Welcome to the BCVGB "Recording Studio"

While it might not seem like it, I solemnly swear that my blog is still a thing. In fact, it's more of a thing now than it's ever been, which ironically, is the reason I haven't posted anything in a while.

In case you haven't heard, Backward Compatible is going Hollywood, baby! Okay, not Hollywood, but YouTube...wood. And that's essentially the same thing. Besides, what's the point of blogging about video games without a little video?

Hauppauge HD PVR working hard amid a sea of wires.

Here's the thing: two weeks ago, I had absolutely no idea how to make videos, let alone edit video, record voiceovers, and upload them to the YouTubes. Today, I'm happy to report that I'm half way there.

Since I'm working with a three-year-old Dell XPS laptop, capturing gameplay onto the hard drive isn't as easy as simply plugging the PS3 into a capture card. Instead, I'm using a Hauppauge HD PVR. Essentially it's the same thing as your TiVo or DVR, just without a hard drive. Instead, it works as a pass-through, streaming the data (up to 1080i resolution) from your game console simultaneously to your computer and your television. Surprisingly, it mostly works!

I've had to fidget with the PVR settings quite a bit, but I'm pretty happy with the quality. Check out these raw video samples and see for yourself (disclaimer: if you follow me on Facebook, these videos will seem very, very familiar):


Metal Slug 3 (PS2)



Guilty Gear XX (PS2)



We Love Katamari (PS2)

Not bad, right?

And just for fun, here's my "recording studio."

You might notice some quality issues, which is to be expected as I work out the kinks. What I can't work out is why the older consoles succeed only in freezing up the PVR. It's not too big of a deal, though, as there are some low-cost options for recording non-HD video. Dazzle, anyone?

Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 will shoulder the editing duties (it's the software recommended by Hauppauge and is on super sale at Amazon--how could I go wrong?), and I'm still on the fence about the microphone. More on that later.

Give me a couple more weeks and I should have something that looks like a game review put together! Any requests?