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Video capture of Spectrum games?

udgoverloadudgoverload
edited January 2007 in Games
I wasn't sure where to post this, but what are the options if you want to capture a video of a Spectrum game running?

Is it possible to do it from an emulator?

Can it be done from the hardware itself somehow?
Post edited by udgoverload on

Comments

  • guesserguesser
    edited January 2007
    this can certainly be don from (most I think) emulators

    In spin for example go to Recording -> Video -> configure output

    obviously this could be done from real hardware too, just connect the arial lead up to the input of your video/DVD recorder. Or if you have a TV card in your PC to that, but why you'd want to do it from the real hardware I don't know, you'll introduce lots of interference etc that way
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • DunnyDunny
    edited January 2007
    A video of me completing Sabre Wulf in ZXSpin:

    http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.dunn4/SabreWulf.gif

    And a slightly larger one of my finishing Cybernoid:

    http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.dunn4/Cyber2.gif

    Beware that you might run out of memory displaying these - most browsers load the entire GIF into memory instead of streaming them.

    D.
  • beanzbeanz
    edited January 2007
    Do it old school and record it on a VCR!
  • chop983chop983
    edited January 2007
    Are you aware of the RZX Archive of spectrum video recordings
  • udgoverloadudgoverload
    edited January 2007
    Thanks for the replies, I think I'll go down the emulator route.
    chop983 wrote:
    Are you aware of the RZX Archive of spectrum video recordings

    Yes thanks, I wanted to do my own though. :)
  • DarenDaren
    edited January 2007
    Click here for many walkthrough videos of speccy games.

    The way I did them was to record an uncompressed avi in Spectaculator when playing the RZX back.

    Then I used Windows Media Encoder to compress the files down to a more manageable file size (CD quality audio/VHS quality video)
  • pepakpepak
    edited January 2007
    I wonder: Why can't RZX Archive accept walkthrougs for "denied" games? Correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought RZX only contains timings and keypresses and stuff like that, never any actual code or graphics or anything from the actual games.

    Why I am asking this: One, I am quite curious about the reasons. Second, I would rather like to see a walkthrough for Underwurlde, Knight Lore and Sabre Wulf, and Google Video isn't really feasible for me as it depends on Flash.
  • DarenDaren
    edited January 2007
    pepak wrote:
    I wonder: Why can't RZX Archive accept walkthrougs for "denied" games? Correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought RZX only contains timings and keypresses and stuff like that, never any actual code or graphics or anything from the actual games.

    Most RZX's have embedded snapshots in them. When playing back a RZX file in an emulator, you can stop the playback, to leave you with a snapshot of the game to play as you please.
  • pepakpepak
    edited January 2007
    That's interesting, I didn't know that. I can see why this would prevent "denied" RZXs.
  • udgoverloadudgoverload
    edited January 2007
    Well this is funny: if I compress videos of Spectrum games for use on Youtube etc the compression seems to have real problems with purple but no trouble whatsoever with white. If a game has a purple background the image is very distorted, but if it has a white background it's crystal clear.

    For example I was videoing Head Over Heels, and the white rooms looked absolutely perfect, just like on the emulator, but the purple rooms looked like they'd been covered in mud. Other colours have varying degrees of distortion.

    Anyone got an explanation?
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited January 2007
    what compression, using what compressor?
    tried a different type?
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • udgoverloadudgoverload
    edited January 2007
    mel the bell wrote:
    what compression, using what compressor?
    tried a different type?

    Umm... I'm not sure, I used Windows Moviemaker to make the compressed file. It's not exactly big on letting you know all the details.
  • guesserguesser
    edited January 2007
    udgoverload wrote:
    Umm... I'm not sure, I used Windows Moviemaker to make the compressed file. It's not exactly big on letting you know all the details.

    oh deary me
    *makes sucky noises through teeth* ;-)

    In my humblw opinion Windows Movie maker is a steaming heap of you know what
    I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, try mediacoder or virtualdub (I think that can save MPEGs now)
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • CUCHULAINNCUCHULAINN
    edited January 2007
    Dunny wrote:
    And a slightly larger one of my finishing Cybernoid:

    http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.dunn4/Cyber2.gif

    D.

    Jeeze! This game looks cool. I've never heard of Cybernoid before. Gonna download it now.
  • udgoverloadudgoverload
    edited January 2007
    guesser wrote:
    oh deary me
    *makes sucky noises through teeth* ;-)

    In my humblw opinion Windows Movie maker is a steaming heap of you know what
    I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, try mediacoder or virtualdub (I think that can save MPEGs now)

    Aha, mediacoder looks interesting, I'll give that a go. Thanks.

    The amusing thing on Moviemaker is that I managed to get the quality solved, but now it won't let me convert it into a file that's 320 x 240.
  • AndyCAndyC
    edited January 2007
    guesser wrote:
    In my humblw opinion Windows Movie maker is a steaming heap of you know what

    A little harsh. Movie maker is after all intended for people who don't know much about video editing. Coupled with Windows Media Encoder (which lets you create custom output profiles) it's actually a pretty neat little tool.
  • rich_chandlerrich_chandler
    edited January 2007
    CUCHULAINN wrote:
    I've never heard of Cybernoid before.
    *Steps back in amazement* :-o
    I wanna tell you a story 'bout a woman I know...
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited January 2007
    AndyC wrote:
    A little harsh. Movie maker is after all intended for people who don't know much about video editing. Coupled with Windows Media Encoder (which lets you create custom output profiles) it's actually a pretty neat little tool.
    yeah but like everything with windows it does everything.................not very well, same with wmp

    do what i do download some video editing/converting tools and practise :)

    i use tmpgenc mostly
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • NickHNickH
    edited January 2007
    What I use to capture computer game output:

    * Spectrum stuff: RealSpec and SPIN - usually RealSpec because of historical reasons and I haven't looked at SPIN AVI output for a while now.

    * SAM stuff (there will be some) - a hacked version of SimCoupe that dumps a frame every 1/25th of a second, then I join up the frames to form an AVI using Transcode. Of course, no sound is recorded.

    * Arcade stuff - similar to for SAM stuff, but with a hacked version of MAME instead. Again, no sound.

    * ZX80/81 stuff - not sure yet. Will probably hit on that problem in 2008 sometime. There are a few options already, but we'll see. If the worst comes to the worst, I can run run ZX81 ports on a Speccy emulator and figure out something for the ZX80, or simulating the ZX80 as there was one (1) game for it - Space Invaders - that wouldn't be difficult to port elsewhere. So long as I get the character set correct, it should be good enough.

    Once I have uncompressed AVIs, I edit using VirtualDub in Windows (still haven't found a graphical Linux video editor that actually works on my machine and reads my uncompressed, large (>2GB) AVIs). The conversion to MPEG1 is done by TMPGEnc running under WINE in Linux.
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