I get this question a lot so I am writing some info here to help you guys.
First you need a capture device. I have tried four different HD capture devices so far, two USB based ones and two PCI-e based ones. They have pros and cons of course, and I like the Hauppauge one best so far.
| Hauppauge HDPVR | AverMedia HD USB DVR | Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro | Avertv HD DVR | |
| Price (amazon.com as of 9/13/2010) | $184.99 | $179.95 | $189.05 | $89.78 |
| Inputs | Component, S-Video, Composite | Component, S-Video, Composite | HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite | HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite |
| Compression | H.264 | H.264 | MJpeg or uncompressed YUV | Mpeg2 |
| Live Passthrough | Yes | Yes | Yes (No for the audio, it has one but it does not work during recording) | No |
| File size per 10 minutes (for the default encoding option) | ~1GB | ~1GB | ~8GB (MJpeg) | ~4GB |
| Deinterlacing for 1080i | Yes | Yes | No, kinda (Mjpeg produces interlaced picture and not many software can handle it correctly) | No (?) |
| What I like about the hardware | On/off button, optical audio input/output for 5.1Ch | Slick design, HDMI output (No HDCP of course) | HDMI Input and Output (No HDCP of course) | Low profile (can be installed on small machines) |
| What I don’t like about the hardware | Looks uglier | No on/off button, no 5.1ch optical | No 5.1ch optical, passthrough is not working while recording | No 5.1ch optical, no passthrough option |
| What I like about the software | Option to save in different wrapper, MP4, TS, M2TS | MJPEG should give you the best quality especially for the snapshot | ||
| What I don’t like about the software | Window resizing is not there. Just max or default size. | Just TS recording then you have to convert it to more common format like MP4 | ||
Connect PS3 through the component cable (no HDMI due to HDCP lock), then connect to the TV using the passthrough cables (if there is no passthrough, you have to split signal, which degrades the picture quality.)
To capture the headset chatting, set the PS3 to use the ‘system default’ audio for the headset.
To capture your voice, you have to mix your voice into the capture input. One easy way is using you computer to be the mixer. Attach an extra mic for your voice to the PC. Connect PS3 audio output into the audio input of the PC. Connect audio output of the PC to the input of the capture device.
