Hello, my name is Toby. Let me get this out of the way before I ask my questions. I run a retro video game review podcast called Secret Levels. We talk about the production history, story, speed runs, game play, fun facts, and more on one game per episode.
In research for the games I always use speedrun.com to find out who has the fastest time on whatever game we're reviewing and give them a small shout out and their time.
We just recorded episode 35 last night. Over this time doing the show I've become very interested in attempting to speedrun a few games.
My issue is.. where do I start.. how do I record myself. I want to use original hardware: snes, sega genesis, n64, ect.
I also would like to stream it and other game play from like the switch. I just don't know what equipment and programs I need.
If anyone would help me out I would be very appreciative.
thats really cool. sadly i cant help with your problem but ill check you out
you can just record the run with your phone. long as you have decent footage. but getting the quality your probably shooting for... idk
So generally speaking, everyone uses:
OBS as a streaming/recording software: https://obsproject.com/ It's free and it works with nearly everything. Pretty easy to use too.
Livesplit as a timer/splitting software: http://livesplit.org/ Also, free and offers infinite customization.
To capture Standard Definition consoles (Like the ones you mentioned) cheaply, the GV-USB2 is considered the best available: https://www.amazon.com/DATA-connection-video-capture-GV-USB2/dp/B00428BF1Y Keep in mind you can also use S-Video with this which is really good quality for a cheaper than usual price considering that S-Video cables for consoles tend to be a lot cheaper to buy then RGB ones. Notably, The Genesis does not support S-Video and some models of SNES and N64 don't support S-Video either, so don't buy them without a little research.
Do you game on a CRT or flat screen for your older consoles? You might need a splitter for video capture if you want to use a CRT and still capture. This is the splitter I use: https://www.amazon.com/RadioShack-4-Output-Component-Distribution-Amplifier/dp/B010EIK6K6 It's powered and can take 1 input and split to up to 4 outputs for your S-Video and standard definition Composite video and audio without introducing any lag.
To capture the Switch... I unfortunately don't have much experience with HDMI... I'll let someone else try to answer that one. But feel free to post back with any questions on the stuff I jotted down. I'm always happy to help.