Even though I'm pretty injured at this point (Yep, public waiting lists are a pain to wait around on) someone else threw the money (and the physical assistance) to install a new capture card that was part of an advancement operation we had in the works prior to my injury and wanted to execute it anyway.
I figure this would qualify for new technology - a Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme 3D+
The price tag on it wasn't cheap, the card's $1000.
Pictures can be found here, but as you can guess, he's the one holding it and taking photos.
http://www.mediafire.com/?i3suan5fd3h2dSadly, it required a LOT of physical assistance, due to the fact due to cooling issues, we had to completely reconfigure the inside of the server unit. If you're wondering why the power supply is upside down, it's because the mounting screws were more reliable that way. The power supply used to sit at the bottom.
Why did we move the power supply? Because there wasn't enough clearance at the bottom of the case to support the card, so we shifted the power supply to its secondary slot.
So what did that involve? Helping a friend who took all the parts out, set up the case in the correct formation, then put them all back in.
How can the case be customised so much? That's what happens when you pay an arm and a leg for a really good case.
Why would we do a massive shuffle? The HDMI links were stiff and we couldn't bend the cables enough to get the access points at anything less than 3 cards up. They made their HDMI cables well shielded, but due to this, there was a maximum flexing we could make, and it had to go around the other capture card (A Blackmagic Intensity Pro, which you might know as the card I normally use for im@s request video work) and somehow dodge a couple of heat sinks on the way.
It also became tricker when you consider that cooling for the Extreme 3D AND the supporting SAS (In one of the pictures, you'll see a card with what looks to be red SATA cables with a heat sink near it) actually mattered, since that the SAS controller runs between 60 and 90C during normal operations. Needless to say you don't want cables touching that heat sink.
We also had to remove the normal 2 slot video card and replace it with a 1 slot (Sadly, it downgrades it from a 9800 GTX to a 9500) although this machine isn't designed for gameplay, and considering there's now two other gaming machines in the building and two capture cards, there's no reason to play a game on it.
Sadly, not all the configuration is done - if you saw the breakout cable, you'll notice none of them have component connectors you may recognize - these are production conneectors (as the Decklink Extreme is a production grade card), and you can't plug a PS3's component into them.
You'll also notice that some of the plugs look like they can have microphones put into them - these are the analog audio connectors.
I'll need to arrange adapters for the consumer component cables to hook up the Decklink for 1080p60 PS3 use.
So how do the HDMI ports work? Well, if you're running a Xbox 360, you can just directly split it (or plain trick it) into feeding it into the card as HDCP isn't applied for games. It means (ironically) that the Xbox 360 version will always have one advantage over the PS3 version - better resolution as it'll scale up to 1080p60 without a problem. (Not that it matters - The X360 just scales the 720 assets, from my understanding.)
The PS3 applies HDCP on all outgoing signals, so I'm working on a solution for the capture card to see it via the PS3.
The card also does 3D in all formats, which means that once I work on HDCP breaking, I'll be able to capture things in 3D as well. (That's mostly a matter of equipment though, and I've been told we'll move towards it anyway)
We ran a quick burn in test where we ran the cards in tandem - One is running Atelier Meruru via the PS3 component at 720p. The other is Windows 8 Customer Preview, run at 1080p60 via its HDMI port.
http://www.twitch.tv/best72/b/321972340Yes, the sound going over each other was deliberate, as we needed to check if our capture software would correctly handle both simultaneous cards running, and that the hardware wouldn't trip over itself (via a PCI-e lane error or otherwise flat out running out of lanes) as we ran it at near full capacity. We've yet to do a record and broadcast stream at the same time, but that's due to the need to wait for the component adaptors, and most likely, at least one more SAS drive.
So what do we hope to do with it? Probably run co op game streams of whatever we feel like, and people can watch both sides at once. Probably record some Project Diva Dreamy Theatre 2 in 3D, catch multiple console plays, broadcast a PS3 simuliview (After splitting the signal into two of course) among other things.
