Watching TV...

[skip2mylou]

hello everyone,
i sort of kinda wanna do something. i was wondering, how can i use my computer monitor to watch TV (Standard TV), reason bieng i want to do a few video experiments...i dont have fancy cables or such, but what advice can be given on this topic...
thanks and happy posting...

[canadateck]

Buy a Ati TV Card,Thats all you would need to watch TV.

[reboot]

If you ONLY want to watch TV, you don't need any fancy card. A $20 TV card will do.
If you want to "time-shift" (record stuff) from TV onto your computer, then you need to figure out what card/device you want/need, based on what you want the final output to be, speed of your CPU and hard drive(s), type of file you want to deal with, amount of editing you might want to do, and about 30 other things I can't think of at the mo.

[redwudz]

Check this one, less than $30 US.https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=213#comments

EDIT: Oops, wrong one, maybe this one:https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=135#comments

The second one has a tuner.

[skip2mylou]

just for the sake of it...
is there anyway to do this WITHOUT using a card?

[skip2mylou]

or if i need something, is there any way i can get a USB hookup?

[redwudz]

Quote: "just for the sake of it...
is there anyway to do this WITHOUT using a card? "

If you have a video input on your computer, you can use a VCR as a tuner.

Or you could get an external capture box that feeds out through USB. If it didn't have a tuner, you would still need a VCR to select channels, though.

Maybe something like this:http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=612720&Sku=...&CMP=KNC-GOOGL

[skip2mylou]

Quote: "just for the sake of it...
is there anyway to do this WITHOUT using a card? "

If you have a -+- video input on your computer, you can use a VCR as a tuner.

Or you could get an external capture box that feeds out through USB. If it didn't have a tuner, you would still *~* need a VCR to select channels, though.

-+- how would i know how to identify the VIDEO input?
*~* but would i still need it if i dont need to use the VCR?

[Ward River]

Cheap get-'r-done card here. I'd contact the seller first though and find out how much they are wanting to ship it though. You should be able to get a card like this for 10 bucks or less shipped. I've found several of them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5183904540

[skip2mylou]

i m gonna be honest here. i recently recorded some thing thru my analog videocamera, and i am having a get together in 2 days, and i wanna play it back then. however, the audio has too much background noise. so my first thought was to capture the VIDEO and AUDIO, edit the AUDIO, so that it is good, and burn the finished video with audio onto a VCD. now since i dont have too many gadgets, i wondered how to get my video onto my comp (from VHS, beause i had already dubbed the videocamera tape). i have a digital CAMERA, which, with its SD card, can take up to 30 mins of video, so i was gonna set up my tripod, and record like that, off the TV, u know wat i mean, but the video is bad, i knew that, and so do all of you, that there are flashes across the screen and watnot. however, i saw that my monitor is LCD, and there is no problem like that. that is where i came up with this idea...i know kinda well, ametuer , but i didnt get anything else, any ideas?

[redwudz]

You need something to tune the TV stations. Either a built-in tuner on the video card or an external tuner. A VCR has the tuner, just easy to use one. I'm sure there are USB boxes with tuners, but unless you have a laptop, they may be a little pricey compared to a internal PCI card.

But if your present video card has a input? It likely would be a S-video input (1/2" round, 5-7 pin) or maybe composite (RCA phono jack). You need to check the specs for your video card. S-video input would need a S-video source, probably a S-video VCR. If it has composite, easier, but you still need a video source, again usually a VCR or other tuner.

[skip2mylou]

@ redwudz

yeah i have an S-VIDEO, but no S-VIDEO VCRs...

[reboot]

All you need (if you have S-video in) is a composite (RCA) to S-video adapter cable.
I doubt that your current card has S-video in, whereas plenty of cards have S-Video OUT.

You may be able to capture through firewire or USB, depending on what your camera puts out.

Easiest way: get a capture card, hook up the cam to VCR, VCR to computer.
Best way (for you): get a USB capture device with tuner.

[mike909]

Im not sure if I understand your problem correctly but viewsonic makes a device that takes all kinds of inputs and outputs them to a standard d-sub monitor port so you can use your monitor to watch tv and stuff. http://www.viewsonic.com/products/tventertainment/
If your trying to get the video onto the computer from a vhs/analog device then yea...get a card like the others are saying.[/url]

[redwudz]

OK, so you only really need to filter the audio? You could feed the audio into your sound card from the VCR, filter it and put it back onto a VHS tape. You would need a second VCR, with the sound coming from your line out on your sound card with the filtered sound and the video coming from the first VCR. Tough for sync, though.

With your time constraints, not so easy. No matter what, you are going to have to dub either the video or audio. Check your video card though, it may have a video in.

Anyway, feed your audio into the line in on your audio card and see if you can do any good with filtering. If you don't have a audio editor, try Audacity. It's free and has a bunch of filters. At least you will have the audio part tackled.

[skip2mylou]

yeah as a matter of fact syncing was one of my first ideas but i scrapped it it would be too hard... but thanks

[skip2mylou]

so wat else is possible?

[reboot]

Get a good capture card.

[skip2mylou]

o thanks, i decided it wasnt fair to let you all know of my predicament so late, and im just gonna capture the audio and play that back, that should be good enough. but anyways keep posting because this same situation will most definately come back up...