use to record your commentary.

Audacity

This is a free software that is versatile enough for all your recording needs. It is simple to use and you can use it both for your recording as well as some minor editing. You may choose to use your other video editing softwares for example Sony Vegas for recording but I don’t recommend those simply because they do tax your system a bit more than that of Audacity.

Before you start recording, ensure that you have your settings for recording done properly. Simply go to Edit > Preferences (or simply press Ctrl + P) and under “Devices” you have your microphone input as your device under “Recording”. Once that is done, simply head back to the main screen and do a simply test recording (press the button with the big red dot) to see if input from your mic is being received and recorded. Once it is working, you are ready to start your live commentary.

Audacity Official Site: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Audio Syncing (How To)

You will want to have both Audacity and Showbiz open for recording. You will then start recording on your Showbiz first then Audacity (it doesn’t really matter the order of which you press record first). Now, before you begin your gameplay or whatever you want to do, you will give some kind of cue and indication that this is where the audio is supposed to be in synced. There are many ways of doing this, here is an example that you may consider:

Open up notepad or wordpad (or whatever note taking software). Before typing, you are going to say whatever letter you are going to type. Say it out and press that letter simultaneously. Basically you will go “A” and you type in the letter A, “B” and you type in the letter “B” and go on doing the same thing for a few seconds. Once that is done, you can now go into doing whatever you plan on recording.

This initial part will obviously be edited out of your final video. What this does is simply to allow you to sync the audio of your live commentary with the PC footage that you have recorded. Simply drag and slowly adjust it so that during playback it syncs in the way that when you say “A” the letter A is displayed. Note that during this initial stage you will want this to go on for a few seconds, hopefully typing a few other letters along the way. This will allow you to double check and achieve the best sync possible.

Why and Why Not This Method?

The main advantage of using such a method is the two dedicated audio tracks. This will allow you to play around with the sound levels of each track to achieve something that you like. It will also allow you to edit the individual tracks to remove any unwanted noise or whatever.

The main disadvantage however is, as you can most probably guess by now, the audio syncing. There is no way to get a perfect sync but by practising and getting enough experience recording you should be able to get a sync that is near perfect, at least to the listening ear. Don’t be afraid to try a few test runs first to see if it works out well. Another minor disadvantage is the additional stress on your CPU and HDD due to the additional software to record your microphone input. This additional stress and workload can be insignificant with most of today’s average systems so don’t worry too much on that. The bottleneck will most probably lie on your HDD rather than your CPU anyways. So if you’re afraid of such a thing of happening, do make sure you are saving your audio and video on a separate HDD and Raid 0 it if possible.

If you have any problem or unsure about what I mean about giving an indication or cue, do look at my video guide as it will allow you to visualize whatever you read here.

Recording With Just the Colossus

This method will allow you to record both your live commentary and the audio from your footage with the Colossus. This will require you to do some experimenting to get the best sound level ratio between your commentary and the footage audio. You may also face some difficulties due to system incompatibilities but it should work for most people.

System Setup

I am currently using an Nvidia graphics card and my onboard sound card is a Realtek branded one. My options may or may not be different to yours (in terms of the names etc) so do try to understand and apply accordingly. Make sure everything is all set up properly in terms of the Colossus and that at this point of time should you want to start recording your footage you can. Once all ready, let us proceed on with some system tweaking.

Firstly, go to your “Recording Devices” via Control Panel > Sound > Recording (tab). Right-click within the window and check to see if the “Show Disable Device” option is ticked. If it isn’t, enable that option.

What you should see are new icon(s) that are faded out. This means that they’re disabled. Anyways, what we are only concerned with is the device called “Stereo Mix”. It may also be called “Waveout mix”, “Record What You Hear” etc. Try finding the correct one (you can tell if it is incorrect if no sound is being recorded) and then enable it. After enabling it, set it as your default device and default communication device.

Right-click the device and go to Properties. Under the “Listen” tab, check the box “Listen to this device”. Within the scroll list under “Playback through this device”, select the one that refers to the Colossus.

Once that is done, apply all settings and head on to the Properties of your microphone. Same thing, under the “Listen” tab, check the option to “Listen to this device” and under “Playback through this device”, select the one that refers to the Colossus. This should be the same as whatever you have selected before for the Stereo Mix device.

To verify that sound is going into the Colossus, you will go the “Playback” tab and there should be a Colossus device. It should be named differently for ATi cards but there should be one that is supposed to be the Colossus. Try speaking into the microphone and while you’re doing that, check to see if the sound meter to the side of the Colossus device is moving accordingly. If it is, your microphone is set correctly. Now try turning on some music within your system or play some youtube videos. Check again to see if the meter is moving. It should move as well.

If it isn’t moving, you most probably had the settings done wrongly. Go back to the properties of both the microphone and the Stereo Mix device and select the right one. Keep trying until you find the correct one. Once you have it done, you are good to go. Head on to Showbiz and under audio input, select “HDMI”. Start recording. Try speaking into the microphone while playing some background sound (music or whatever). Stop the recording, and watch the playback video. You should be able to hear both your voice and the system audio.

Now comes the part where you will have to adjust the volumes accordingly to achieve the right balance. There are 3 things you can adjust, your microphone volume, your system volume and the playback volume of the Stereo Mix device. I will suggest you adjust in such a manner:

Make sure your speakers are of sufficient loudness to you. If you’re using a headset, adjust accordingly. Next, tweak the Stereo Mix playback loudness. To do this, head back to the Properties tab of the Stereo Mix device and under the “Levels” tab, adjust the level accordingly. At the same time, you can also adjust your microphone volume. Keep playing around with both settings till you reach the right balance.

It is perfectly fine should you adjust till both are rather soft during playback. You can always boost the audio during editing. However, once you find the right balance, simply increase both while maintaining that golden ratio. Once you are done with that, make a note of whatever settings that you have done so as to allow reference in future should you change anything.

Why and Why Not This Method?

The main advantage of this method is that you logically have a perfect sync. The main disadvantage is that you will not have individual tracks for your commentary and your footage audio. Now why exactly is this important depends solely on how you go about your editing. Also, another disadvantage (though easily overcome and should be overcome before recording) is that you have to find the right balance between your microphone and footage volume. You will not be able to adjust them during editing since they are merged into one audio file.

Conclusion

Both methods work fine. I personally prefer the second one because the syncing part is a bit tedious to me in the long run. Yes, it will take only a few seconds once you get used to it but if I can completely bypass it why not? The quality of your recording is important, but once you get passed that it is the content of your live commentary is what makes it appealing to people. I have tried a very impromptu live commentary to show you how it is done. I stutter a lot and almost have nothing to say most of the time. The audio itself isn’t very good because I was simply testing to see if it works (I used the second method for this commentary). It is my first try though and I didn’t have much preparation. Nevertheless, I hope it goes well for you and if it doesn’t, keep practising.

If you have any questions do try watching the video guide first to see if it helps. However, if you still have unanswered questions, just leave a comment here or on the video page itself and I’ll try my best to get back to you. Anyways for now you watch my really embarrassing attempt on a live commentary to what is a game with an awesome concept.

Fans are often the case for value adding in the gaming and entertainment industry. We have communities that make mods that change your gaming experience entirely for the better, we have people who come out with fixes and workarounds to ease certain burdens, and we also have people who go the extra mile to show their love for a particular game by creating a fan movie film. Inspired by the well received Left 4 Dead, a survival horror zombie FPS game, Northern Five Entertainment together with Airsoft GI are producing a fan film. Read on for the teaser video.

Wow, simply wow. The music, the shooting, the lighting, the everything just seem so professional. Well I’m not an expert in cinematography but it sure looked and sounded great to me. I can’t wait for the full film to be released! Don’t we all just love some zombie action.

p.s for those wondering what the background song is in the teaser its The Space in Between by How to Destroy Angels

Previously in my review of Hauppauge Colossus, I mentioned about having a series of How Tos that revolve around using the colossus for recording footages etc. To start of this particular series, I will first be demonstrating the different possibilities of recording PC footage. Yes the colossus can capture your desktop display as well. It works like a screen capture software and if you’re using it to record gameplay footages, it works something like Fraps. Read on for the video or written guide.

Some things are much easier to understand through visualization and verbal explanation. Here is the video that I’ve put up to explain how you can start recording your desktop footage. If there are any doubts or queries, do try reading this guide itself first as I might have explained a particular point clearer and more detailed here as compared to the video. However should you still have any questions, do feel free to leave a comment here or on the video page itself.

Hardware Setup

There are various ways of setting up your hardware in order to get this working. Firstly, make sure that the Colossus is installed properly into your system with the drivers being updated and the software Arcsoft ShowBiz being installed. With all that done, you will need an additional HDMI/mini HDMI to HDMI/DVI/DVI to HDMI cable. Why? We are basically going to make use of the HDMI input of the Colossus.

Video

Depending on the graphics card you have, the output options may differ. As such, do take a quick note of what output options you have. For example, you might have 2 DVI ports, 2 DVI and 1 mini-HDMI etc. Whichever spare output you have, grab a cable that has that particular head with HDMI at the other end (DVI to HDMI, mini HDMI to HDMI etc). Do note that on one graphics card you can output to at most 2 displays (the colossus counts as well) with exception of those professional models (Quadro etc).

Simply plug the cable with one end into the spare output of your graphics card and the other end into the HDMI input of the Colossus. With that done, it is time to play around with some settings of the graphics card and display. Understand that Colossus is recognized as a “monitor” or “display”. Hence, you will configure it as if you are using it as a monitor. In order to record your desktop footage, you will have to simply go into your Nvidia/ATI/windows display control panel and configure it to duplicate your main monitor.

To make things easier and more generalized, you can simply go to your Control Panel and under Display under Change Display Settings/Adjust Resolution/Settings (see screenshot for reference), select the second monitor, which should be simply called “Display Device on:______” or whichever else that you have, and under “multiple display” select duplicate display (in my screenshots I have another monitor hooked up. My main monitor is numbered 1 and the colossus numbered 3 thus the correct option to select is duplicate desktop on 1 and 3. Choose accordingly). After all that is done, apply the new settings.

Once done, go to ShowBiz and in the Capture screen, under Video Input, select HDMI. You should be seeing whatever you are seeing on your desktop currently.

Audio

Audio input is going to be a little more interesting as compared to video input. There are various alternatives that you can go about to record audio from your desktop. I will be listing some of the more common and efficient ones (in my opinion). Before all of that, do keep in mind that the outputs of the Colossus are merely pass-throughs and are not in any way converters. This explains both why you cannot output any display and audio through the component output should you connect via HDMI input on the Colossus.

Please mute ShowBiz in your volume mixer to prevent a deafening looping sound. You will understand what I mean should you choose to proceed without doing so.

Graphics Card (HDMI Audio)

Both ATI and Nvidia cards support audio output via HDMI. The weird thing however, is that when connecting to the Colossus, you don’t actually have to use HDMI output from your graphics card in order to support such a feature. Yes I’ve tried using my DVI port to HDMI (Note: DVI doesn’t carry audio signals) and the following method still works. I’m thinking that instead of transferring the signals via the output ports, it carries it within the computer itself. Anyways it is pretty much going to your playback options in Windows and selecting HDMI Audio output as the default device.

Once you have that done, you will then have to go to ShowBiz and within the capture menu, under Audio Input, select HDMI.

If you’re using HDMI as an audio input for your recording, you cannot use the component output to output any audio. You may however (unconfirmed though highly possible. If anyone has tried it please do let me know. I lack the necessary equipment to test this), use optical audio out to output audio into another receiver. This is explained at the start.

An alternative to this is to use a HDMI splitter (most economical, DVI splitters cost much more). Thus, instead of using one dedicated output from your graphics card to your display monitor and one into Colossus, you use just one HDMI output and by splitting the signals, one goes into your monitor and the other into the Colossus. However, should you want to use your own speaker system which does not have optical audio input, you may consider the next method.

Onboard/Dedicated Sound Card (RCA Audio)

Most if not all of you will probably have a sound card in your system. It doesn’t really matter whether is it onboard or dedicated as all we are concerned with is the output of RCA stereo. There should be an output for front speakers (what you will normally use in a 2 speaker set up). What you will need or should already have is a 3.5mm to RCA stereo (if you don’t just get one, they are very cheap). What you will need to do is to simply plug from your sound card to the component input (just the red and white audio inputs) of the Colossus. Now for you to continue using your speakers, use the component output to connect from the Colossus into your speakers. In ShowBiz and within the capture menu, under Audio Input, select Line In (RCA).

Optical Audio

If your PC supports optical audio out, by all means use it to connect to the optical audio input of the Colossus. Set the Audio Input in ShowBiz accordingly. You can then use the optical audio pass-through to your sound system.

Software Setup (ArcSoft ShowBiz)

There isn’t much to setup in the software end but for the benefit of doubt I will be going through some settings that you can consider tweaking when capturing footage. This will mainly be focused on using the prebundled software ShowBiz by ArcSoft. I feel that it is sufficient enough for you to get your footages recorded. You can then import these footages into your different video editing softwares for post editing.

Video Format

There are 3 options for you to choose from: M2TS, TS or MP4. All of them work similarly well without much difference in quality when recording PC footage. It has come to my attention though that importing my recordings that were saved at M2TS or MP4 to Adobe Premiere resulted in the audio getting out of synced. It might just be my system that has such a problem due to the different codecs being set up and whatnots. You can try it out with your own video editing software to see which format performs the best. Other than that all the different formats will do well.

Format Settings

The most important settings you will want to play with are the video encoding settings. You have 2 different sliders: “Bit Rate” and “Peak Bit Rate”. The latter only matters should you be using variable bit rate mode. What these sliders do is basically allowing you to control the quality of your recordings. The higher the bit rate per unit time, the higher the quality. This will, however, lead to larger file size.

The next thing you will notice is the bit rate mode. You have two choices, either variable bit rate or constant bit rate. The former being one that encoding bit rate varies accordingly to the amount of detail that is present at the particular time. On the other hand, constant bit rate will mean that it will constantly encode at a particular bit rate regardless of whether of the actual amount of details that are present.

My recommendation as of now is to simply use the default settings. You can try increasing the “Bit Rate” and “Peak Bit Rate” to higher values for a higher quality recording. Between constant or variable bit rate it seem that the latter would be generally better for most people. Do note that if you are uploading to video sites do note how the site encodes your video as well. There is a so-called optimum encoding setting for each site. I will be doing a particular post that covers this aspect. I’ve done 2 different test recordings that can be viewed here (one for PS3 and for PC all default software settings):

Conclusion

This should be all there is to start recording your desktop and PC gaming footages. I will be doing an article comparing the different alternatives to record PC footage (mainly comparing with Fraps). Other than that, if you have any other questions or suggestions on what else should I cover, do feel free to leave a comment here or on the youtube page. Happy recording!

Hauppauge Colossus is an internal PCI Express HD-PVR. In simpler terms, it is an internal card that is fixed within your computer that records high-definition footage from a video source. As such, the name HD-PVR stands for, High Definition Personal Video Recorder. I am mainly using the Colossus to record gameplay footage from my PS3 as well as my PC. This review will thus revolve around mainly my experience in using the Colossus for gameplay recording rather than other types of recording such as TV footage and others. If you’re in the market looking for a new capture card, read on for my review and some test footages of the Colossus.

If you’re more interested to be visually and aurally pleased, you can see my very brief and short video review of the Colossus (contains test footages as well. For a more detailed review please read on. The video does not cover in depth and simply gives an overview):

To start off, here are some technical specifications of the Colossus:

• H.264 AVCHD video encoder
• AC-3 recording from AC-3 source
• AAC audio encoding from PCM source
• Recording datarate: from 1 to 20 Mbits/sec (user selectable in the ArcSoft ShowBiz application)
• Recording format:
• up to 1080i from component video (YCrCb or YPrPb)
• NTSC: 720p60, 1080i60, 480i60, 480p60
• PAL: 720p50, 1080i50, 576p50, 576i50, 480p50, 480i50
  Note: the video input format determines the recorded format. For example, 1080i input records at 1080i, 720P records at 720P, etc. Any other format conversions needs to be done with the MediaConvert program (supplied).
• NTSC or PAL supported

Here are the input and output of the Colossus:

• A/V cable input adapter with:
  • Component video input
  • Left/ Right RCA audio input
• A/V cable output adapter with loop through audio and video:
  • Component video output
  • Left/ Right RCA audio output
• Optical audio input and loop through output
• HDMI input (Note: for use with un-encrypted HDMI video sources)
• IR Blaster output

Let us talk about the specifications of the Colossus. Firstly, since this is an internal PCI-E card you will have to open up your computer to fix it in. Now, that can be a problem for some mainly because of warranty reasons (warranty for some prebuilt computers are void should the case be open) or simply because you don’t really know how to. Well for the latter, I will say that it is pretty simple. Obviously if you own a custom built (that perhaps you have built by yourself or have some knowledge in building one) computer you should know how to plug in the card rather easily. However, if you are still unsure, there are several tutorials and help online that you can read or even watch (on youtube) that will show you the process. To put it simply, open the case, find the correct slot (PCI-E X1) and slot in the card. If you are still worried and not willing to learn, I suggest that the Colossus as a capture card is not the right option for you.

Do note that since this requires a PCI-E X1 slot (Or X4, X8, X16. They are all theoretically compatible but depending on how your motherboard implements the different slots results might vary), you must have such a slot available on your motherboard and you should anyways. To check if your motherboard does have this slot, simply do a search online for your motherboard’s model and read its specifications. Otherwise, you can simply open your computer case and see inside for any available PCI-E slot. If you’re not sure how it looks like just do a google image search, it is basically the shortest PCI-E slot. Another thing to take note is that this is a full height PCI-E card and thus this can have compatibility issue with your cases especially if they are of the smaller form factors (e.g mini-itx, matx). They do not have any low-profile brackets available so do check first before considering the Colossus.

Putting the technicalities aside, the Colossus input options for recording is versatile. The ability for recording either via HDMI or Component covers almost all kinds of devices. Do note however that the HDMI input only accepts un-encrypted sources, meaning you cannot use the HDMI input to record PS3 that outputs via HDMI. It is not so much so of a problem as Component output do support up to 1080p. However, because of the protection stuff put into place, the device output may be of resolution of 1080i or lower. This also brings us to the point that the Colossus only accepts a maximum resolution of 1080i, not 1080p. It isn’t so much of an issue as the quality difference between 1080i and 1080p can hardly be differed. The Colossus also accepts optical audio in and has a slot to allow for the use of the remote.

The Colossus output options are less desirable though. You only have the choice to output via component and optical audio. Now this can be a huge problem especially if you’re using a computer monitor as a display. Most computer monitors do not have any component input, and by logical reasoning most people use a computer monitor with a computer rather than a television set with a computer. Of course if your display does accept component inputs then you have nothing to worry about. However, if your display doesn’t (like mine) have component input, you may have to get an additional signal converter (the most common one being component to hdmi). This can set you back by roughly $30 for a cheap brandless one and can go up to $100 for a more competent and higher build quality one. The price may vary from country to country so do consider this additional cost should you need to spend. The audio video pass through requires that the computer is turned on so say if you’re using a PS3 connected to the Colossus, you must have your computer powered on as well even if you don’t plan on doing any recording. There is no input lag whatsoever by using the pass through. However, there is long unplayable delay should you want to view the display through the software that does the recording.

Input wise the Colossus is on par with the rest of the products in the PVR market. Its output however, disappointingly lacks a very important HDMI option which their direct competitor, the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro (another internal HD-PVR), delightfully provides. It can get really troublesome especially when the availability of the converter and pricing vary in different countries. There is much to consider in order to ensure that the Colossus is fully compatible with whatever setup you have in mind. Sad though that such a minor issue can cause that much problems, and no I’m not making a mountain out of a molehill. However, overlook that and everything else is great.

The softwares that come bundled together with the Colossus are WinTV and ArcSoft Showbiz. Both are adequate enough for both TV and gameplay recording. For me (and most of you probably), I’ve used Showbiz to do most of the recordings and will continue to do so. It is a simple little program with sufficient enough options to ensure quality recording. Setting it up is fairly straightforward if you’re recording from your console or another video device. It gets a bit more complicated should you plan to record from your PC (Will have a series of How-To in future to explain more of my setup should you need additional help). Otherwise the software does its job well. There are some video encoding options that you can play with for example the aspect ratios and more importantly the encoding bitrate. Playing around with that will allow you to balance between file size and video quality. So far I’ve left it at default settings and everything seems to be working just fine. It is important to take note that recording at higher bitrates will result in larger file sizes. The HDD that you are writing to (saving the video recording) should have sufficient sequential writing speed to allow smooth recording.

The quality of recording of both the video and sound is great. I am unable to tell you the difference between perhaps recording via the Colossus as compared to perhaps say the Intensity Pro as not only do I lack the different devices for comparison, I also lack that awesome photographic eye to tell the difference. What I strongly believe though is that with similar settings (say same bitrate encoding etc), the quality will be pretty much the same. Anyways here are some recording of PS3 and PC footage with the default settings. I simply plug in the Colossus, installed the different drivers and went on to record the different footages:

The thing about uploading to youtube is really complicated when considering the quality before and after. Videos uploaded to youtube will undergo their very own encoding and compression. It is thus vital to find the optimum settings for your original footage before uploading to youtube to ensure that quality is maximized. I have yet to dwell much into that but will experiment and research more in the near future. You too can read up the various discussions over the internet about what contributes to the best final outcome after uploading to youtube. Should you plan to upload to other sites or merely use it for personal use, you too can read about the different encodings and compressions to optimize the quality.

There is just one problem that I have encountered when recording 1080i footage from my PC. There is this blue line at the left side of the video. Not sure if you’ve noticed it in the youtube video but it seems to be a common problem when recording 1080i footage through HDMI input. Did a simple search and came across various people with such a problem. Not sure of any solutions or any workarounds besides not using HDMI input to record 1080i but if you do find or know of any please do contact me and let me know.

Overall, the Hauppauge Colossus is a fantastic product and serves its purpose well. The lack of HDMI output is rather disappointing but other than that it is one of the better HD PVR in the market. Specifically for gameplay recording the Colossus does a fantastic job. The only problem is that since it is an internal PCI-E card you might have a little trouble installing it into your system. Get past that and you have one great solution to start your gameplay recording.

I will be writing several other articles (and perhaps videos) explaining the setup I am using, the benefits of using a capture card to record PC footage and whatever that comes into mind. Do let me know if you want me to discuss any other things that you might be confused or concern with.