What device can you use to capture your gameplays for NES?

[Armymanis]

Hey guys! Title says it all. I want to be able to capture my gameplays for NES games and be able to post them up on youtube. I know Angry Video game nerd captures a lot of his games using a DVD recorder and DVD-R or DVD-RW disks. Is there any other way to do this? The HD PVR works great for xbox 360 and PS3's, but I want to be able to capture gameplay on my NES, N64, PS2, and gamecube.

Any help is much appreciated.

[J T]

I would imagine you could just go straight into a capture card on your PC.

Or you could play emulators and use FRAPS.
http://www.fraps.com/

[Armymanis]

I don't want to use emulators as I don't think it does the image of the real game any justice. I would really love to use the real game and play on the TV while I capture the video. Anyone else have any suggestions? I don't think my PC has enough room for another card. I already have my graphics card in there.

[J T]

There are external capture cards that connect via USB. You plug RCA in on one end and connect to your PC via USB where you record. You might want to split the output so you can monitor on your TV as well, but it should allow you to record direct to PC from your NES.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

You can get cheap USB capture cards that even include S-Video input. Can't speak for their quality, but they should work fine. If you want to record NES in particular, you can hook up the AV cables to your capture card and the RF cable to your TV. RCA splitter cables are also an option - I use mine for the audio on my NES and I assume it would work for video too.

[Armymanis]

Yeah so I use my RF cable to hook up my NES to a TV so if I use one of these USB capture devices will I get the best quality like Angry Video game nerd or Pat the NES punk? I am wondering how the Angry video game nerd hooks his NES up to his DVD player if the RF plug is already in the TV?

I guess I am confused. I have been only used to capturing PC gaming and Xbox 360 and PS3 gaming so this older stuff is new to me.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Theoretically you'll get better quality than AVGN because he's capturing the video, encoding it to DVD, (possibly) transcoding it to some other format to put in his video project, encoding it again, and then putting it on YouTube, which will transcode it to MP4.

You'll skip the DVD step, capturing directly from the NES AV out to your hard drive, saving your project, and uploading to wherever. Unless AVGN's DVD player has some real nice filters, the quality from a decent capture card should be as good or better.

I am wondering how the Angry video game nerd hooks his NES up to his DVD player if the RF plug is already in the TV?

Notice that the NES has two video options: The RF output in the back and the higher quality AV outputs on the right side. You can keep one connected to your TV and the other to your computer.

[Armymanis]

SO i can connect the RF cable connected to the TV and the red and white AV cables connected to the capture device? Is this what your saying? If so, which catpure device should i get?

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Yeah, right on.

I'm using an old 90s PCI card, but I think you should look for an affordable USB stick with decent reviews. I don't know any particular ones so you'll have to do some Googling.

[Armymanis]

Yeah, right on.

I'm using an old 90s PCI card, but I think you should look for an affordable USB stick with decent reviews. I don't know any particular ones so you'll have to do some Googling.

Thanks so much dude! I plan on doing a youtube channel of complete gameplays of video games so people can watch them if they get stuck. I've decided I am not going to include my voice unless I really need to give a tip or something