[//Nathan]

I'm looking for an internal PCI capture card or USB2/FireWire capture device which will do the following:

* Allow me to watch video on my computer from the red/yellow/white cables or the old screw-style cable (is that coax?).

* Allow me to record video from VHS, possibly video game console gameplay.

Basically I want to convert my 64-bit gaming rig into a media center. I want to be able to hook a digital cable box up to my computer, watch TV on the computer, and use the computer to record content from cable (or whatever I hook up). I realize for a full media center modification, I also need a remote and receiver. I understand this... I'm not looking for those parts at this time, unless they're bundled with the capture device and it's still a good deal. I'm not looking for armchair websurfing just yet - I still have just a 19" CRT. But in the next few years, I want an HDTV (not a plasma, just a wide CRT one - Sears has a 34" Sony WEGA wide HDTV for $999, but that's Sears, so I'm sure I could get it cheaper) and want to use that as my monitor, but there are a couple things my sister-in-law and her boyfriend have recorded on VHS, and I want it on the computer. A couple home videos, a couple wrestling matches...

I've heard of a few, but with XP Media Center and something of a media center craze going on, I figured there'd be people here with some good and bad experiences I could learn from.

[//Nathan]

Bah! You guys are pathetic... no one here's built their own media center or modded their computer into a media center! Blasphemy! Guess I'm going to have to go at this alone, and report back from this as-of-yet-uncharted-on-IPS frontier.

Here's what I got... Hauppage PVR-150, has TV in, FM in, S-video in, and whatever you call red-white-yellow in. $62.99, no remote, no Media Center support. But I can watch or record live TV in a window or Fullscreen. Or video from a VCR, video game system, whatever. The same thing with a remote and Media Center support is $119.99, but that's only on the Hauppage site; Newegg doesn't have it.

And while I was at it - call me a fanboy, call me a geek - I got not only an AMD64/Newegg shirt, but a license plate frame that says "I'd rather be pimpin my PC".

[LoR*Evanescence]

//Nathan, on Mar 24 2006, 04:09 PM, said:

Bah! You guys are pathetic... no one here's built their own media center or modded their computer into a media center! Blasphemy! Guess I'm going to have to go at this alone, and report back from this as-of-yet-uncharted-on-IPS frontier.

Here's what I got... Hauppage PVR-150, has TV in, FM in, S-video in, and whatever you call red-white-yellow in. $62.99, no remote, no Media Center support. But I can watch or record live TV in a window or Fullscreen. Or video from a VCR, video game system, whatever. The same thing with a remote and Media Center support is $119.99, but that's only on the Hauppage site; Newegg doesn't have it.

And while I was at it - call me a fanboy, call me a geek - I got not only an AMD64/Newegg shirt, but a license plate frame that says "I'd rather be pimpin my PC".

yeah, that Hauppage PVR does look good. Leadtek also has a nice one with similar specs. www.leadtek.com inboth usb or pci form.



I have converted my laptop into a Media center pc using windows xp x64 There is finaly a pci / usb card with drivers. The Fusion5 HDTV from DVico.

The USB card I got for $140, but it supports Digital Over the Air Broadcsts, Unencrpyted Digital Cable, and HDTV (Full 1920 x 1080) an can record it directly from the digital signal never needing the video in analog form. It comes out quite nice. It also hase The Full RCA/composite video / audio and S Video in.


This card is more expensive then what you are looking for, but who knows, hdtv or digital directly in might be worth it, I would deffenetly go for the Hauppage or leadtek PVR if I were you. There both really good. Another good one to is ATI's TV Wonder.