Capture from TV & Satellite

[Aceplayer]

I have a fairly old and basic computer. I want to try and capture/record from analogue TV and also somehow try (if possible) and capture from satellite (I’m from the UK and so have SKY digital) on to my pc rather than on videotapes.

I've tried doing some research on it but still don't know much. I know I need to get some new hardware but would anyone be able to tell me what I’d need for the best quality? And then where to go from there...?

Thanks

[flaninacupboard]

excellent for recording from Sky digital, Freeview or NTL are the Canoupus ADVC products. ADVC-50 takes the analogue signal and converts to DV, then you record this on your hard driv (~13 gigs an hour)
the ADVC-100 can also send DV back to analogue and bak to your TV. this is probably the device for you if you want to use your PC like a VCR.

these come in at £125 and £189 respectively. the good thing about these devices is that all the number crunching is done in hardware, you don't need a good pc to use them

Only consideration is hard drive space, but with a 160gig drive providing 12 hours of video, and setting you back as little as £58, it's not too bad. you can of course re-encode your videos after capturing, DVD compliant/quality files will be ~3 gigs an hour, giving you 53 hours of video on that drive.