Tools for the job

[boozerker]

Hi. I'm not very computer savvy, nor electronics-inclined for that matter.

I believe the technology exists for what I need, and that it's available at a reasonable price.

The kind of setup I'm looking for is easy to use, and practical.

The goal?

To bring audio/video easily into the computer, and easily out of the computer, with the least amount of quality loss possible.

For example, to record onto a VCR tape whatever's happening on the computer screen -- be it an EverQuest video game, a full screen YouTube video, or just clicking your mouse on web links.

Or to record onto the computer whatever's showing on the TV screen -- be it a DVD, a home movie, or playing the newest Zelda on a video game console.

What can achieve that?

I'm guessing a USB device that connects to audio/video cables. Then you can use a program like Sony Vegas for editing, and send the video back out when done.

I'm really looking for plug-and-play ease of use. Insert the cables, and software prompts the computer to be ready for the video.

If you're unaware of any setup like the above, please offer the next closest thing. Or refer me to where I can find out.

Thanks.

[src2206]

Hello and welcome to the forum

For recording TV to PC you need a Standard TV Tuner card which should fit in your Motherboard's PCI slot. Check your Motherboard manual to see what type of PCI slot you have and buy accordingly. Remember though that you need a loads of HDD space and a good amount of RAM.

Regarding your other question, I am sorry I can not help much,.May be some other may.

[RFBurns]

Hi. I'm not very computer savvy, nor electronics-inclined for that matter.

I believe the technology exists for what I need, and that it's available at a reasonable price.

The kind of setup I'm looking for is easy to use, and practical.

The goal?

To bring audio/video easily into the computer, and easily out of the computer, with the least amount of quality loss possible.

For example, to record onto a VCR tape whatever's happening on the computer screen -- be it an EverQuest video game, a full screen YouTube video, or just clicking your mouse on web links.

Or to record onto the computer whatever's showing on the TV screen -- be it a DVD, a home movie, or playing the newest Zelda on a video game console.

What can achieve that?

As suggested...a good ol capture card with a built in tunner and ins/outs will do the job. They also come with software to work with capturing video/audio and some other nifty things. I use a STB card that has both a cable compatiable tv tunner and an FM tunner to boot. Tho it had bundled software to work with the video files I prefer to work with VirtualDub. Very easy and has alot of on-board filters and other editing essentials.

I'm guessing a USB device that connects to audio/video cables. Then you can use a program like Sony Vegas for editing, and send the video back out when done.

I'm really looking for plug-and-play ease of use. Insert the cables, and software prompts the computer to be ready for the video.

If you're unaware of any setup like the above, please offer the next closest thing. Or refer me to where I can find out.

Thanks.

Using the USB ports is one way to work in the digital environment with outboard gear like a camcorder or DVD recorder equipped with DVI. In fact I would use a DVD recorder instead of a VCR to record things from the PC simply because the quality of a stand alone DVD recorder beats even the best consumer grade VCR. And DVD recorders are cheap plus after you finalize a disc you can work with those video VOB files in the computer with a DVD drive and appropriate DVD creation/editing software.

Working with high end video requires a hefty PC with tons of physical memory capacity and alot of HD capacity or an added HD with a large capacity and high rpm speed and read/write time. This will help prevent frame dropouts and prevent video/audio timing errors.

Good luck!

[src2206]

I think a simple Firewire (IEEE 1394 standard port) enabled connection between the recorder (should be a disc recorder as suggested, analog system will not work) and your PC should make you able to transfer content from your PC to the recording device.

Bur as I earlier said, I am not really very knowledgeable in this field, just a calculated guess.

[boozerker]

As suggested...a good ol capture card with a built in tunner and ins/outs will do the job. They also come with software to work with capturing video/audio and some other nifty things.

What's a good card to use for Acer Aspire with XP media edition (AMD Athlon 64)?

I use a STB card that has both a cable compatiable tv tunner and an FM tunner to boot.

What is an STB card?

Tho it had bundled software to work with the video files I prefer to work with VirtualDub. Very easy and has alot of on-board filters and other editing essentials.

I just checked out VirtualDub, seems pretty nifty, and it's free

Thanks.

Using the USB ports is one way to work in the digital environment with outboard gear like a camcorder or DVD recorder equipped with DVI.

Is DVI a common feature on DVD recorders?

And DVD recorders are cheap plus after you finalize a disc you can work with those video VOB files in the computer with a DVD drive and appropriate DVD creation/editing software.

A friend had major problems editing a DVD-RW containing home videos transferred from VCR tapes to a standalone DVD recorder.

No one could figure out how to do anything with it, DVD Shrink couldn't finish processing it, a video decoder failed, and Nero reported errors. The part that DVD-Shrink could manage ended up over 7 GB, when the DVD itself only holds 4.x GB.

Yeah, nobody could figure it out, and I don't want the same to occur here. So is that an isolated experience, is it because of the disk being an -RW instead of just -R (I normally use -R), or maybe it's just that particular brand of DVD recorder does funny stuff to its video.

(If it's the last one, is there a brand you recommend?)

Working with high end video requires a hefty PC with tons of physical memory capacity and alot of HD capacity or an added HD with a large capacity and high rpm speed and read/write time. This will help prevent frame dropouts and prevent video/audio timing errors.

Its CPU is AMD Athlon 64 3500+.
RAM is 1 GB DDR.
HD is 250GB SATA

[src2206]

Your system specs are good enough. There are many TV Tuner Cards available in the market and the features and models vary according to the price. I suggest that you should check it out yourself in online stores or market tech shops. But remember if its TV that you want to work with then buy a TV Tuner Card as it will give you a lot of features but if you are looking for something which would allow you to take input from various other devices other than TV only, buy a good quality capture card. Pinnacle produces very good capture cards.

[boozerker]

Your system specs are good enough. There are many TV Tuner Cards available in the market and the features and models vary according to the price. I suggest that you should check it out yourself in online stores or market tech shops. But remember if its TV that you want to work with then buy a TV Tuner Card as it will give you a lot of features but if you are looking for something which would allow you to take input from various other devices other than TV only, buy a good quality capture card. Pinnacle produces very good capture cards.

I just found out more. I already seem to have S-Video out from the onboard graphics, so I can send anything out of the computer with that (guess it just needs a digital to analog converter plug so I can view on TV what's being sent to the DVD recorder)

So the only thing left is a TV tuner or capture card. The TV Tuner card 's name implies that it only captures TV signals. Hopefully not, because I also want other stuff like Playstation video games or film clips played on TV from media devices (so I can view what's being saved into the computer). Is a TV Tuner card all I need? Or would a capture card serve me better?

[boozerker]

Going on the suggestion to get video capture, I found two cards which might do what I need. Can anyone double check them before I buy, to make sure they'll be able to record VCR/DVD/Playstation games/etc off the TV? (and vice versa from the computer to an external recorder)

The card below I can probably get under $50 since the review is over 4 years old.

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeon8500/aiwradeon8500dv/awards.html

This other card (by Pinnacle) will cost under $100 after shipping.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/Studio+MovieBoard+Documents/Technical+Specifications/MovieBoard+Tech+Specs.htm

Also, does anyone know if the problems I mentioned about the DVD recorder (in post #5) is something that's avoidable. I'd like to get one but not run into that problem.

Thanks.

[src2206]

Hello boozerker

Sorry but I do not think I'll be able to help you much on this. The ATI card seems bit old, but Pinnacle is the mainstream card, but it appears that both are TV tuner cards. I am not sure whether these will be able to record back your PC happenings to other devices. These cards need have a "OUT" port to record from your PC to other devices

In my opinion, you should visit a good tech shop and physically check out the options available.

Any editing should be done when the raw file is in AVI format (uncompressed) and after that make a DVD/VCD according to the need. It seems that your freind tried to shrink the uncompressed AVI hence resulted in all the troubles. Even if you put some video Data ina DVD, that does not become a Video DVD. For that a strict folder structure needs to be followed and the Video file needs to be compressed to MPEG2 (using encoders like HCEnc) and the audio also needs to be compressed generally to AC3 format. The DVD you get after doing all these (which is called DVD Authoring) is a Video DVD. Shrink is built to deal with these type of DVDs.

Hope I could make things a bit clear for you.