1080i video capture - is there any cards at a reasonable price

[mikesbytes]

I'm looking to input a Nintendo Wii into a computer, so it can be displayed in a window and/or full screen. I believe the max quality from the Nintendo Wii is 1080i and was wondering if there were any video capture cards that supported 1080i but didn't cost a fortune?

[Video Head]

What is a reasonable price? To some a Lexus is slumming to others a KIA is luxury...

Blackmagic would be an option.

VH

[mikesbytes]

How much is reasonable, thats a good question. Perhaps 2x the price of standard definition video capture, or a bit more if it incorporates a digital TV tuner.

The objective is to have the convenience of one screen for all viewing. Not sure with the Wii, but could I use a KVM switch?

[complete_no0b]

You're asking the wrong question because your information is incorrect. The maximum output resolution of the Nintendo Wii is 480P.

[mikesbytes]

OK, so I've been told the wrong resolution, thanks for clearing that up. So what about 480p capture?

[jman98]

mikesbytes - Since live in Australia, which is PAL land, you need to be aware of something VERY important before you go down this path. We get posts all the time here (honestly, it's starting to get old in my opinion) from Brits who cry because their capture cards can't capture PAL60 signals. If you have any PAL60 games you want to capture, this is going to be a major difficulty for you. I did a web search once out of curiosity to see if any cards could capture PAL60 signals and I found a few that claimed to do it. I have no idea how well they work.

Note that standard def capture cards sometimes have delays of a few seconds where they buffer the video image and what is displayed on the PC during the capture is a few seconds behind the actual video signal. This drives gamers nuts. Hauppauge cards will definitely do this. I don't record video games, so I can't tell you if any cards are well suited for this.

My standard def video capture cards all record interlaced video because that is the only video source I can feed them. I have no idea if your typical standard def card is even capable of recording 480p, but they certainly can do 480i.

[jman98]

I forgot to add - you may find searching in this forum useful as we've had quite a few posts about capturing video game output in the past 3 months. You may just want to keep looking at post titles in the Capturing forum as there are other posts on the subject that may be useful to you.

[mikesbytes]

A delay in displaying the video kills the game, thanks for pointing that one out, it would seem that capture may not be the way to go and I should investigate a KVM switch