How to make a Video Game Montage

Video game montages can be extraordinary.  Whether you want to show off your skills, or just make a cool video that fits the editing in with the music, I'm here to show you the basic steps for translating that video game you see on your TV screen into an edited montage on your PC.

The first step in how to create a video game montage is to capture the video. You've got to get it from your console to your computer. There are dozens of options out there, but I've tried most of them and have narrowed it down to two that stand well above the rest. Pick the one that best fits your situation (HD vs. SD).

Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR

This device is the king of video game capture devices right now. It boasts several main advantages over the competition.

For starters, it will allow you to record in HD while still keeping file sizes at a reasonable level, which is something that no other recording device can do. It will record in either 720p or 1080i and will output to either .ts or .mp4 files. Also, the Hauppauge will record 720p at 60 frames per second, meaning your slow motion footage is going to look much less choppy than with other devices in the same price range.

Secondly, it is a breeze to install. This isn't a card you have to put in your PC or anything like that, as this is an external device. Simply plug your Xbox 360 component cables into the Hauppauge, and then plug component cables into your TV and a USB cable from the Hauppauge in to your PC. Bam, that's it.

Finally, and this is perhaps the biggest feature, all of the encoding is done onboard. That means that you can use it with almost any PC. Normally, to record in HD you would need a monster computer to do the encoding, but the Hauppauge will do it for you, so you could even use your old cheap laptop to record if you wanted to.

Hava Titanium HD

The Hava is a great option if your computer doesn't have the processing power to edit HD videos. The value in the Hava is that it has a built-in down converter, which is normally a several hundred dollar device on its own. What this means is that you can play in HD while recording in SD, whereas with every other device if you want to record in SD you would have to play in SD as well, and that's just yuck.

The Hava records in 480i, though it is a good quality 480i and actually looks pretty good, and outputs in .mpg format.  The file sizes with the hava are very reasonable.  Another big advantage to the hava is that it records over the network, meaning once you have it plugged in to your router you can access it on any computer that is available on your network, and you don't have to hook it up directly to your computer (which is nice because most people don't have their computers right next to the TV).  There is even a wireless version available for a few bucks more.

This version of the Hava is no longer made (the new version, the volkano, uses a subscription based model that is much more expensive) so you'll probably have to find a used one.  I've included some ebay listings below.  Many of my friends have purchased their hava off of ebay and it worked out great for them.

Ok, so now we've got the video captured.  You've gone through and played, and you've got some sweet clips of you pwning people.  Now, how do you get them into video form all nice and synced up with music and some cool intro/title sequences?

The answer is a non-linear video editing program.  Like with your choice of capture devices, there are dozens of choices.  But again, don't fret, because I've tried almost all of them over the last ten years and I'm here to show you my two favorites.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio

Sony Vegas is a fantastic editing program for beginners. The layout and editing are both very intuitive, and it is the software I used for a very long time.

It comes in both home ("movie studio" edition) and pro versions. The only major difference for what you'll use it for is that the pro version includes a much simpler way to do ramping slow-motion (whereas with the home version you're going to either have to cut straight to slow-mo and straight back to full speed, or put in a fair amount of work to create a ramping effect). For that reason I would recommend the "movie studio" edition as it is much, much cheaper.

If you are using Sony Vegas alongside the Hauppauge capture device, make sure you set the Hauppauge to output in PS3 mode so it will create .ts files, which Vegas likes.

Adobe Premiere

Adobe Premiere is a part of the editing suite that I currently use. It is less intuitive and has a bit more of a learning curve than Sony Vegas, but it has some advantages that I really like.

For starters, previewing your renders is much easier in Adobe Premiere. That means if you put some effects on a clip and want to watch what it looks like in real-time, it's just a click of a button right from the timeline to have the effects rendered so you can watch it without it skipping. In Vegas, this is much more difficult.

But the main reason I prefer Premiere is because of its integration with the rest of the Adobe suite, Photoshop and After Effects in particular (more on After Effects below). While both of these will work with either Premiere or Vegas, they're only truly integrated with Premiere. That means that if you want to make your titles in After Effects when using Sony Vegas, you'll have to render out a fully encoded and completed file in After Effects and import it into Sony Vegas. If you want to make a change, you'll have to go back into AE, make the change, render it again, and see if everything syncs up. With Adobe Premiere you can just drag your After Effects projects into your Premiere project. From there, any change you make in After Effects will also automatically update your Premiere project, and vice versa.

For the integration, however, you will need the (expensive) pro version of the software.

If you are using Sony Vegas alongside the Hauppauge capture device, make sure you set the Hauppauge to output in 360 mode so it will create .mp4 files, which Priemiere likes.

Adobe After Effects

After Effects is not a video editing program in the same sense that Vegas or Premiere are. After Effects is a titling program that you use in conjunction with either Vegas or Premiere. It is completely optional, as both Vegas and Premiere are capable of doing decent titles all on their own. After Effects just expands that functionality much, much further. It can also be used to give you smoother slow motion that in your video clips that doesn't look as choppy as the Vegas/Premiere slow motion do.

After you've got your capture device and your editing software, the next step is a lot of hard work capturing your clips and editing it to your liking.  There are lots of great guides on the net for how to get started with Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas editing.  If you need motivation to keep going, or want to see the devices I've told you about today in action, I've included a couple videos I made using the hardware and software you've read about in this article.

Memorial: A Halo Reach Death Montage

I made this halo reach montage using the Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR recording device and Adobe Premiere as my editor. Since I'm not that good at Halo, I focused the video on the part of Halo that I am actually good at...dying. I think you'll enjoy it, and it's a great example of what this hardware and software can do.  It's my favorite of all my halo reach montages.

AGEHL: The League

This isn't actually a montage, but rather a trailer for an NHL 2010 league we had put together.  It uses the Hava recording device and Sony Vegas editing software, so you can compare the differences to the Halo video above.