Changing equipment soon.

So, while my current equipment can get the job done, I have decided that I need to change it out for new equipment.

Currently, I use a SlingBox Pro HD and the SlingPlayer app along with two screen capture programs, SnapzProX and Screenflick, to record my videos for the reviews. And, while these work, the quality isn't always where I would like it to be. Specifically in the frame rate and color/brightness categories.

Because the recording programs are screen capture programs, their frame rates are not always steady. If something affects the processor in the background, the frame rate captured can slow down. If the recorded movie is fairly large, the frame rates can become lower to save hard drive space.

There's aslo the issue of hard drie space needed for the raw movie files. Screenflick has very nice quality, but its raw movie files are freaking huge. SnapzProX has slightly less quality, but a more steady framerate and the raw movie files are smaller than Screenflick's... but unlike Screenflick, I get no indication of how large the current raw file being recorded is. And when I am recording at 1280x720 for 720p video, well, the raw movie files are still quite large.

Then there's the issue of compressing the raw movies down into an editable but smaller format. Screenflick can do this faster than SnapzProX, but it still takes time. SnapzProX also automatically deletes the raw file once it has compressed the movie down to an h.264 format; Screenflick does not delete the raw movies automatically-- and even after deleting them manually from within the program, it does not free up the hard drive space until the program is quit out of.

The biggest issue, however, is working with the different movie formats. Even though they are both set to compress down to h.264, Final Cut Pro sees them as different file formats. This means rendering time if I have footage from both programs being used. Final Cut accepts the Screenflick movies into it without any video rendering, just audio. However, for the SnapzProX movies, it requires rendering of both the audio and the video. And, for some God forsaken reason, Final Cut wants to take an hour or so to render 30 or so seconds worth of SnapzProX footage.

I can't realistically deal with these issues and try to get reviews out in a timely manner, especially with my work schedule where I can potentially work 6 days a week right now. For example, my Mortal Kombat review took me all day Saturday and some of the Sunday when it was posted to edit because of these issues. That's far too long.

So, I have decided that in the next month or so, I will be changing my equipment out. I will be moving from the SlingBox to the Happauge HDPVR. However, the HDPVR doesn't come with native Mac software to record with. Therefore I will also either be getting EyeTV 3 as a software solution, or HDPVR Recorder, both of which are for the Mac and both of which support the Happauge HDPVR. In fact, the HDPVR Recorder software was written by an employee at Happauge specifically so Mac users could still use the device (I Suppose Happauge didn't license the software from him because they feel there isn't a Mac market for their PVR) . Videos I have seen using these software solutions seem to be of excellent quality.

And there's an added bonus to the HDPVR as well. It has built in hardware encoding for h.264, freeing up system resources.

Though, truth be told, the Happauge HDPVR isn't really a true PVR. It has no internal hard drive. Instead, it can only record while hooked into a PC or Mac through USB and it uses the computer's hard drive as the recording destination. But, it does then pull back the m2ts file it makes and converts it using its own hardware to a h.264 file that can then be edited. This saves system resources on the computer, tremendously. The m2ts file can then be deleted if it isn't going to be used.

But, this isn't cheap. The HDPVR is going to run me about $200, just by itself. The software is going to be either $30 for the HDPVR Recorder or $80 for EyeTV 3. I want to get a better microphone, as well. That will be at least another $100. So, I will have to wait a few paychecks to have enough set aside in order to purchase the new equipment and software I need, while still having enough money to pay my bills and such.

So, with that said, I am hoping to have everything up and running under the new setup by the beginning of July, at the latest. Maybe not the new mic, but at least the HDPVR and recording software. Hopefully, after that, the recording and editing of my video reviews will go faster.