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Making screenshots of Xbox/PS2-content via OSX - but how?



Author: anonymous
Date: Tue Jun 21 18:12:45 2005
Subject: Making screenshots of Xbox/PS2-content via OSX - but how?





Hello,

I'm a freelancer journalist writing tests and previews of xbox and ps2-games. Now, I'd like to make screenshots of games running on my PS2/Xbox-videogame console.

I use an ibook, 12'', running OSX. How might it be possible to capture high quality screenshots with the help of this system? Which hardware components are useful?

If anybody has an idea, please let me know. Thanks a lot for your help - and for the possibility to use this forum.

Kind regards,

Nicsmix




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Tue Jun 21 18:44:00 2005: Subject:   TonyLawrence

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I know nothing about Xboxes or any games at all, but if I'm supposed to infer that somehow the game is visible on the Mac then Shift-Alt-4, spacebar on the window and click is the method..





Fri Jun 24 10:15:15 2005: Subject:   drag


For the hardware part you'd probably can find a high-quality tv capture device that can interface with the USB port on your Ibook. Since the USB 2.0 high-speed stuff is aviable it's now fast enough to be able to do things like that. Also you could probably find ones that interface thru the firewire port.

There are a couple downsides to this though. Some tv capture stuff will add visual artifacts or compression to the stream, which may be undesirable. Also unless you have a newer Ibook it's likely that I won't have enough cpu to be able to do images at high resolution. Then you have colors and brightness/darkness and such to deal with.

I used a old ATI Wonder VE capture card that I used with my PS2 in Linux.. I had issues with the colors being muted and dark. Not enough contrast.

If you have the ability to try out a few different cards or find reviews it would be very helpfull.

Another thing to think about, I figure, is that with the Xbox you have the ability to run in HDTV mode on many games and I am pretty sure that it would be difficult to find a consumer capture card that can run at those high resolutions and I have more doubt that even a newer Ibook would pack enough punch to realy get the benifit of it. But I would expect that you'd want that so that you'd get the best shots aviable.

Not that I have much experiance with this sort of thing, just that I play around with tv capture cards a bit and I know that some will work with usb high-speed stuff/firewire and some will work with OS X.. but I can't give a recommendation on a specific model or whatnot. But it would be a relatively inexpensive solution (50-200 bucks I am guessing, depending on the model of capture device and features).

For superior results you'd probably want some professional equipment for this sort of thing. People commonly use Apples for non-linear editing and compositing and will resort to powerbooks and iBooks so that they can have mobility. I don't have the foggiest clue about these sort of things, but I'd bet they would work the best. I wouldn't even be suprised if you could rent them or at least find out more about them from a video equipment rental place.



Fri Jun 24 11:28:53 2005: Subject:   TonyLawrence

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Ahh, so Xbox is some sort of game thing that normally hooks to a TV.. OK, now it all makes more sense.







Tue Jun 28 21:42:57 2005: Subject:   Nicsmix


Hi drag, thanks a lot for your suggestions. Probably I simply have to spent more time on searching such a high quality tv capture device. Till now capturing the PAL signal would be enough.

If there is any user out there who has made good experiences with a specific device, please give me a hint.

Cheers & thanks again,
Nicsmix



Tue Jul 4 18:18:39 2006: Subject: I am about to try the same thing for the same reason   anonymous


I too, am a freelance writer and was just last week asked to do an article on a new PS2 game for which there were no (or very few) decent screenshots from. I have ordered a TV capture card (USB type) and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival. If you would like to contact me to find out how it works out and what I am able to accomplish with it, please feel free to contact me at tonycipriani (at) northsearesearch (dot) com. I'll be happy to help in any way I can.

--Eric

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