Hello there,
After PMing ooPo and getting the all-clear from TPTB, I wonder if I can call upon the expertise of the forum community for a PSP project.
Basically, I work for a few video games magazines and producing PSP coverage is hampered by the inability to take screenshots via conventional means. The only way to do it is to use the official devkit - these are few and far between, and not many are being made available for media use.
So... what we're looking for is a coder to produce a PSP framegrabber. What we had in mind was a homebrew app that loads up from the memory stick, boots commercial UMD software only and remaps, say, the HOME button, to dump the video memory onto memory stick in the form of a .TIF or .BMP file.
Now, this is a project aimed for commercial use and that being the case we'd be more than happy to offer a fair fee for writing this tool.
Please PM me if you think you can help :)
PSP Screen Grabber: Help Required
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DigitalFoundry
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- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:35 am
Thank you for your helpful post :|Agoln wrote:If you wish to get screenshots, then ask the developers of the game to provide one for you.
All I'll say here is that personally I think it's lazy journalism just to use 'spoon-fed' materials. I also think it short-changes the readers to see the same shots in all the mags.
Often developer shots are taken using the game engine but aren't representative of the game. For example, how many racing games do you see covered where you only see replay shots? Or think about the first Metal Gear 2 trailer. Brilliant wasn't it? But with its dramatic camera angles, not *that* indicative of how the game experience actually was.
What if we're writing a review and want to use a specific screenshot to show a part of the game the developers aren't keen on you seeing? Do we ask the developer then?
What about if we want to do a tips guide for a specific PSP title? How would we illustrate progress through the game?
All we want to do is showcase the PSP more effectively in our mags :)
I find it a little hard to believe that you work for established video game magazines, or at least are part of the team that works with the technology, but you may very well be. Every system has at least 1 3rd party device that is made for capturing content digitally from game console. Normally these devices are in the range of thousands of dollars and are marketed to a small group of professionals, but the hardware is needed for any review staff that wants to capture material on demand. I know there is a PSP capture unit that either has come out, or will come out later this year (my memory doesn't serve me so I cannot recall the name of the company producing the hardware, but perhaps someone else on the forums will be able to come up with it).
This isn't ment to squash your thread, but fully supported capture hardware is the way to go. Some people have been successful with coming up with homebrew hardware units, and even software for capturing screenshots on current-gen hardware, but your best bet is asking whoever acquired your current capturing devices who is making a unit for the PSP.
This isn't ment to squash your thread, but fully supported capture hardware is the way to go. Some people have been successful with coming up with homebrew hardware units, and even software for capturing screenshots on current-gen hardware, but your best bet is asking whoever acquired your current capturing devices who is making a unit for the PSP.
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DigitalFoundry
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- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:35 am
At the moment, media are receiving no support from Sony in terms of taking our own shots, aside from assurances that dev kits will be sent out. Since those assurances have been coming since March, you'll excuse me for wanting to pursue another solution.
In terms of your assertion that every machine has a third party capturing solution, I'm not sure where you got that from. I've worked in the industry for 16 years and the only capture support we've ever had was the screen capture tool in the Xbox Neighborhood part of the SDK. Oh, and the "Wide Boy" self-contained box that enabled you to run Game Boy titles on a TV.
Nothing has ever been forthcoming from Sony and on PSX and PS2, we've had to come up with our own solutions. Personally I opted for the Matrox Meteor II MC - which has the best RGB capturing performance I've ever seen.
In terms of your PSP capture unit, I've certainly never heard anything about it and surely if it existed, Sony would be offering this to us rather than promises of devkits?
Feel free to PM me details of this unit. At the same time I'd be happy to tackle your disbelief about who I work for :|
In terms of your assertion that every machine has a third party capturing solution, I'm not sure where you got that from. I've worked in the industry for 16 years and the only capture support we've ever had was the screen capture tool in the Xbox Neighborhood part of the SDK. Oh, and the "Wide Boy" self-contained box that enabled you to run Game Boy titles on a TV.
Nothing has ever been forthcoming from Sony and on PSX and PS2, we've had to come up with our own solutions. Personally I opted for the Matrox Meteor II MC - which has the best RGB capturing performance I've ever seen.
In terms of your PSP capture unit, I've certainly never heard anything about it and surely if it existed, Sony would be offering this to us rather than promises of devkits?
Feel free to PM me details of this unit. At the same time I'd be happy to tackle your disbelief about who I work for :|
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DigitalFoundry
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:35 am
Depends on your definition of crystal-clear to be honest. The PMS SweetSpot is supposed to be the best consumer level RGB/Component capture device around that the moment, using the same Philips chipset as the much fancied Holograph 3D.
The Matrox Meteor II MC's performance annihilates the Sweetspot, and also allows a 480p progressive scan input. Got some lovely pics of Gran Turismo 4 using that :)
Taking shots from PS2 using anything other than component or RGB produces less than satisfactory results. I'd *never* use S-Video or composite sourced captures.
The Matrox Meteor II MC's performance annihilates the Sweetspot, and also allows a 480p progressive scan input. Got some lovely pics of Gran Turismo 4 using that :)
Taking shots from PS2 using anything other than component or RGB produces less than satisfactory results. I'd *never* use S-Video or composite sourced captures.
Someone should give this project a shot.
It would lead to making a homebrew GameGenie (I'm from the old days =P).
The first step is to create a thread that checks the buttons. If the home button causes problems, then some other buttons would need to be chosen for this program.
Then the next step would be to make a loader that runs games off the UMD.
Team WAB had released this as like version one or something.
So all that it would need is an added thread which does the above.
It would lead to making a homebrew GameGenie (I'm from the old days =P).
The first step is to create a thread that checks the buttons. If the home button causes problems, then some other buttons would need to be chosen for this program.
Then the next step would be to make a loader that runs games off the UMD.
Team WAB had released this as like version one or something.
So all that it would need is an added thread which does the above.
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DigitalFoundry
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- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:35 am
The WAB source has an ATTEMPTED screenshot taker. Thing is, it doesn't even create a BMP for some reason.
Here's the stripped down code I put together:
http://jamesseph.phpwebhosting.com/user ... screener.c
What's wierd is that it warns that sprintf() is being DECLARED but doesn't give an error when the function is being called. With other functions, it gives an error.
Here's the stripped down code I put together:
http://jamesseph.phpwebhosting.com/user ... screener.c
What's wierd is that it warns that sprintf() is being DECLARED but doesn't give an error when the function is being called. With other functions, it gives an error.