Set-up for Recording Retro Consoles - Splitting Signals Appropriately

In case you haven't read my post in the ''Introduce Yourself'' thread: I recently got into making review videos about games. So far I have made three videos and the fourth one is almost finished. I am getting better and more comfortable with the whole process, but up until this point I have been using emulators in conjunction with an HDMI capture card to cover old games; it's cheap and not at all complicated to do.

Lately, I have been itching to record footage from real consoles for the authentic feeling. I am a perfectionist, however, so Composite and S-Video are out of the question. RGB is the one and only way for me to go about it, but capturing that in 240p is not without its challenges. My capture card won't accept 240p over Component and I refuse to blow over 300 dollars on an overpriced up-scaling unit like the Framemeister, which isn't a device without its share of problems to begin with. A forum member by the name of Bibin has recently linked me to a very affordable PCI-E capture card by StarTech which allows for 240p capturing over either Component or VGA. This has really caught my attention.

There are a few things I am wondering about when it comes to the set-up I would need. The StarTech capture card does not have a pass-through, and while PCI-E is probably fast enough to render the video on-screen without noticeable lag, I just want to be able to play my consoles without having to have my computer on at all times (unless I am recording of course). I live in The Netherlands and my TV takes 240p signals over SCART just fine, so no problems there. This would require me to split the RGB and stereo outputs from the machines, but doing so passively leads (as far as I am aware) to decreased luminance for the video and volume for the audio. Volume loss is hardly a problem to me since there are tons of ways to amplify that during video production, but the luminance effect is obviously an issue.

Three questions about making my own cables:
1. Is there a way of splitting the Red, Green and Blue signals without any sort of external amplifier? Or would it be best to buy an amplifier for that?
2. How would I go about the syncing? VGA has pins for Vertical Sync and Horizontal Sync, so do you connect the Composite Sync from the Genesis for example to both pins or one of them?
3. Would it cause any issues to split the C-Sync in the first place? (After all, I need picture on both my TV and the capture card.) IF so, I could use Composite Video as sync for the SCART input on my TV, while I use the C-Sync on the VGA input on the capture card, right?

I'm sorry if these questions have all been asked and answered before. Thanks in advance for reading and answering!

I was also looking for something similar, see that thread
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?29586
the testing build is actually completed but I get weird and varied results depending on console, cable used, sync used...
This is captured from a scart to HDMI. Whats weird is that on the tv the picture is great and shows none of the ghosting.

http://imgur.com/a/gOYyh

Record RGB, play over S-video. That works relatively well so long as you have a good monitor for playing on (a small CRT near by).

However, if you are splitting RGB (or SCART I guess) splitting the three channels won't ruin the image too much. You'll have to turn up the contrast on the capture card, but the scaling will be linear since all you are doing is forming a voltage divider with the input impedances of the extra monitor and the capture card.

C-sync can be buffered using just about any logic chip, so that's easy to solve (I often take a 74HC04 and invert the signal twice to get a buffered one).

I was actually considering recording RGB and playing S-Video. Seems convenient, though I'd have to fix the black/white issues with 50Hz on my Genesis 2 when using S-Video (for European exclusive releases like The Second Samurai).

Aren't some capture cards actually built to handle lower impedance, as well? I remember the Dazzle days where I would simply Y-split the Composite cable; the image on the TV lost a lot of brightness, but the device didn't care at all whether the signal was split or not. But it's possible to get the true full-colour image from the divided RGB signals simply by raising the contrast? Interesting.

Thanks for the help so far, guys.

EDIT:
Also, a question to you directly, Bibin. That StarTech card you linked me before, can you tell the software to record audio over the Component input while you record video over VGA? I am almost certain that's a yes, but just to be safe here. VGA is easier than Component for these old consoles.

The Startech card's analogue audio input (part of the octopus for component cable breakout) will record audio while doing RGB, yes. Here's a test capture of an RGB NES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jWwpJlpzkw

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bibin

The Startech card's analogue audio input (part of the octopus for component cable breakout) will record audio while doing RGB, yes. Here's a test capture of an RGB NES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jWwpJlpzkw

---

It looks a bit... as if the image was smoothed with a SuperSal filter on an emulator. Something similar happens on those cheaper Scart to HDMI converters, where it can't upscale the image quickly enough and instead gives you that sort of washed out look. Do you have this too when capturing Genesis?

From what I can tell, it converts RGB to YPbPr, and the Pr channel has a bit of a delay (very minor). I will try Genesis tomorrow morning.