How to Record (Capture) Video Games to your PC from Xbox, PS3

There are many ways to capture Your video game gameplay. I will show you all the ways I know with some videos about how to do it also.

The easiest is to way is to buy a  Dazzle video creator also called Dazzle Platinum, you don't just want to buy the dvd creator because it doen't have the sofware needed to edit your video. Some people get real complicated when setting this up but it is not that hard and doesn't have to be complicated.

All the Dazzle is doing is sending the signal to your pc, the software figures out what to do with it. Here is a video on how to set a Dazzle up to Record from your Xbox 360:

This one is for people that only have AV coming from the Xbox360:




This is for people that have an HDTV and component cables plus av cables coming from the Xbox 360



I do not have a PS3 and there are not any videos that Show how to do the HD setup, I looked at Playsation.com and for the AV the setup is the same as the xbox setup. For HD if your cable offers component and av then that would be the same also. ( if you make a good video for this let me know and I will post it here)

You could also use the Pinnacle Studio Ultimatefor the av setup so that you don't have to buy the splitters or any cable routing boxes.It also comes with some extra special effects that you probably won't use at first but can change your video dramaticly

I can't find any good videos on youtube about the setup for recording gameplay. I will tell you my settings and show you one of my videos so you can see what it looks like. I do a voice over because if you just record gameplay with sound a few videos get pulled from youtube do to copyright issues. I am not an expert on copyright but you can get more information here: http://www.copyright.gov/ 

I use the software that came with my pinnacle studio ultimate whaich is Studio 12 they have an updated version which is studio 14. Here are my settings:
Capture Source Pinnacle 710-usb (names vary according to type)
Audio Pinnacle 710-usb
TV Standard NTSC if you live in the us
Aspect Ratio 4:3
I do check the Capture preview box
Create new scene: I use the space bar but you can auto create if you like

Format section
Presets AVI Best
Compression DV
720* 480
Data rate I leave whatever way they have it
Audio doesn't matter I record over it

Project Preferences
only thing to make sure of here is that NTSC Standard is listed in the project format box

Video and audio Preferences

If you have a slow computer disable preview

Videos take up a lot of Space so I delete gameplay frequently and stuff that I want to save I put on an external hard drive. The external has a terabyte so I can store a lot of gameplay on it.
Here is one of my videos.

Pinnacle Studio Discounts




It is not widescreen because I don't like the way it looks in widescreen, the cables going to the compter are av, so it records in 680 no matter what settings you put, I can change the format to 720 but it wll stretch the screen and wont be true 720 anyways, you have to buy an hd capture card to record in true HD.

You can record on a mac also, just buy the mac setup.