advice for recording Nintendo DS screen(s) with digital camcorder

[Misdreavus]

I have some footage on a few DS games that I'd like to record. Some of them are on only one screen, while some of them will require me to zoom out and record both screens simultaneously. I have run into a few problems during my first few attempts, however.

1) The DS screens are sometimes blurry on the recordings. I have tried to manually adjust the focus, but nowhere in the manual focus range gave me a clear view. Generally, I have been able to fix this by positioning the DS far enough away from the camera and zooming in.

2) The DS screens are sometimes clear when the video on them is relatively stagnant (such as text scrolling when speaking to a NPC in a Pokémon game), but when there is a drastic change of image in the video (such as when I enter a building in a Pokémon game), the recording is blurry for a second or two before it regains focus. Is this something that can be controlled by using manual focus (thereby preventing the focus from readjusting itself to the new image)?

3) While the brightness on the DS screen appears perfect to me regardless of what's on the screen (with brightness set to max on my DSi), sometimes some video comes out too bright on the recording, while others are fine. It often happens when there is a drastic change in image (as mentioned above); for example, the video of being on a route in a Pokémon game is recorded at perfect brightness, but once I enter a building on that route, it is too bright. Is this something that can be fixed by simply adjusting the brightness on my DS screen?

Any other advice for me? Thanks!

 

[Misdreavus]

I use to use Logitech webcams when I still uploaded to youtube. they worked all right in terms of quality, but it could have been better. if you don't want to spend too much money on a cam, you could just get one of those.

I own a Canon DC20 digital camcorder, which is what I've been using.

 

[BlakBlastoise]

Most of the problems you list are due to your camera. You can get a good DS screen recording webcam for about 30$, so if you care enough about the quality, i suggest investing in this. I used a creative Live! IM pro webcam for my old pokemon videos, and the quality was pretty damn good considering I only spent $30 on my camera.

OR you can be a smart man and record with a computer emulator.

 

[symphonyx64]

When I did Youtube DS webcam recording, I used a Microsoft VX-3000 webcam. I found it worked much better than Logitech webcams in that it wasn't blurry whatsoever and the VX-3000 you could adjust the focus.

 

[Misdreavus]

So a webcam will give me better quality than an expensive digital camcorder? What about a built-in webcam on a laptop? If it's a good enough quality camera and I can get it positioned properly, should I be able to get a good recording out of it? I'm looking at getting a built-in webcam in my new laptop.