Capturing video from tv to hard drive help

[rajee]

Anyone know how I can capture video from a tv show and save it to my hard drive without doing the old fashioned way (recording it to a dvd and then extracting it to my hard drive via dvd drive)

Looking to exclude the middleman.

 

[SilverleafLycan1]

TV Tuner card, they come in pci and usb forms. Search newegg for a selection of them (www.newegg.com). Basically you would install the card (the usb ones just plug into a usb slot) and then hook up the coax cable. After a quick channel search you'll be able to watch tv on your computer of choice as well as save shows (and set to save shows) directly to your harddrive.

If you run on windows xp media or windows vista they should have a built in guide manager...it's very nice and convenient.

 

[rajee]

Thanks Silver Leaf Lycan. That's what I haven't done yet...hook up the coaxial cable. I thought I may need additional hardware. 🙂 :cool 😉 lol

 

[Smade1]

Hi Rajee,

It depends what your source signal is - digital or analogue. Each have their own capture cards. The best cards to get have a hardware encoder on board so your pc doesn't have to encode in software and you get a good frame rate.

I've got a usb one for my laptop that shows the TV OK but might be a bit slow on capture - I haven't tried it.

Here are a couple of links.


http://www.videoforums.co.uk/perfec...-me-find-best-video-capture-card-can-buy.html

http://dvr.about.com/od/capturetvwithacomputer/bb/bybcc.htm

http://www.videomaker.com/article/13478/

 

[rajee]

Thanks Smade. 🙂 :cool 😉 lol

 

[highwing]

Avoid any USB capture device.
They're cheap, buggy, and too slow to properly catch a TV program.

I know this from experience 🙁

 

[rajee]

Thanks Highwing.