Capturing and Editing on the Mac

[chikorita157]

I know most people don't use Macs, but if you are considering one and want to capture stuff, there are some things that you want to take into consideration:
1. Not all capture devices that work on Windows will be compatible with Mac OS X. This is because Mac OS X doesn't have a built in functionality for watching TV and stuff. If you want to record anything on the Mac, you need to have a compatible device. Here are the known and incomplete list of devices that will work on the Mac.

• Happauge 1445 HD-PVR
• Eye TV Hybrid/HD/250 Plus (comes with EyeTV Software)
• PCTV HD Pro Stick (801e)

Aside from the EyeTV HD and Happauge HD PVR, you are stuck with standard definition. If you decide to record in SD, obtain an S-Video adaptor for your game console so that the video looks clearer. Otherwise, you will have a lot of artifacts and other issues with the video quality.

A full list can be obtained at the Elgato Website.

2. You need to have a copy of EyeTV installed. EyeTV Lite won't work since you won't be able to export the video and edit it in a video editor. As previously mentioned, this program is only compatible with the devices above.

3. For some older capture cards, it will have stuff in MPEG-2 format, which you can't edit. This can be solved in two ways. In EyeTV, go to Window > EyeTV Programs for the list of recordings.

Then right click the video you want to export and choose export. If your capture card doesn't export the full quality video in MPEG4, select Quicktime Movie and then the Options button and then settings.

If you have the option to use Apple Prores 422, use that. Otherwise, use Photo - JPEG and set it to best quality. For sound, use the highest bitrate for AAC possible. Then press OK and then save.

Alternative:
If you have an MPEG-2 file, you can still convert it to a usable format providing if you have the MPEG-2 Quicktime component installed. Get a program called MPEG Streamclip and open your mpg file in it. Then go to file > Export to Quicktime. From there, you can choose the codec and fix the aspect ratio (854x480). Also, be sure to check the "Deinterlace Video" option before making the movie. You can also do this after exporting the video from EyeTV to fix the aspect ratio.

4. Have a video editing software ready to edit the recording. Since all new Macs come with iMovie, this isn't much of a problem. However, if you want to use a different editor, Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X are acceptable choices.

Another Consideration: Recording Quality
EyeTV can record in different resolutions, but keeping it at the default settings can result in poor quality recordings. To fix that go to Eye TV Preferences > Devices. Then, set the recording quality of your device to "Best" or "High." The Encoding box will be different depending on what device you use.


Fixing Aspect Ratio
If you have your PS3 set to use 16:9 and using standard definition cables, you might notice that the Aspect ratio might be wrong. To fix that, go to Preferences > Display and select the Stretch option. After that, it should display correctly.

[Setsuna]

I will also note that both the AJA Kona lines, as well as the Blackmagic Lines (Intensity and upward) will also work, although the cheapest entry is the Intensity Pro/Shuttle, and that's about 200 dollars as of time of writing this.

I am told both work better in their mac configurations than their PC counterparts, even though they're cross compatable, namely, I could remove the Blackmagic card I have here and move it to a Mac with an available PCI-e slot of the right size. (Better written drivers? I'm not sure.)

However, the workflows I'm familiar with involve Final Cut Pro (Although people curse X oddly enough and swear by 7) and aren't covered here.

For best performance, it is highly recommended to set up either a SCSI/SAS or at least a dedicated RAID0 though.

I can't comment much more than that, as I don't own a Mac (Given the price disparency) but I thought I'd mention that there are other options out there, depending on how much you're willing to spend on it. I'm told it's significantly more, but then again if you already have a recent mac setup, you'll probably be already used to this.

[chikorita157]

I have heard about the Intensity Pro, but the only problem is that I don't have a Thunderbolt port nor USB 3.0. I don't even have the capabilities to add one since there is no express card slot, although my 6 year old MacBook Pro has one.

Final Cut Pro X received alot of criticism since it lost some of the features that professionals need such as Multicam support. They recently added some of the features back, but still.

[Setsuna]

I have heard about the Intensity Pro, but the only problem is that I don't have a Thunderbolt port nor USB 3.0. I don't even have the capabilities to add one since there is no express card slot, although my 6 year old MacBook Pro has one.

Final Cut Pro X received alot of criticism since it lost some of the features that professionals need such as Multicam support. They recently added some of the features back, but still.

For most part there's 3 versions - a PCI-e card, a Thunderbolt and a USB3.0 - You MAY have some problem finding the PCI-e card since that's sort of being phased out, even though I'd argue it's the technically most reliable of the setups (I work with an intensity Pro and will be working with a 3D extreme sometime later this year).

The Intensity Pro/Shuttle is the only one that has multiple options though, anything better is strictly PCI-e cards.

They're all cross compatable, barring the Thunderbolt (As Apple said as commissioner of the design from Intel that they don't want it to be used outside the mac ecosystem) and the Kona series by AJA are cross compatable as they have drivers on both ends (and are PCI-e and consequently placable in any system with the correct slot size)

I believe some of the people I worked with called it a scaled down version of iMovie (ouch!) and promptly convinced their companies to roll it back. It was by all means a PR disaster, considering prior, Final Cut Pro was considered the holy grail of video workflow. They've since moved to Premiere Pro or the other mac alternative (although remembering the name evades me) which is sort of sad, but expected.

I do wonder how it'll recover given that chain of events...

I appreciate the addition, considering that not everyone plays professionally. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who does video editing with a mac, particularly at the high end of town, because it'd be nice to get a clear workflow outline (since all of them support driver led direct recording, from memory.)

[chikorita157]

I got my PS3 S-Video adaptor today and it's definitely a big improvement (although a little part of the wire got damaged a little and I had to put some electrical tape on it). I made a comparison video with Adobe Premiere Pro and synced them up with the composite recording. As seen in the screenshots below, the difference is apparent, especially with the lyrics. Still, not nearly as good compared to Component, but at least it looks decent.



Also, forgot to mention... If you want EyeTV to view the right aspect ratio, just go to View > Aspect Ratio > Stretch.

[Setsuna]

I got my PS3 S-Video adaptor today and it's definitely a big improvement (although a little part of the wire got damaged a little and I had to put some electrical tape on it). I made a comparison video with Adobe Premiere Pro and synced them up with the composite recording. As seen in the screenshots below, the difference is apparent, especially with the lyrics. Still, not nearly as good compared to Component, but at least it looks decent.

Also, forgot to mention... If you want EyeTV to view the right aspect ratio, just go to View > Aspect Ratio > Stretch.

For most part, this is because Composite is technically superior, so it's no surprise. I understand that there's been a shift making 720p capture devices using h.264 compression towards more mainstream, although a bit pricy for entry still.

Unfortunately due to how a lot of games making 720p manditory for reading, the font always seems to suffer, which annoys me (it's a lot easier to transport a 480i than a 720p signal via broadcast both bandwidth and processing wise) since when I'm working on a proxy play, I rely on someone else to help me with the game translations, and they're nigh unreadable half the time...

[chikorita157]

Just got an HD PVR Gaming Edition and the quality difference with my Pinnacle HD Stick is big... The only drawback is that there is a lag that makes the game completely unplayable on the computer and you have to use the pass-through to a television to play. Not a big deal, but I guess I can't play in HD while I am on vacation.

Also, I had a problem with the picture being too bright because the HD PVR had a new firmware... updating EyeTV to 3.5.4 did the trick. Also records in 720p 60fps and Premiere recognized the video out of the box... Final Cut Pro X on the other hand, well...

480i S Video


720p

[darkarn]

Sorry for the bump, but anyone tried with HDMI? Or is that "locked" HDMI issue there?

[Setsuna]

Sorry for the bump, but anyone tried with HDMI? Or is that "locked" HDMI issue there?

HDMI for the Xbox 360 is only HDCP protected when you watch a DVD.

The PS3 HDMI port is protected with HDCP regardless of if you want to or not, for all signals. If your device inputting is not HDCP enabled, you will get snow on that input.

There are ways around this protection system (with the use of certain pieces of equipment), but in the US this would require you to get around the DCMA, which has criminal penalties attached for attempting to get around the copy protection system.

(You need to get an exemption to break approved by the Library of Congress to get around the DCMA which states you can't break a copy protection system.)

I'm not in the US, so the DCMA does not apply to me. Your legal liabilities may vary though.

[darkarn]

HDMI for the Xbox 360 is only HDCP protected when you watch a DVD.

The PS3 HDMI port is protected with HDCP regardless of if you want to or not, for all signals. If your device inputting is not HDCP enabled, you will get snow on that input.

There are ways around this protection system (with the use of certain pieces of equipment), but in the US this would require you to get around the DCMA, which has criminal penalties attached for attempting to get around the copy protection system.

(You need to get an exemption to break approved by the Library of Congress to get around the DCMA which states you can't break a copy protection system.)

I'm not in the US, so the DCMA does not apply to me. Your legal liabilities may vary though.

Lol, I am also not in the US so the DMCA does not apply to me (somewhat)... Am I right to say that the capture hardware (I am looking at the BlackMagic Intensity series, since I can order it locally) alone do not have the capability to circumvent HDCP?

[Setsuna]

Lol, I am also not in the US so the DMCA does not apply to me (somewhat)... Am I right to say that the capture hardware (I am looking at the BlackMagic Intensity series, since I can order it locally) alone do not have the capability to circumvent HDCP?

Somewhat? You better be sure it doesn't, because the DCMA has a strangely long reach. People get yanked out from all sorts of places for breaking the rules in regards to copyright related issues.

As Blackmagic are in the United States (And are for sale in the US), they have to comply with the DCMA. They honour all HDCP signals by refusing to copy if present. They do not have a licensed decryption key to send back on the challenge as part of the protocol.

I use the Blackmagic series (Although I have a Decklink card, although that's out of service at the moment due to a RMA and stuff blowing up here) so yes, I have a method that can break it. The device in question is 200 dollars US and change though, which may not be worth the investment if you're only looking at a Blackmagic Intensity Pro. (Which is about 200 dollars US. Go figure.)

There's another way I know that's cheaper (which is the HDMI -> DVI conversion + analog L/R) but there's a significant quality degrading as part of the process. It's not that great but some people get finicky about the loss in quality.

It's a lot cheaper to get component cables for the PS3/Xbox 360 and just record through those. You'll only be able to get 1080i out of a BM Intensity Pro anyway, and getting the pro version gets you component cables as part of the deal.


If you're prepared to drop a thousand or more on recording equipment (Say a Decklink 3D Extreme+ and a supporting SAS or SSD set for 1080p work) then let me know and I can refer you on. Just bear in mind that if in the unlikely chance you get caught for HDCP breaking, no defense will save you apart from 'You have no jurisdiction over me'.

[darkarn]

Somewhat? You better be sure it doesn't, because the DCMA has a strangely long reach. People get yanked out from all sorts of places for breaking the rules in regards to copyright related issues.

As Blackmagic are in the United States (And are for sale in the US), they have to comply with the DCMA. They honour all HDCP signals by refusing to copy if present. They do not have a licensed decryption key to send back on the challenge as part of the protocol.

I use the Blackmagic series (Although I have a Decklink card, although that's out of service at the moment due to a RMA and stuff blowing up here) so yes, I have a method that can break it. The device in question is 200 dollars US and change though, which may not be worth the investment if you're only looking at a Blackmagic Intensity Pro. (Which is about 200 dollars US. Go figure.)

There's another way I know that's cheaper (which is the HDMI -> DVI conversion + analog L/R) but there's a significant quality degrading as part of the process. It's not that great but some people get finicky about the loss in quality.

It's a lot cheaper to get component cables for the PS3/Xbox 360 and just record through those. You'll only be able to get 1080i out of a BM Intensity Pro anyway, and getting the pro version gets you component cables as part of the deal.


If you're prepared to drop a thousand or more on recording equipment (Say a Decklink 3D Extreme+ and a supporting SAS or SSD set for 1080p work) then let me know and I can refer you on. Just bear in mind that if in the unlikely chance you get caught for HDCP breaking, no defense will save you apart from 'You have no jurisdiction over me'.

No worries, I am not going to try to go against the DMCA; no point in doing that anyway...

I see, I am more towards the Shuttle (approx SGD259 dollars, hoping it can go a bit lower) as I do only have a Windows laptop with USB 3.0 (and a home PC with USB 2.0 only but I don't really use it since I am in uni most of the time) and my only experience with such hardware so far is a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 for digitalising VHS tapes (on crummy ol' S-Video, of which I am regretting terribly now) so I guess it will be a while before I can go for those uber recording equipment! 

[Setsuna]

No worries, I am not going to try to go against the DMCA; no point in doing that anyway...

I see, I am more towards the Shuttle (approx SGD259 dollars, hoping it can go a bit lower) as I do only have a Windows laptop with USB 3.0 (and a home PC with USB 2.0 only but I don't really use it since I am in uni most of the time) and my only experience with such hardware so far is a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 for digitalising VHS tapes (on crummy ol' S-Video, of which I am regretting terribly now) so I guess it will be a while before I can go for those uber recording equipment! 

A warning about the Shuttle - I've used it and it's kinda finicky, to say the least. If you have the option, go with the Thunderbolt instead, since well, the USB3 is a headache to work with at the best of times. It only uses certain USB3.0 setups, so be sure if you DO get a shuttle with USB 3.0, that you can return it if it doesn't work.

I tend to have poor luck with most mobile solutions, mostly because of the fact that they tend to be a fragile. It might be my mileage though.

[darkarn]

A warning about the Shuttle - I've used it and it's kinda finicky, to say the least. If you have the option, go with the Thunderbolt instead, since well, the USB3 is a headache to work with at the best of times. It only uses certain USB3.0 setups, so be sure if you DO get a shuttle with USB 3.0, that you can return it if it doesn't work.

I tend to have poor luck with most mobile solutions, mostly because of the fact that they tend to be a fragile. It might be my mileage though.

Uh-oh... I don't have a Thunderbolt port