I have been looking on eBay for a USB video capture device that uses the types of inputs that a TV would use. I was THINKING of wanting to capture playthroughs of old video games from the late 80s and early 90s, on a system that has a resolution of 256x240. The system I'm talking about is the Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as the NES, which had the game Super Mario Bros. among many titles. Would it be possible to capture the video without problems?hmm, well, if your looking for something like a TV tuner, generally there is a very noticeable delay from the time the card receives it's input to when it is shown on-screen. (obvious if you have a television and a PC with the capture device).

Another alternative would be emulation. Unfortunately while the emulator programs (such as NEStopia, NEStron, etc) are perfectly legal, the ROM files that are required to play games are copyright and therefore downloading them is considered pirating.

The input would be one of those self-contained USB units with the RCA inputs. This is the type of device: http://cgi.ebay.com/EasyCap-Usb-2-0-Video-TV-DVD-VHS-Audio-Capture-Adapter_W0QQitemZ190336872186QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Video_TV_Cards?hash=item2c50f62efa&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

The output will be straight from a 20-inch CRT TV with RCA outputs. (Yellow, white and red.) The gaming console is connected to the TV in the same way.

I am completely against emulation, thus that's not a choice I will make.you'll likely be subject to the "Lag" issue.

Also why connect the console to the TV and then connect the tuner via the Television? Why not go straight from console to Tuner?I'll probably try both ways. Right now, I don't have a device in which I can record from the gaming console to the computer, so I'll have to wait.

I don't need any more replies for now.Sorry for bumping this thread BC_Programmer, but I have something new to mention regarding what we talked about earlier.

I have RECEIVED my USB 2.0 video capture device, and have successfully made a recording from my NES. The recording was Super Mario Bros. The software that was used was Ulead Video Studio SE DVD. The USB video capture device is the EasyCap 2.1C. I have to mention that I was not subjected to the lag issue even with the TV's output jacks hooked up to the computer through the USB device. However, I waited for the video counter to start up before turning the NES on. It wasn't necessary with Super Mario Bros., but is useful with some of my other games, like Mega Man 3. (The music starts as soon as the system is powered on.)

Here was the mode I used:
File format: MPEG
MPEG Type: MPEG-2
TV System: NTSC
Frame rate: 30 fps
Frame size: 720x480
Deinterlacing: Yes
Bit rate: Constant
Video data rate: 9500 kbps
Audio data rate: 384 kbps, 44100 khz, stereo

Note: The NES has mono sound, thus it doesn't come out in stereo regardless of whether the sound is set to stereo or mono. That'll be a DIFFERENT story with the Super NES.

I have to say that the above settings were the best I could use to get a REASONABLE file size without lag in the video. In order to get sharp video from the NES though, I had to use a special video cable from Radioshack that went straight from composite to s-video. That enabled the best picture quality.

EDIT:
Despite my efforts, the resulting video had audio lag. I'm going to have to try something different. I won't go directly to the computer unless using the TV gives lag regardless, and I won't do uncompressed AVI movies unless the game will take under an hour to complete. (Such as Mega Man or Mega Man 2, or Super Mario Bros. without playing the hard mode.) If I am forced to play it using the computer directly, I might attempt to bring a CRT monitor out of the basement to get better response from the games.


BC_Programmer, this is my final post in our discussion.

I have noticed that there is lag in the audio of my video regardless of the video format if I connect the TV to the computer. I'm going to connect the console directly to the computer instead, bypassing the TV. If I get any delay in control using my LCD monitor, I'm going to shut the computer down and bring up a CRT.

EDIT:
The CRT was no help, as I had the same issues recording the game directly to the computer as I did with the LCD. However, I found a lagless way to record the game to the computer when the console was hooked up to the TV. Guess what I did? I found out what the problem with the audio going out of SYNC with the video was. The software I was using, Ulead VideoStudio SE DVD, had some issues that resulted in the audio lag. However, when using Roxio VideoWave, no problems occurred. I was able to tell this in my test video of "Super Mario Bros." because I noticed that the sound was right on in World 2-2. (The sound played immediately when the coins were grabbed, and I also heard the exit/hurt sound effect right when Mario entered the pipe at the end of the level. The timing was exactly the way it was when I was playing the game.

The problem is solved. Not only that, but being able to record it while playing the game on a CRT TV set means I can get the play control that I need to play the games at my best.