PC TV Tuner Recommendations - Specifically for Games

[Hesei]

I was hoping someone might be able to advise me on a good card for playing/recording games on a PC from composite/s-video input.

I know it's possible, years back, I had one of the first ATi All-in-Wonder cards and was able to record television and composite input. I could play the games just as though I were doing it on a television. But when I eventually moved on to a Hauppaugue card years later, I found I couldn't use it the same way because of a video delay. That particular card wouldn't let me view it in real time, there was a delay of a little over a second... not easy to ignore.

So, it's been close to 6 or 7 years since I've really tried using a TV tuner on a PC and was hoping for any recommendations. I would prefer to go with a USB tuner since I want to move to a smaller rig, seeing as how I can save everything on my home server. The main goal isn't really for television, just games. I have a retro set in my office with a CRT, but the sound of it (that high pitch squeal) is just horrifying. Plus, I'd like to make some recordings of a few Dreamcast and Saturn games.

This KWORLD DVD Maker VS USB2800 seems to have some rather good reviews, but people seem to complain a lot about the audio, while this DIAMOND One Touch Video Capture VC500 is getting mixed reviews. Reviewers are reporting 0 to extensive lag times. In addition to that, the top-selling Hauppauge tuner (PCI) is reported as having delays as well... guess they've always been that way.

Anyway, if anyone could make any recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm thinking of just picking up the KWORLD device, but the audio complaints have me a bit worried.

[fox099]

I use an avermedia m780. Ive never tried it on games, but it is one of the top rated cards out there. Svideo and composite inputs are no problem, but all tuner cards have about a 3 second lag. If its a software or hardware issue is beyond me, but I know for live tv feeds mine is about 3 seconds behind another tvplugged straight into the wall.

[Navin_Johnson]

I've been using a Leadteck winfast tv 2000 expert for several years almost exclusively for gaming. I run a ps2, gamecube, and original xbox via a s-video selector switch onto a 36" Gateway Destination monitor. I use Dscaler as the software, and even with my very modest pc (AMD Athlon 1700+ now w/ 512 mb of ram and an ati radeon 7500 pro video card) I'm very happy with the setup. I've never experienced any lag.

I don't know if this card is even sold anymore, but if I remember correctly it was about $40 when I bought it.

[dlmvii]

The adaptec gamebridge is made specifically for this, I used it in college for a couple of years until I had a small tv to use. It's not made anymore, so you'll have to ebay it. It worked quite well, and does composite and s-video (the more expensive model has a plug for an rf cable for tv too)

They seem to have gone up in price quite a but though, when I bought mine (or 2 of them, actually) in 2006, it was only about $20. Not sure if it's worth what it's fetching on ebay. Incidentally, maybe now might be a good time to sell mine...

http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_nkwZga ... R40QQ_mdoZ

[marurun]

You know, this may be an interface issue. I doubt a USB tuner card is going to be able to give you latency-free video response. You'll probably need an add-in card to eliminate latency.

[Hesei]

Thanks for all the input! I went with the GameBridge after reading what dlmvii said and reading a few reviews. I'm a tad worried about the CPU issues, but I'll just have to wait and see. Either way, it's the only USB system with reports of 0 issues with lag. I know a PCI card would be better, but I'm not sure of the expandability of the system I'm gonna go for. I'd still love to hear any other ideas. It'll suck that I've spent the money, but maybe it can help some other google surfer. And I'll be sure to come back and mention how it goes.

[Mozgus]

The gamebridge works for about 2 minutes, and then it ALWAYS falls offsync.

[marurun]

Hesei, please report back with your experiences and a few details of your PC so that we can try to make guesses about whether we'd have similar results.

[dlmvii]

The gamebridge works for about 2 minutes, and then it ALWAYS falls offsync.

THere's a semi-common issue relating to drivers that causes something like this, the fix is in quite a few forums.
Or,since the included software is not very good, any other capture software works just as well (or better) like VirtualDub, DScaler, etc.

[Mozgus]

The gamebridge works for about 2 minutes, and then it ALWAYS falls offsync.

THere's a semi-common issue relating to drivers that causes something like this, the fix is in quite a few forums.
Or,since the included software is not very good, any other capture software works just as well (or better) like VirtualDub, DScaler, etc.

I use nothing but virtualdub. It has the issues there too. So do you want to link me to the fix? I've been searching and all I see are people saying uninstall all your codecs. That's bullshit. I'm not doing that. This thing shouldnt even be touching any codecs when you're just watching stuff.

I mean what can you expect. To answer this entire thread, don't waste your time buying any regular consumer capture devices. All of them suck. I've tried half a dozen of the highest rated ones over the years. The only decent one I ever had was 3dfx VoodooTV, but it only worked right on Win98.