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3DS Nisetoro AV capture board (picture heavy)

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    3DS Nisetoro AV capture board (picture heavy)

    [note: the board I'm speaking about is sold here: www.3dsvideocapture.com; there's a second mod available at www.3dscapture.com, but that doesn't support XL/LL models and the provided software looks very basic.]

    I wanted to open this thread earlier, but I took my time playing around with the viewer program to get a better idea of this capture board, then computer problems kicked in. For now I'm only able to capture things from the 3DS, so here I go.

    Let's talk hardware first: you can send your own 3DS (normal or XL) to the guy (or girl, judging from his/her nick) to get the board installed, buy the capture board only and fit it yourself, or buy a 3DS with the board already fitted in. I chose the latter, as shipping and possible custom costs could have summed up to a new unit.
    The website lists rather high numbers for in-stock units, I doubt they are real but within 12 hours of paying (Paypal), my new 3DSLL was on its way via DHL.

    The capture board does add some weight to the 3DS, and while the case is not bent or bulged, the 3DS doesn't sit as firmly on flat surfaces as the original; nothing big, really. All in all, the 3DS gains less than 1 gram (0.03ounces) compared to a non-modified unit.
    The mod only provides video out, via a mini-A USB 2.0 port; audio out is via the phone jack; according to the board designer, the lack of audio via USB is due to bandwidth limitation of the bus, and apparently there's a USB 3.0 board in the works that will allow for both audio and video out. Anyway, I have modern hardware in an old chassis, so no front USB 3.0 ports, making easier to connect the 3DS to the computer. I have tried connecting it via a monitor hub, front USB ports on the case, and motherboard ports without encountering any problem.

    The mini-A USB port on the 3DSLL rests nicely where the rear IR port was, but you can ask for a different location (as well as 3DS colours) when placing the order. The 3DS came in its original box and with a A to mini-A USB cable (because you never have enough of those), further boxed and bubblewrapped in a cardboard box. In the box there's an A4 sheet with board serial number and instructions on where to downaload and how to install drivers and viewer program. I would have preferred a PDF via mail, so the first thing I did was to scan the sheet and save a copy along the drivers and the viewer program.

    Installing drivers under Win7 x64 was a breeze, and the system correctly recognised the capture board at the first plug-in. The viewer programs needs DirectX and C++ redistributables installed; while DirectX shouldn't be a problem for anyone, I had to download the C++ from MicroSoft's website; in any case, the direct link to both packages is on the instruction sheet.
    The viewer program comes in 32 and 64 bit flavours and doesn't need installation, you just copy the contents of the downloaded ZIP package to the directory you want. With a 3DSLL connected to the computer, the program asks for the serial number and then you're free to view your 3DS on the big screen. The viewer program is just that, and if you want to capture, you'll have to rely on other programs; after a bit of trials, I went with FRAPS, apparently the only one capable of capturing at 60fps; the likes of SnagIt, Camtasia, or Jing, were limited in framerate, quality, and file format.
    Sound is through my X-Fi's line-in, and there are two problems. The first is something I've already experienced when recording video with my camera: with the 3DS volume slider set to maximum, sound crackles, so you need to keep the volume on the 3DS slightly lower than maximum. The second is the complete opposite with the experience I had with a camera: sound is incredibly low, even with the line-in volume set to maximum (OS volume is set at 25%). The only way to solve this problem was to increase volume in post-production, an extra step in editing videos, but at least I don't have to become mad trying to get a good exposure and perpendicular point of view with the camera.

    The viewer program is a nice piece of software with a lot of options and unfortunately no manual. Anyway, there's a good chance that you won't need to dig into the program's most advanced features (like the backbuffer size or the transfer mode), as everything is pretty much plug and play.
    The only thing that might need a bit of tweaking is the lower screen clock and data rates, and these values are on a game-to-game basis. Senran Kagura Guren no Shoujotachi also needed different values in game, but thankfully the lower screen is not that important there. Other games only needed a single or no adjustment at all.
    The viewer program supports screen rotation (90? CW and CCW), 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 magnifications, as well as full screen, with bilinear, anisotropic, or no filtering. I've asked if there are sharper filters in the works (lanczos, nearest neighbour, or even mitchell) and I've got a "maybe" as a reply.
    It's possible to have the two screens at their respective size, or have the lower screen smaller than it should be; options to have the two screens in two separate windows (with either one full screen), or add space between the two if they are in the same window.
    If you have a 3D screen (or an Oculus Rift) you can also set the upper display in two different 3D options (the third being off), so the viewer program is quite complete in the options it provides.
    The program also offers various setting for thread priority and is quite light: I was able to encode videos, capture with FRAPS, and the 3DS viewer program set to full screen, anisotropic filtering, and backbuffer set to 1600x900 without any problems on a Core i7 XXXXX. It's also stable as well, I only had one instance of Windows whining about the program not closing correctly after closing the 3DS before the viewer. Drivers don't seem to cause any problems, with the system behaving as before.

    The capture board is independent from the 3DS and its firmware. Without thinking about dire consequences (and before having the modder confirm that the two things are separate), I set up the 3DS and connected to the internet and updated the firmware; everything is still working. Also transferred data from my old LL to this new, modded on, without any problems.


    Here are some captures of various games; backbuffer size in 1600x900 (FRAPS does not seem to like 1600x1920) with anisotropic filtering on, no editing whatsoever, directly from FRAPS. Click on them for original size.

    3DS menu


    New Super Mario Bros. 2







    Senran Kagura Guren no Shoujotachi






    Sword & Darkness




    Sample video from Conception II (captured at 1600x900 60fps, anisotropic filtering, scaled down to 1280x720 60fps; you can see compression artifacts on the original videos as well).
    Last edited by briareos_kerensky; 12-07-2014, 10:22. Reason: properly linked pictures

    #2
    Nice writeup i have been interested in these things for a while. They look perfect for taking screen grabs & video.

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      #3
      Yes interesting read thanks, saw these on NintendoLife or somewhere end of least year, and gasped when saw the prices.

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        #4
        Mini-update.
        I've played around with the viewer program a bit, and there's the option to output audio from USB, and it doesn't suffer from volume problems. To enable the feature the transfer mode must be set to "full" (I had it to "middle", 60fps but no 3D or audio), and with the current viewer version (652), it's a beta option. I haven't captured anything from it because there's a delay between audio and video, empirical tests pointed to almost a second, that doesn't happen with the audio in.

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