Hacking Suggestion Emulating the nintendo switch dock for easy video capture?

[RuckeySquad]

Hello,

I was just wondering, is it remotely feasible to emulate the nintendo switch dock so when you connect the switch to a pc via a USB - USB C cable it can get a direct video feed?
it could make capturing video footage of games a lot easier (and maybe even add support for other controllers)

 

[Deleted-355425]

Hello,

I was just wondering, is it remotely feasible to emulate the nintendo switch dock so when you connect the switch to a pc via a USB - USB C cable it can get a direct video feed?
it could make capturing video footage of games a lot easier (and maybe even add support for other controllers)

Take a look at the SFANS adapter, it's coming out this month and should be a lot better for this Sort of situation you speak of.

 

[RuckeySquad]

Take a look at the SFANS adapter, it's coming out this month and should be a lot better for this Sort of situation you speak of.

Sadly that seems to be more of a portable dock, what i am talking about is a piece of software that would emulate the dock for purposes like cheap easy gameplay capture (or the use of a plugin to make other brands of controllers act as wired pro controllers)

heres a mock up of the idea

 

[Deleted-355425]

I don't think standard USB-C can power the switch so that may be an issue.

 

[linuxares]

I think the only way is a capture card that uses HDMI to be honest.

 

[RuckeySquad]

I don't think standard USB-C can power the switch so that may be an issue.

fair, wonder if there is a work around (like having it output while still using the systems battery (we could set the systems tv settings to 720p or 480p to compensate and reduce the drain))

 

[nastys]

Even if your PC had a USB Type-C port, I doubt it would be able to receive the HDMI signal from the Nintendo Switch.

 

[KiiWii]

Elgato hdmi should work shouldn't it? It goes on the end of HDMI to tv, and another hdmi goes from the elgato to the tv.

 

[Tomy Sakazaki]

fair, wonder if there is a work around (like having it output while still using the systems battery (we could set the systems tv settings to 720p or 480p to compensate and reduce the drain))

Problems that arise with your suggestion and that I think that only some few hackers can actually answer with solid basis.
1 - Can a PC get the video data from a USB-C device and decode it by itself without adding an actual HDMI converter hardware?
2 - Can the Switch transfer such data while in "handheld mode"?
3 - Harder one, can we achieve the point 2 without a proper software or hardware hack?
I think that most of users here (myself included) wouldn't be able to do an educated guess about those points.

 

[NekoMichi]

It seems unlikely for a dock emulator to be made, but here are a few technical things I know about the dock that may be useful:
- In docked mode, the Switch ramps up to 15V as opposed to the standard 5V. A dock emulator would require the same voltage output, however 15V is not a standard appliance mode.
- Instead of using standard USB-C to HDMI, the Switch dock uses some kind of custom DisplayPort to HDMI conversion mode, which is why it does not work with universal adaptors.
- In order to pass video frames through USB-C to USB-C, it's likely that the Switch console itself needs to be modded in some way too.
- The easiest way would probably have to involve connecting a dock to an HDMI capture card and then connecting that to a PC.

2 - Can the Switch transfer such data while in "handheld mode"?

Switch SDEV units actually have this capability, but that uses custom hardware and probably won't be possible with retail units.

 

[RuckeySquad]

Problems that arise with your suggestion and that I think that only some few hackers can actually answer with solid basis.
1 - Can a PC get the video data from a USB-C device and decode it by itself without adding an actual HDMI converter hardware?
2 - Can the Switch transfer such data while in "handheld mode"?
3 - Harder one, can we achieve the point 2 without a proper software or hardware hack?
I think that most of users here (myself included) wouldn't be able to do an educated guess about those points.

well with point 2, i was more thinking about tricking it into thinking that its in docked mode, while still supplying some power to the system, although i am not sure about the other points

 

[FAST6191]

Is HDMI capture such a ballache?

 

[Sicklyboy]

Elgato hdmi should work shouldn't it? It goes on the end of HDMI to tv, and another hdmi goes from the elgato to the tv.

The Elgato HD60S will do one better, it connects to the pc with USB 3.0 and supports live playback w/ audio. So you don't even need it hooked to the TV. And the HD60 Pro (I think is what it's called) works the same but is pci-e

 

[NekoMichi]

Personally I use the Hauppauge Rocket, which is like the opposite of an Elgato HD60. It passes HDMI through to a TV/monitor and can record directly to a USB drive without needing a PC. Downsides include only going up to 30FPS and not supporting higher-powered USB devices.

 

[Deleted-355425]

I have the HDPVR 2 gaming edition, its not such a ballache for HDMI pass through capturing.

 

[Deleted-394630]

I don't think standard USB-C can power the switch so that may be an issue.

I bet Thunderbolt might work though.

 

[OfficialFBomb]

Take a look at the SFANS adapter, it's coming out this month and should be a lot better for this Sort of situation you speak of.

So its too early for me to be google-ling.. Does the adapter use the oem switch power brick. Or can it be powered via something i bit smaller making portability easier?

 

[sarkwalvein]

So its too early for me to be google-ling.. Does the adapter use the oem switch power brick. Or can it be powered via something i bit smaller making portability easier?

I guess it uses whatever you want to connect to it that can provide enough power.
If you avoid connecting anything to the USB ports, perhaps a Google Pixer USB-C charger can pull it fine, and that is quite compact.

 

[OfficialFBomb]

I guess it uses whatever you want to connect to it that can provide enough power.
If you avoid connecting anything to the USB ports, perhaps a Google Pixer USB-C charger can pull it fine, and that is quite compact.

I have used a google pixel power brick to charge in hand held mode while playing botw and it does that.. Charges fully while playing.. I guess its something ill just have to test.. Even Anker has a bit more powerful brick that is smaller then the switch brick i guess ill buy one of those and test if the pixel one fails..

 

[koffieleut]

A thunderbolt port and cable can go up to 100 watts. I think Nintendo is using this for their docking station.

You can checkout this video for more on the USB C types of cables