New Hardware Announcement: ExpressCard-HD 480p/720p Capture for Laptops

December 1st, 2009

Digital Foundry is pleased to reveal its latest hardware, allowing for full HD capture on the go. ExpressCard-HD is an upgrade designed for video games capture in any environment, featuring support for analogue component at 480p and 720p resolutions, with 1080i to follow.
Simply plug in the ExpressCard34 upgrade into your notebook, attach the analogue component break-out box, and you’re instantly capturing superb quality video. No external boxes required are required to house the capture card: your laptop is instantly turned into a battery-powered pro-quality HD recorder.
While an HDMI capture solution may have been initially the more obvious choice, the selection of analogue component allows for the widest possible compatibility with all mainstream gaming devices. ExpressCard-HD supports 720×480 and 1280×720 resolutions, allowing for hassle-free connection to Nintendo Wii and Sony PSP in addition to all makes and model of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
To give an indication of quality at HD resolutions, here are two shots taken from Assassin’s Creed 2 running on the Xbox 360. Click on each thumbnail for the full-size shot.

Full 720p capture at 60 frames per second is possible with Digital Foundry ExpressCard-HD, though our customary support for multiple frame-rates is also included. If the game runs at 30, why capture at 60?

ExpressCard-HD is equally at home with 480p component sources, capturing at 720×480 at up to 60 frames per second. In these shots, our Xbox 360 is running in normal 4:3 mode. It’s important to note that analogue component always runs at 4:3. When playing a widescreen game, the screen simply stretches the image outwards. ExpressCard-HD does not do this - you’ll need to resize the image itself elsewhere in your workflow.

As you can see, ExpressCard-HD’s 480p support works just fine, meaning no issues capturing Wii or PSP. Set the HD consoles to run at 480p, and you can also capture using very weak CPUs. Indeed, even an ExpressCard-equipped netbook should be viable here. Again, click on the thumbnails for full-size shots.

ExpressCard-HD produces phenomenal results based on the same kind of tools as used in our TrueHD and HDScope products. There’s full support for the CineForm codec, AMV Codec and UT Codec Suite. We would recommend CineForm as the most space-efficient compressor - something that’s crucial when recording onto a bandwidth-limited device such as a laptop hard disk drive.
System specs? For 720p60 capture, we recommend a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo equipped laptop running 32-bit Windows XP, with at least 2GB of RAM. A discrete graphics card is also recommended; even something as lowly as an NVIDIA 8400GS will do the trick. Support for Intel integrated graphics is being tested. However, this will require a stronger CPU as the processor needs to emulate the hardware overlay provided for “free” by a dedicated graphics chip. Support for 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 may follow.
The on-screen preview window supplied by ExpressCard-HD is of crucial importance as the hardware itself offers no video passthrough option. There is simply no room on the board. However, there is a full-screen option on the capture tool itself. This, combined with the video output typically found on all laptops, serves to give you much the same effect as a dedicated passthrough. Notebooks equipped with HDMI video outputs are particularly well set-up for this task, as audio is integrated into the output.
For a wider selection of sample shots, please click here. ExpressCard-HD is expected to be ready very early in 2010. Please contact info@digitalfoundry.org for more details.

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Modern Warfare 2 Trailer Created with TrueHD Hardware

August 10th, 2009

Earlier in the year, we were contacted by Infinity Ward - the creators of the Call of Duty franchise - with a view to outfitting their new media suite with TrueHD hardware. As you might expect, the team had a number of technical requirements that involved some tweaks to our tools, not least of which was beta support for capture of AC3 and DTS surround sound audio.
Now, with the marketing campaign for the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in full effect, it’s great to see our hardware being deployed in creating promotional material for what many believe will be this year’s top-selling video game. Here is the first of the trailers engineered by Infinity Ward in-house using TrueHD hardware.

Infinity Ward is looking to create the most pristine assets available, and that being the case, they opted to use the unique lossless 24-bit RGB capture modes used by TrueHD, which captures and encodes gameplay footage at up to 1080p at 60fps. In this case, their game outputs 720p, so there was no need to use the top-end.
After this, the footage was taken into Adobe Premiere Pro where it was edited into the presentation above. Editing can be carried out in real-time, and again, using the lossless codecs supported by TrueHD, absolutely ZERO video quality is lost no matter how many times the footage is processed and exported.
While the asset has so far only been deployed in streaming web applications at 30fps, having the pristine lossless video available allows it to be used for presentation and event scenarios where the quality is literally idential to the game running the action itself.
In short, from start to finish, it’s a video that could only have been completed to this most highest of standards by using Digital Foundry hardware.

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New: V-Sync Screen Tear Clean-Up Tool

April 23rd, 2009

We talked about this in the Uncharted ‘Coming Soon’ piece, but it’s here, it’s working and it looks excellent. The Digital Foundry frame analyser allows us to pinpoint every frame in a 60Hz output that is not v-locked, and now that same tool has been expanded to take that analysis and use it to weed out and clean-up all the torn frames.
So here’s an example of the tool in action - an original capture from Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, followed up by the cleaned-up, enforced v-lock version.

Slowed down to 1/6th speed, this video shows a classic ‘before and after’. The result is pretty dramatic - Uncharted looks better than it does running on your PS3. Go here to see this in streaming HD, or download this VC-1 WMV file for a higher quality analysis.

So over and above showing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune in the very best possible light, what else is this tool good for? Well, Microsoft’s conditions for Xbox Live Marketplace video include a stringent guideline that all footage must be v-locked. Up until now, the only way to do this was by hand, manually copying and pasting frames, or elements of frames. But now, publishers, developers and video studios can simply supply us with their clips and we can do the work for them - quickly and easily.

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New Hardware Announcement: Mobile Capture with Digital Foundry HDScope

March 22nd, 2009

Digital Foundry is pleased to announce its new entry-level unit, designed for ultra-mobile, quality-focused high definition capture. Primarily aimed at video games media outlets, HDScope is a portable computer with an integrated 7″ widescreen touchscreen display, measuring just 30.5 x 20 x 18.5cm and weighing around 5kg. Simply plug into the mains, connect to any component or unencrypted HDMI source and you’re instantly recording superb quality video.
HDScope works best with 720p, but also supports 480i/576i and 1080i. Video and audio passthrough allows you to use HDScope as an intermediate ‘bridge’. Connect your source to the unit, and the unit to your HD display and you have full realtime gameplay on the main screen while HDScope’s touchscreen is used for preview and recording functionality.
Digital Foundry’s customary support for CineForm HD is included, along with two lossless codecs - the freeware UT Codec Pack and the shareware AMV Codec.  AMV also includes multiple lossy options; not quite in CineForm’s league for ultra-precision capture, but still remarkable. All recorded clips can be played back in realtime on HDScope’s integrated touchscreen.

Digital Foundry HDScope, capturing Dead or Alive 4 on Xbox 360. All recording functionality can be carried out via 7″ LCD touchscreen, with AV passthrough options allowing you to retain gameplay on the big screen. Keyboard, mouse and monitor can also be attached, transforming HDScope into a powerful small form factor PC.

HDScope’s performance on 720p video is akin to TrueHD in its YPrPb 4:2:2 mode. The new hardware lacks signature Digital Foundry 24-bit RGB support, as this is an entry level product with a corresponding feature set, but the quality level is still exemplary. Here’s a quartet of Dead of Alive 4 shots. DOA’s lack of anti-aliasing, it’s mind-melting strobing colour schemes and ultra-fast v-locked 60fps gameplay make it a nightmare to compress - ideal testing material. Click on the thumbnails for full 720p screenshots taken directly from the captured video.

The top shots show CineForm compression at work, revealing that even in this ultra-stress test, it’s still the best quality vs filesize codec in town. The shots at the bottom are extracted from lossless captures acquired by the HDScope in the same session.

Some random HDScope facts: universal power supply means it’ll work anywhere worldwide… CineForm compression means optimum quality and at least 20 hours of 720p60 video at ultra-precision quality on HDScope’s 1TB hard disk… includes typical Digital Foundry variable frame rate selection - why capture a 30fps game at 60fps and waste valuable hard disk space?… use HD Fury 2 to capture from any HDCP encrypted source…  inexpensive adaptor available to capture Wii 480p… carry case also available!

Should HDScope prove to be popular, expect a TrueHD 1080p capable unit to be introduced.

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New Hardware Announcement: 1080p Notebook Capture with TrueHD Mobile

December 17th, 2008

Take a custom-built notebook, an ExpressCard to PCI Express interface and the Digital Foundry TrueHD Express capture card and this is what you have - 1080p video acquisition in a complete package that weighs just 3.2kg. They say that a picture’s better than a thousand words, so let’s up the ante a touch with a hastily put-together, but quite illuminating video.

A welcome return to our old friend Ridge Racer 7, capturing directly into the CineForm codec at 1080p via TrueHD Mobile. To give some sense of scale, that’s a 13.3″ sub-notebook.

No hardware has been altered here. You can remove the TrueHD Express card from the enclosure, and run it in your PC for all the benefits outlined here. But card performance on the notebook is reduced from PCIe x4 bandwidth down to PCIe x1. In real terms, that’s 720p60 and 1080p30 at 8-bit YUY2 (courtesy of CineForm compression) and 720p30 and 1080p15 at 24-bit RGB, via the lossless codec. Bearing in mind speed limitations on notebook hard disks, you can’t really ask for much more. While the notebook can run from batteries, the enclosure itself requires mains power, that’s pretty much the only major limitation.
Otherwise, as it’s the same hardware, there’s support for component, VGA, DVI and HDMI and crucially, the quality of the assets between desktop TrueHD and the mobile iteration remains identical.

A selection of Ridge Racer 7 1080p screenshots taken directly from the TrueHD Mobile captures encoded in the CineForm codec. Quality level is identical to the standard-setting desktop version. Click on the thumbnails for the full-size shots.

So… obvious question out of the way first. Why custom-build the laptop? The short answer is that my Dell XPS M1330, using the same core parts, didn’t work properly. I’d expect the same to be true of many different notebooks, depending on the BIOS. Right now I’d also rule out using Vista for the OS too. It drains too much power, particularly on the graphics card. Our realtime scalable preview window needs all the juice it can get there.
Things might (probably) change with the new Centrino 2 based notebooks - higher FSB, faster CPUs, more memory bandwidth. You’re looking at a Core 2 system of 2.6GHz or better, integrated GPU, and a nice, fast SATA notebook drive to allow the hardware to truly flourish.

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