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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.
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.
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.
Question: how do you go about displaying real time PlayStation 3 gameplay on a screen the size of a wall? That’s the intriguing question posed by my new friends at Belgium big-screen specialists Brightboard. The obvious answer would be to use projection, but in daylight conditions, obviously this would be a complete waste of time.
Brightboard specialise in the use of LED screens - similar to the kind of displays used in football pitch ad hoardings, and also for displaying advertising in city centres. Such screens are absolutely enormous and require dedicated PCs to control the image. That being the case, direct connection from console to screen is not the solution - a capture card, interfaced with the LED screen’s controller is. Enter Digital Foundry TrueHD Express.
This was a great case to work on. Brightboard sent me a copy of their controller software and with just a couple of registry tweaks to the TrueHD driver I was able to get realtime PS3 gameplay working with no problem whatsoever. However, without an actual screen to work with, positive results could not be guaranteed, so it was with some trepidation that the TrueHD Express card was sent to Belgium…
Success! Click on the pics for some idea of just how massive that LED screen actually is. Multiple screens can be daisy-chained together for an even more colossal image.
This blog is based on technical and gaming issues based on video captures acquired using proprietary Digital Foundry technology.
Hardware Details
Digital Foundry hardware is created by games people, for games people. Our TrueHD solution is the only system available capable of acquiring video at all resolutions up to 1080p at 60 frames per second, while our portable capture solutions are perfect for games media professionals on the move. What makes Digital Foundry different? Our hardware is made exclusively for games, not cameras, meaning plug and play direct connection along with full resolution and frame rate support.
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