Capture The Flag, Er…Game

 

Roxio’s Game Capture is designed to allow you to capture your video game footage from your Xbox 360 or PS3 with relative ease. Let’s take a look and see how well it performs. First as I unboxed the unit I found the capture device feeling a little cheap. The plastic housing makes this a very light. The included component video, rca audio cables, and usb cable are good quality gold plated. Gold plated cables allows the information and signals being transferred through said cables with a very low chance of loss. You will need the component and rca cables that came with your console, though. We also get a brief instruction sheet and the software installation disc.

Installation was a breeze. Connecting the cables are very straightforward and installing he software is very easy. The entire installation took about 15 minutes including plugging cables in and installing the software. Once installed you’ll be prompted to reboot your computer. Next we launch the software, but first you’ll be asked to register.

On the main menu of Game Capture you’ll have two choices- Capture or Edit & Share. Pretty straightforward, I think the titles of each state it’s given purpose without need for further explanation. In the capture screen we get a preview window and a few options for recording.

Most important are the encoding options. You can choose DivX, Avi, or WMV. I found WMV to work best. We can also adjust settings for brightness, hue, sharpness, contrast, and saturation. And at the top left you can choose both the video source and audio source. Giving you the option to record voice overs or other audio is a nice benefit. Now it’s even easier to create that walkthrough!

Once you capture your video using the start/stop capture button, your files are saved below and also in your My Videos folder by default.  Next let’s close this window and go into Edit & Share. Here is the familiar linear setup for piecing together your video. Whether just want simple transition, text effects, or to edit and trim your video. It’s all here. And once your done you can upload directly to WeGame, Youtube, or Facebook. We can also just output a video file. There are plenty of options in here and all with a very easy to use interface.

Okay, so I’ve gone through and recorded a video. Went in and trimmed it up. I found the encoding to be quick and painless. Here is a video I recorded from Portal 2.

Portal 2

Final conclusion: Roxio’s Game Capture may feel a little cheap, but the hardware performs solidly and works seamlessly with with the software. The software installs with ease, is simple to understand and use. Encoding was quick and effortless. There are some advanced editing features missing, but nothing necessary. This works extremely well. I think Roxio has done a great job here. I do like the fact that the software is designed to take advantage of Intel Core series processors, AMD Stream technology, and NVidia Cuda. The first two I have on this computer which does make a significant improvement on the encoding time.