I have game footage in Halo reach that I have saved on my console. How can I transfer the videos from my xbox to my PC for further editing?
My second question is, how can I record gameplay footage as I am playing it? For example if I was playing Modern Warfare 2 how can I record the live footage?
Unfortunately there is no standard way of recording game footage from games consoles without extra hardware.
Some games have video capture tools built in (like Halo Reach), but if they allow access to those videos outside of the console ecosystem it can be in many different ways. For your Halo Reach example, you actually require an account on http://www.Bungie.net. Once this account is linked to your Xbox LIVE gamertag, you can access your fileshare from the Profile->File Share option on the website and access any videos you have saved.
As this functionality is Bungie / Halo Reach specific, this won't necessarily work the same for Modern Warfare 2 (or any other games). So this is where a specific piece of hardware; either a capture card that slots into your PC or an external capture unit such as this one that I know games testers working on real games use. Check out http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hdpvr.html.
Obviously specialised hardware can have quite a high cost associated with it, but it does allow you to record every part of gameplay as you see fit and would work with any games console, not just Xbox 360.
If you find this post looking to migrate your data from your console to your PC, you can do it without fancy adapters or tools:
Your xbox's "HDD" is a DISK DRIVE, probably like the one you're using on your PC right now. It connects with a SATA cable just like your PC's hard drive. If you take the clunky plastic parts and the metal plate off the hard drive portion of the xbox, you will find the actual disk drive which has a SATA node.
If you have a spare SATA cable (you should) just open up your computer case and plug the drive in with it, and use third party software such as xport 360 or Modio to read the files.
If you don't care to re-assemble the xbox neatly, you don't even need the special torx screwdrivers to get to the disk drive. Hell, even if you rip apart the plastic, as long as you keep the adapters in tact you can still plug the hard drive back into the xbox without the plastic housing. Obviously don't act like a savage when getting to the disk drive, you can damage those disks and ruin your data.
Free and effective.
