Game capture is a bigger and bigger business lately -- with YouTube views earning money for partner channels, indie devs needing to capture video footage of their games, and lots of players just wanting to record their own gameplay for various purposes, there's a big call these days for full, HD video of gameplay captured from video game consoles. Hauppage has been making the HD PVR for a little while now: It's a run-through set-top box that's designed to capture video footage, specifically from a satellite or cable box (so you can record an HD TV signal as it comes in). But just a few months ago, Hauppage also introduced the HD PVR Gaming Edition, basically the same box, but designed to work directly with the top video game consoles: The PS3, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii. And with the help of an app called HDPVRCapture, Hauppage's box works with your Mac computer. I've run the system through its paces, and I can say that despite some issues I had with setup (and a few missing features), the HD PVR Gaming Edition is an excellent way to capture high quality video game footage. Getting the unit plugged in was the hard part: All of my video game systems are well-ensconced in my entertainment center, so having to dive back into that tangle of wires was probably the hardest issue I had. For most of the capture, I used my PS3, so I had to pull the component cables out of my television, and then run the included cables with the HD PVR from the PS3 to the unit, and then a separate component cable from the PVR to the television. To go from the box to my Macbook, there was just a simple USB cable, so that part was super easy in comparison. The HD PVR itself has plenty of options: You can run through the component video hookups as I did (along with right and left audio), or run with Optical video out and in. On the front of the unit, there are also connections for SVideo, if you happen to be running that, or composite video from another console. The hookups on the box are solid, and the component video worked well. The HDPVRCapture software allows you to set a bitrate for recording the video, which mainly just affects hard drive usage (more video information obviously means more hard drive space used). To test, I first set the bitrate super low (at 1000 kbps), and as a result, the output video was grainy and hazy, albeit still usable. Running at a higher bitrate, however (I kicked it up to around 10000 kbps), creates really beautiful video -- full 1080i footage, perfect for playing on any HD television or projector (or, more likely, YouTube's HD settings). In fact, the video file that I created by running the device for about 30 minutes was so big and so HD that my little years-old Macbook actually had trouble running it, at least until I closed some other apps. Editing or even viewing video of that quality could be a problem if you have an old computer to work on. But most video editors will have computers much more powerful than my little laptop, so high quality video shouldn't be a problem. The HDPVRCapture software has plenty of options for recording and converting the video afterwards (the streams I recorded came out as .m2ts files, easily converted into .mp4 for playing on most video systems), and there are also controls for video light levels and sharpness, along with an option to hook up to iCal for a recording schedule (in case you do want to use this with a cable system to record TV shows). There's also a few network options, so you can hook up the software to automatically send recorded footage to a network drive, streaming it live or later on. I did have a few issues with Hauppage's box, however. First and foremost is the lack of an HDMI connection -- the component video looked great, but I usually run my PS3 with an HDMI cable, so to set the box up, I had to actually switch the system's video back over to component to use it. Elgato makes a competing box that only runs on HDMI, and since Apple sells an a read more..
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Video Game Consoles-Component Video-Video Footage-Hd Pvr
Nsfw
Paul Carr's NSFW Corp has officially launched, bringing us all from the doldrums and despair of the Age of Pisces and into the majesty of the Age of Aquarius. The site, essentially the news of the day with jokes, launched a few months ago in beta and is now a 17-person strong comedy juggernaut putting out stories like "UK WORRIES ABOUT SPIRALLING COST OF FREE HEALTH CARE >> Run, America. Run while there's still time //" and "KUWAIT ARMY STRUGGLES WITH OBESITY >> Are we heading for the first real Golden Arches war? A Gastric Band of Brothers? //." read more..
Patent Dispute-Lengthy Battle
Facebook and Yahoo have agreed to settle a patent dispute, averting a potentially lengthy battle over the technology running two of the Internet's most popular destinations. read more..
News Summary: Facebook, Yahoo settle patent fight
WORKING IT OUT: Facebook and Yahoo have settled their months-long patent dispute, averting a potentially lengthy battle over the technology running two of the Internet's most popular destinations. read more..
Yahoo, Facebook strike patent truce, ad alliance
Facebook and Yahoo have agreed to settle a months-long patent dispute, averting a potentially expensive battle over the technology running two of the Internet's most popular destinations. read more..
Patent Dispute-Bitter Battle
Facebook and Yahoo have agreed to settle a patent dispute and avert a potentially bitter battle over the technology running two of the Internet's most popular destinations, according to a person familiar with the matter. read more..
Yahoo and Facebook announce they have settled patent dispute, forged advertising alliance
SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook and Yahoo have agreed to settle a patent dispute. This averts a potentially bitter battle over the technology running two of the Internet's most popular destinations. read more..
Developments in Facebook-Yahoo patent dispute
On Friday, Yahoo and Facebook said they have agreed to settle their patent dispute and drop lawsuits against each other. read more..
Azure Accelerator-Microsoft
As you may recall, Microsoft recently got into the startup accelerator game, launching its first self-directed and self-run accelerator in Israel. The program is different from Microsoft's Kinect Accelerator, for example, because Microsoft is the owner and operator of these new programs, which are now rolling out elsewhere in the world, including India and China. Unlike your typical YC clone, Microsoft is not snagging an equity stake nor providing funding for the startups it hosts. But it also doesn't plan to run out of cash for its programs, either. (See Mike's deep dive into the Israel-based incubator here).This Friday, the Chinese accelerator will announce its inaugural class of startups, a unique group because of Microsoft's focus on cloud computing businesses which already have products and end users. read more..
Preliminary Injunction-Samsung Galaxy Nexus-Social Networking
DETROIT/SAN FRANCISO (Reuters) - General Motors Co and Facebook Inc are discussing the return of the U.S. automaker as a paid advertiser almost two months after GM said it would stop running ads on the social networking website, sources close to the situation said on Tuesday. Although the two companies remain far from reaching an agreement, Facebook executives have assiduously courted the world's largest carmaker. One source said Facebook was not pushing for GM's immediate return, but offered to provide data showing the effectiveness of the website's paid ads. ... read more..
US court refuses to stay injunction on Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone
A court in California denied Samsung on Tuesday a stay on a preliminary injunction against sales in the U.S. of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone running Android. The ruling follows a similar decision over the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. read more..
Unix Operating System-Android Apps-Data Center-Ibm Servers-Apple
BlueStacks is teaming up with a number of developers to bring Android Apps to the Mac, so you can have the best of both worlds. Or something. read more..
Help wanted: Apple using Oracle, IBM servers in data center
Apple is running servers from IBM and Oracle with flavors of the Unix operating system at its Malden, North Carolina, data center, according to a job entry posted on the company's website. read more..
Catherine Deneuve-Arc De Triomphe-Place Vendôme-Louis Vuitton-Kirsten Dunst
Louis Vuitton unveiled its new haute joaillerie boutique on Place Vendôme yesterday evening, giving passing tourists yet more reasons to raise their cameras. Catherine Deneuve and Kirsten Dunst were among the famous faces that stopped by for a look at Peter Marino's interiors, which include a dangling ceiling installation by artist Teresita Fernandez. Located mere footsteps from the original Louis Vuitton store on Rue des Capucines, the jewelry shop (the brand's first such devoted retail space) goes nicely with designer Lorenz Bäumer’s third collection, which is inspired by architectural landmarks the house's founder would have encountered strolling from the Arc de Triomphe to Place Vendôme.
The walk expected of guests on this night was considerably shorter: from the store a door over to the Ritz, where coupes of Ruinart rosé sat piled on a table in the garden. Deneuve received admirers in a corner, while nearer the center of things, the Traina sisters stood chatting with Caroline Sieber. The highlight of this particular trio's Couture week? "Dior," they said in unison.
After dinner in the columned pool room, pianist Jamie Cullum took requests. His spirited playing couldn't keep Anna Dello Russo from departing early, leaving her croquant au chocolat untouched. Sofia Coppola was in no hurry, though; later on, she could be found back in the garden, catching up with Dunst. The director has a film to edit in New York and was eager to have one last evening at the Ritz before it shutters for renovations later this month, she told Style.com. But as the folks at Louis Vuitton will tell you, as a bunch of doors close on Place Vendôme, another opens.
—Darrell Hartman read more..
Saturday, 7 July 2012
The Lost Interview-Unedited Interview-Landmark Theaters-Steve Jobs-Itunes
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview hit Landmark theaters last year and made a second run again in May of this year. Now, the documentary is available on iTunes. The 1:12 film captured a 1995 interview of Jobs conducted by tech journalist Robert X. Cringely. During this time, Jobs was in between his positions at Apple and serving as the CEO of NeXT. Apple fans can rent the original and unedited interview for US$3.99.Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview ready for rent from iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Friday, 6 July 2012
Macbook Pro-Modbook
Who remembers the Modbook? We looked at an early iteration back in 2008, and today the company has introduced the Modbook Pro. It is a tablet, but the Modbook Pro does not run iOS. It's essentially the hardware of a 13" MacBook Pro inside a tablet case with a touch screen, running OS X. The company notes that the screen uses a Wacom digitizer for "512 levels of pen pressure sensitivity," which it claims is more than any other tablet. As for the screen itself (1280 x 800 pixel resolution), the Modbook says it's "etched" for a paper-like feel. So what's inside this beast? You'll find a 2.5GHz dual core Intel i5 processor ( 2.9GHz dual core i7), up to 16GB of RAM, a 2.5-inch SATA drive (up to 1TB HDD or up to 960GB SSD), DVD burner, an Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On the outside you'll find a Gigabit Ethernet port, one FireWire 800 port, one USB 3.0 port, one Thunderbolt port, one SDXC card slot and one audio line in/out. The device ships with a digitizer pen, which can be tucked away inside a magnetic "pen garage" when not in use. The company hopes to ship the Modbook Pro in "fall of 2012," and has promised sales info within the next few weeks.Modbook introduces the Modbook Pro originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..