luckybob wrote:

Actually, VGA IS the same as component. I've done it in the past. Only the resolutions and cable type change. 1080 is good up to 1920x1080. So for those of us with retro computers, we can set the resolution up to 1200x1024 and still have a little wiggle room. And i think most of us would stop at 1024x780.

If you're talking about component video in the common sense of the word ( YPbPr as used in DVD/consoles and HD equipment and common in the USA) then that is not true.

VGA, along with the SCART interconnect standard has a red, green, blue encoded colour space along with a seperate sync signal.

Component, although it uses cables that are coloured red, green and blue does not share the same colour space - this is a common misconception. The three primary colours and the frame synchronisation source are encoded into 3 lines - a luma channel which transmits brightness (black to white) and two chroma channels which transmit colour differences (but not the actual colour data itself, thus saving bandwidth). The original image is then derived from those channels by the display device.

Whereas if you were to only attach one of any of the VGA/RGB signals and the sync line to a display you would get a image in a single colour, you would not with a component signal.

RGB is not often used in HD displays because the bandwidth requirements are huge (the whole image data is transmitted once for each colour). However, the image quality versus component at any resolution is technically superior as the image data is encoded and transmitted as stored.

Therefore you cannot directly connect a VGA signal to a component display - there must be some processing of the 3 colour channels and the sync signal to be merged into the format that component devices understand.

Ok here some screens from the application that came with the card:

This is the main screen, there is a preview, the lower right corner shows the detected signal and the fps left to it tell how fast the card is capable to grab this signal.

The capture menu allows to capture directly using a set video compression. Recording stops if the incoming signal changes the video mode. No audio compression is supported. The application supports multiple devices. The most important point here is the lowest configure menuitem.

Some tools, EDID a.s.o., important here are the options.

Sliders to get the Signal 100% correct synced to signal pixel = video pixel.

Since videostreams usually do not support video format changes within the same stream a fixed resolution can be set here that is reported to directshow capture programs. All other incoming resolutions are scaled automatically with the given algorithm. An image can be set, that is show if there is no signal detected. And there is an option to limit the framerate which can be helpful if directshow applications get confused.

There is a list of predefined VGA modes and

also custom modes can be defined.

even more advanced ...

Now a few Option Menus

Here the video codec and other settings for this application can be set.

Here the frequency of video mode detection can be set. I didn't noticed a frame rate drop due to this low setting yet.

All the capturing options are saved in the driver. So after optimizing with this app it can be closed and some directshow capture app can be used.
I use f.e. VirtualDub for capturing the videos.
Since it is DirectShow enabled, it can also be used with common apps as Skype, Livecall etc.

Why does the top picture look interlaced?

It's not. Wing Commander IV interactive movie looks this way.

Please delete

The drivers have heaps of options! Would take me a while to figure out what to use 🤣

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

leileilol wrote:

A 3dfx+PVR clip. Unfortunately compression got the better of me there, so i'll probably have to make some more footage with it upscaled to 1080 just to get around this stupid quality issue.

OMG I remember this game! It was my first online gaming experience 🤣

luckybob wrote:

Someone on the street, who knows nothing of the process, actually notice the difference or even care?

I think that's a valid point. However I also think anyone interested in these recordings wouldn't be "someone on the street" and would certainly value the quality.

I'm really busy at the moment, but once I have more time I will likely get one of these cards!

Can you record Commander Keen 4?
I'm curious about how the scrolling will look.

3dfx Voodoo3 and Keen 4 scrolling should be fine IIRC.

I should also mention Voodoo3's s-video out doesn't like 320x200 so this VGA stuff's the only method in that case. It also doesn't initialize until Windows is loaded so you miss the fun of the boot process being recorded.

Oh I see!

Geforce and ATI output all of that. I also have a VGA to S-Video converter box, but the quality is slightly worse compared to the S-Video out from the cards.

@elianda:

how did you connect the amiga to your pcie card? do you have a scandoubler on the amiga?

I don't think a scandoubler is needed, according to the specs the PCIe card syncs down to 15 KHz.

@leileilol: I can do a short vid of Keen4 scrolling. In preview it looked already ok.

@keropi: I just used an ancient CBM adapter that maps the pins to VGA. There is no scandoubler/flickerfixer involved.
I found an image of it here: http://koti.mbnet.fi/flux/saku/390682-01_inside.jpg
I get the 15.6 kHz signal out of the A500 OCS chipset.

I currently look also for the best solution to grab applications that change modes between
720x400 70 Hz and 640x480 60 Hz. As I can only set one fixed mode for directshow I can tune it to get one of both perfectly, but the other will be jerking due to missed or added frames.
Maybe it is better to try to grab different video files in the specific format each and just make a playlist.
Oh and I added a full framerate video of Extreme Pinball / Rock Fantasy.

ah yes, I forgot about those adapters... they are NEEDED to get a "vga" signal @ 15khz... else without the gal the output of the amiga is the same as rgb-scart.

New content:
I checked Commander Keen on the Voodoo3 and it does not show Super EGA correctly.
ftp://78.47.153.163/video/super_ega_on_voodoo3.mkv
(available as soon as upload is finished)
I didn't optimize output much on this video, I ran first Cosmos Cosmic Adventures to show that normal EGA looks correct, also note that there is no real softscrolling.
Then I ran Commander Keen 4 and scrolling is soft, but everything is red. I double checked with a normal monitor and it looks identical.
It is also with Keen1 and Keen4 this way. So something seems to be not right.

OK then after a long time I ran again my IBM PC 8580 (details here: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/ibmpc.html google translate works very well on this page)
I did some recording of the Pinball Fantasies Intro on this low end machine with a Resistor Grid D/A Converter at LPT1 playing.
ftp://78.47.153.163/video/pf_intro.avi
The noisy pixels when the screens are blended are real. This is a original VGA chipset displaying.
And also a bit Party on the Partyland table. Notice the higher resolution. While the intro video runs at 60 fps, the gameplay on the table is at 70 fps.
ftp://78.47.153.163/video/pf_partyland.mkv
Erm my skills are not so shining with the small handicap by playing pinball in virtual dubs video preview.

got one, too 😀

Nice, so I can have some comparison and get some advices on suitable settings and ways for recording.
Just to add one more: ftp://78.47.153.163/video/TT030/beams.avi
Beams Demo grabbed from a real Atari TT030 (not the Falcon 030 version)

I always get this keen red-tint with a voodoo3 - no matter in what pc it is running... I assume it is a voodoo3 problem

because of that I switch to riva128 cards for my pure-dos gaming needs and never looked back 😀

keropi wrote:

I always get this keen red-tint with a voodoo3 - no matter in what pc it is running... I assume it is a voodoo3 problem

Hmmm. I don't get the red tint on my Voodoo 3. 😕

[edit:]The mystery deepens: Keen4 shows up normal on my Voodoo3 with a CRT and a IBM L200p TFT, but is red on a Samsung SyncMaster 205BW TFT. All monitors connected to the same VGA splitter. 😕

5u3 wrote:

keropi wrote:

I always get this keen red-tint with a voodoo3 - no matter in what pc it is running... I assume it is a voodoo3 problem

Hmmm. I don't get the red tint on my Voodoo 3. 😕

Me neither!

I'd like to see VGA2PCI through a Voodoo2 😀 so we can finally have screenshots of it's infamous dac filter.

5u3 wrote:

keropi wrote:

I always get this keen red-tint with a voodoo3 - no matter in what pc it is running... I assume it is a voodoo3 problem

Hmmm. I don't get the red tint on my Voodoo 3. 😕

[edit:]The mystery deepens: Keen4 shows up normal on my Voodoo3 with a CRT and a IBM L200p TFT, but is red on a Samsung SyncMaster 205BW TFT. All monitors connected to the same VGA splitter. 😕

I tried also a 'true' vga cable with the missing pin, but this has no effect. There is also no real EDID uploaded to the VGA2PCIe, all bytes are set to FF.
Maybe I need some valid specific EDID info?
But I'am not sure if it's worth a deeper analysis since there are alternative graphics cards (or systems) available.

So what about the Voodoo2 stuff?
You mean the Framebuffer Screenshot vs. Signal Framegrab difference?