soviet conscript wrote:

VGA splitter (one going to monitor and one to converter)

It might work if it's a powered VGA splitter, but if it's just a cheap passive device then the picture quality will probably be much too poor, if it works at all.

I would suggest getting a video card with composite out (they're cheap enough, and some of them can be configured to output composite and VGA simultaneously even at bootup), but while that would be no problem with a Pentium or better, it might be hard to find one that works with a 386.

Or you can just use a composite capture device that actually lets you view what it's capturing while it is being captured. Then you wouldn't need to split the signal at all.

Also, make sure your VGA-to-composite device is an actual box and not a passive cable, as the latter is only meant for specialized applications. See for instance https://davidbix.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/vga … eyre-eveywhere/ .

every VGA to component converter device I see only goes down to say VGA at 640x480 resolution input that it can handle. not sure what most DOS games play in.

On a 386 you probably wouldn't be getting much better than 640x480. In fact, 640x480 is standard VGA and anything higher than that is SVGA.

I know the bulk of DOS footage on the net seems to be from DOSbox and not actual hardware so how does most of the real hardware footage get captured?

There are cards that can capture VGA directly. They tend to be kind of expensive, though. There have been threads about them here in the past.

There is an existing thread on this info. Search for "VGA capture".

In short, there are no cheap solutions that work well 😀

philscomputerlab wrote:

There is an existing thread on this info. Search for "VGA capture".

In short, there are no cheap solutions that work well 😀

you don't happen to have a YouTube video on setting up VGA capture for DOS games on real hardware do you?

soviet conscript wrote:

philscomputerlab wrote:

There is an existing thread on this info. Search for "VGA capture".

In short, there are no cheap solutions that work well 😀

you don't happen to have a YouTube video on setting up VGA capture for DOS games on real hardware do you?

That's a great idea, might add it to the list 😀

What I use is a VGA to HDMI scaler. I do have a video on that one though. It's available from StarTech. Not cheap, but well worth the investment:

StarTech VGA2HDMIPRO VGA to HDMI Scaler

Note, that if your capture device and be set to capture in limited colour space (16-235), the conversion I'm showing in AVIDemux is not necessary. I've got the Elgato HD 60, and it has a setting for this. I'm assuming your card has this also.

If you want it cheap, you can use something like this: http://www.konigelectronic.com/nl_nl/785411
It converts your VGA to s-video and component, can do both NTSC and PAL, and it also has a pass-through, so it also avoids the need for a splitter.
I used it, together with a Terratec Grabby USB capture device to capture thes demos from my 486:
https://youtu.be/Qhym3zCa7Os
https://youtu.be/MYdRj-lHyyo

Not perfect perhaps, but considering the whole hardware cost less than 100 euros new, I guess it's a good 'poor mans' solution 😀
I used s-video by the way, since both the Telview and the Grabby supported that, and it should theoretically be slightly better quality than composite.

nice, I'm not to worried about perfect quality, I just want a cheap solution that beats pointing a camera at a monitor. Those video's you liked to actually look better then I expected something like that to turn out. at the same time I want to be able to play the game in full quality via vga on my CRT monitor hence why I thought of a splitter.my Elgato handles component so if I can get a cheap VGA to component box it may look a little better.

soviet conscript wrote:

at the same time I want to be able to play the game in full quality via vga on my CRT monitor hence why I thought of a splitter.my Elgato handles component so if I can get a cheap VGA to component box it may look a little better.

Read closer and look at the pictures 😀
The Koenig CMP-TELVIEW1 already contains a VGA in and VGA out, so you can connect your VGA monitor to the box, no separate splitter required.

I see it also outputs RGB SCART so I guess you could always use a RGB to component converter to get a better picture if you wanted.

unfortunately these only seem to be available in Europe and not to common on Ebay

soviet conscript wrote:

unfortunately these only seem to be available in Europe and not to common on Ebay

There are bound to be similar devices by other manufacturers.
Look for "scanline converter" perhaps?

its funny, after replying to you I remember I had picked up a boxed Avermedia imicro for something like $5 a few months back at Goodwill and its been sitting in my closet. has pretty much the same features including the vga passthrough feature. hooked it up and sure enough I was able to capture DOS footage via S-Video.

The results are pretty decent for only a $5 investment. bright games like Wacky Wheels look very good but unfortunately darker games like Doom and Quake are almost unviewable because they are so dark.