So I have absolutely zero experience with recording setups but I'm very interested in getting one to record some PM. I have a Wii, a CRT, and a laptop that I'm pretty darn sure can handle the process. I'm looking at this recording device:
http://www.amazon.com/Avid-Technology-Dazzle-Recorder-V14-0/dp/B0063B242M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385066267&sr=8-1&keywords=pinnacle dazzle which comes with a few other things I'm not sure if I need or not. Is this a good buy, and do I want the "frequently bought together" items?
People have said that Dazzle is a good cheap model, but there's better higher end stuff, etc... but for standard definition stuff, I still don't quite see how that would be true. The dazzle is cheap, portable, and I've gotten great results, plus it has S-video input.
That recorder is a good deal. You really just want capture card, but the software may be useful if you have nothing else, and you don't want to pay more than $50 for it.
You don't really need the other recommended stuff, unless you want to split the audio properly. If you don't mind just recording and listening to a mono signal, then forget it, otherwise, if you want to properly split the audio, then I'll get to that in a second.
Let me just quickly describe what you're looking for, for a moment:
The Wii sends out one video, and two audio signals. You need to find a way that the video signal gets to your TV and your capture card, most importantly. And second, you probably want at least some of the audio to go somewhere, either one of signals in both directions, or both signals in both directions.
Setups
For the video, the easiest and best way on a Wii is to just get a Wii S-video cable somewhere (
example). Plug the yellow end into your TV, and the black end (s-video) into your capture card. Video=done, and you get the best quality you can for what you have.
For the audio, you have a couple options. The easiest is to just put the red end into your tv and the white end into your capture capture. It's not stereo, but you get audio, and sound quality isn't highly important in smash anyway. Or, if your tv supports it, you can plug both audio cables into your tv's IN, and use another cable on the audio OUT and hook that to your capture card (use both red+white ends). Pretty much any cable that looks like
this will do (but you'd only use two of the cable ends). Other configurations exist, but they either lose video or audio quality due to non-powered splitting (using splitter cables), or you need to have access to the right kind (they usually are) of VCR (which fixes the splitting problem by using its IN and OUTs, and isn't bad at all, but you still need two pairs of the cable I just mentioned, one pair to take the audio to your tv, one pair to take it to your capture card).
So... that takes care of your setup.
For capturing, there's only one thing you really need to do, and that is make sure your video is deinterlaced. Otherwise, as long as the end result is good quality, then the steps leading up to that are arguable. (Just check your video editing or capture program settings, somewhere, look for deinterlace. You don't have to do it at the beginning, you can always do it later.)
Take a look at the pictures
here (you can ignore the text) and just see the difference between not deinterlacing, deinterlacing using a "blend" or "bob" function, and then deinterlacing using a better algorithm (Yadif, ELA, edge-directed, cubic, linear, or just "smart"). Interlacing (the 'comb' line look you might see sometimes, happens with any horizontal movement) is going to happen because of the video signal you're capturing, but it's no big deal though, when you properly deal with it. You can even turn your video into 60fps video that way. But you can figure that out later. Just don't use splitter cables without having a 'powered' splitter (the back of the tv, the back of a vcr), and make sure you deinterlace (and hopefully not with "blend").
One last tip: Sometimes audio/video desynchs over time, it's just a common problem. I'd suggest only recording maybe 10 matches or less at a time, and then capturing a new file. I usually do 3-7, plus it makes for good chunks to go through later.