Simple TV-to-Computer Video Transfer?

[EA11R]

I've been searching the internet for a capture card, and, suddenly, epiphany: I know nothing of capture cards.

I'm searching for a very simple device: plug one end into the TV, the other into the computer, and -presto- TV on computer.

With the things I found, there seemed to be a lot of excess, and possibly stuff that my computer can't even support. The only thing I found without an antenna (dazzle) apparently recorded directly to DVD, but my computer doesn't have a DVD burner, so that seems impossible. What's the simplest, hopefully cheapest, way to get video (note: I didn't say "broadcasts") from my TV to my laptop?

I found a similar thread, but I felt the need to start a new one, because that one begins with former knowledge, while I am basically clueless. And yes, drifting videos on Youtube is the eventual goal here.

 

[Eric.]

It seems like the Dazzle DVD Recorder should also be able to record to the hard drive. If not, the more expensive version allows for editing and such, so it almost has to.

 

[Azuremen]

I use a cheap capture card to get SD (S-video and RCA) to my computer. It's over at Newegg, here.

Took a little to get the drivers setup and what not, but lets me run my PS2 through my computer in a separate window. You can opt to record with it if you want, but I haven't bothered.

Probably better things on the market for this, and I know woot.com had something going that was USB for around 30 dollars or so. But that was during the woot.off so who knows now.

EDIT - anything that captures and records video should be able to store to the hard drive. The data has to be cached there anyhow while it is burned to the DVD media.

 

[wfooshee]

When you say you want the TV on the computer, you mean you need the computer to display whatever's on the TV, no matter the video source? In other words, you're not just looking for a tuner card?

If that's the case, it depends on if HD is part of the equation. You'll need a tuner card, but one with S-video or other input, and a matching output from your TV, including audio. As for hooking to a laptop, there are USB tuner cards available, which is probably the way to go for you.

Keep in mind, it doesn't turn your laptop into a TV set. The TV video is in a window, although it can be maximized. You can probably record to hard disk as MPEG2 DVD-quality video, as any decent card will have MPEG encoding in hardware.

If you want to be able to use the computer as a digital video recorder, then the TV is actually not part of it. The card itself is the tuner, hook up your cable to its connector, and the software can turn your PC into a DVR. I have that kind of setup on this very PC, running BeyondTV from Snapstream, and I have a MediaMVP at the TV set for viewing. The MediaMVP uses the LAN to get video files from the PC and output them onto the TV.