PAL PS2 footage lagging with the HD60X (but fine everywhere else)

[sempiternal]

Hi everyone!

So I've been meaning to create a gaming channel, so I bought myself an Elgato capture card (the HD60x to be precise) to record some of my consoles, including a PAL PS2 FAT (it seemed like fun to circulate some PAL footage online).

But this is where I ran into problems. See, the gameplay records, but the footage is choppy! Now I've tried recording PC gameplay with it and it went just fine, but the moment I tried it on my PS2, it was laggy!

First off, I tried ratchet going commando (50hz interlaced - 480i or 576i I dunno). I saw that the footage was quite slow and stuttery, so I moved over to Jak 2 (60hz, 480p progressive scan)

And even Jak 2 progressive was stuttering (not nearly as much, but still) as opposed to leaving it interlaced. Heck, even without changing to progressive, whilst switching to 60hz, there wasn't any noticeable improvement on the footage (unlike the somewhat tolerable improvement of progressive scan)

Any ideas?

PS: I tried out all the obs settings I could think of. But none of them made any noticeable difference (not even bumping down on the quality).

I want you to keep in mind that: no, there was no noticeable lag or delay in the gameplay itself, and yes, I've played with the lowest latency possible.

My setup is:

PAL PS2 FAT
PS2 to HDMI (component to HDMI stick)
2 HDMI cables
ViewSonic XG2405
Acer nitro 5 (Ryzen CPU, RTX 3060)

 

[sempiternal]

.

 

[sempiternal]

I got it!
All you have to do is get a composite to HDMI cable so that you output the 480i resolution game with. Apparently my capture card is only compatible with this resolution if you output the signal with some type of RCA connection or av cable, component will just not do. If you want to record 480p though (progressive scan), then by all means go for it, that's when you should actually record with your component cables.
Also, if your footage looks stuttery on your 144hz monitor, fret not! It's likely due to your monitor's refresh rate that's causing the terrible playback (keep in mind that setting it to 60hz doesn't work, probably because of some kind of frame pacing issue). I just so happened to have a laptop with native 60hz refresh-rate and the footage looked absolutely gorgeous, no stuttering whatsoever.

I don't know if updating VLC or whatever might also help you as well.

I want you to keep in mind that, even though you're playback footage on your monitor might occasionally become choppy, that's just the "buffering" option on your capture card making trade-offs.
Set it to "auto-detect" and the capture card will hold back on the playback fidelity whenever necessary in order to maintain a stable recording. I don't think the other options work as well from my play test, but yet again I haven't tested it enough, "auto-detect" works perfectly for me.

Hope this helps!

PS: You can still record 480i with component, it's just that you're footage is gonna be jumpy, as if every other frame is skipped (but smooth otherwise). I've used a a cheap "PS2 to HDMI" component to HDMI converter, so I don't know if your mileage will vary, but I don't think so. I mean this device works flawlessly with only downside being that the 4:3 display is stretched to 16:9.

Post automatically merged: May 26, 2024

I got it!
All you have to do is get a composite to HDMI cable so that you output the 480i resolution game with. Apparently my capture card is only compatible with this resolution if you output the signal with some type of RCA connection or av cable, component will just not do. If you want to record 480p though (progressive scan), then by all means go for it, that's when you should actually record with your component cables.
Also, if your footage looks stuttery on your 144hz monitor, fret not! It's likely due to your monitor's refresh rate that's causing the terrible playback (keep in mind that setting it to 60hz doesn't work, probably because of some kind of frame pacing issue). I just so happened to have a laptop with native 60hz refresh-rate and the footage looked absolutely gorgeous, no stuttering whatsoever.

I don't know if updating VLC or whatever might also help you as well.

I want you to keep in mind that, even though you're playback footage on your monitor might occasionally become choppy, that's just the "buffering" option on your capture card making trade-offs.
Set it to "auto-detect" and the capture card will hold back on the playback fidelity whenever necessary in order to maintain a stable recording. I don't think the other options work as well from my play test, but yet again I haven't tested it enough, "auto-detect" works perfectly for me.

Hope this helps!

PS: You can still record 480i with component, it's just that you're footage is gonna be jumpy, as if every other frame is skipped (but smooth otherwise). I've used a a cheap "PS2 to HDMI" component to HDMI converter, so I don't know if your mileage will vary, but I don't think so. I mean this device works flawlessly with only downside being that the 4:3 display is stretched to 16:9.