Is there anyway to connect a console to a pc?

[sonicfoot]

okay, ive been buzzing over this one.
is there anyway to connect a console (eg playstation, dreamcast) to your pc and play it on your pc monitor?

[Xeven]

some video card have video line inputs, my ASUS GF2 has both Video IN/OUT, and most tv-tuner cards have Video Line inputs as well.. you could use that..

[Bgnome]

depending on what you mean, most consoles have a vga box that allows you to connect them to your pc monitor.

[Sylvan Sorrow]

well, I have my PS2 hooked up to my PC, I have 2 video inputs, one on my TV-Tuner card, another on my ASUS geforce3

[sonicfoot]

[QUOTE] originally posted by ryoga:
"well, I have my PS2 hooked up to my PC, I have 2 video inputs, one on my TV-Tuner card, another on my ASUS geforce3"
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that is cool ;)
could you explain to me how you did it? please!
the last time i bought a console was when i had a tv and a megadrive 8 years ago!:D

[Xeven]

so what do you wanna connect to your pc then? :confused:

[sonicfoot]

quote: originally posted by xevan:
"so what do you wanna connect to your pc then?"
ps2 or a dreamcast.

[Xeven]

a. you can buy a vga box to connect your ps2 vid-out directly to the pc monitor.
b. buy a card that has a video line-in, and connect your ps2 vid-out there.

[sonicfoot]

what about a dreamcast? is it the same thing? oh, and what is a vga box? is it like those things you use to like, connect a megadrive to a tv?

[Bgnome]

DC VGA box (http://www.lik-sang.com/catalog/product_info.php?category=0&products_id=82&)

PS2 VGA Box (http://www.lik-sang.com/catalog/product_info.php?category=0&products_id=274&)

[sonicfoot]

thanks.
hope things go much further for u people.:)

[sonicfoot]

can you post in some screenshots of what the games look like on the monitor?
Thanks!

[takwu]

if you are using the tv in method, then the quality isn't better than tv because it's thru the same connection.
it might even be worse depending on the quality of your tv capture card

if you are using the "VGA box" method then you cannot just "take a screen shot" like you do with the computer... the box connects the console directly to the monitor, not thru the computer, so the computer cannot "see" the picture to make any screen shot.
well, unless you do it the old fashioned way... with a camera :D

[Samor]

Originally posted by takwu
if you are using the tv in method, then the quality isn't better than tv because it's thru the same connection.
it might even be worse depending on the quality of your tv capture card

also depends on what software you're using :)
I have a cheap bt848 card which is a bit of an older model, but it gives a good picture with my DC, especially when you use Dscaler (www.dscaler.org)
See also this thread:
http://www.ngemu.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8792

[Shadow Lady]

hey, great info thanx

[sonicfoot]

does the quality of the tv card also depends on your current specs?
ie processor, ram etc.

[Samor]

no, in fact, all tv-cards perform very similar, since almost all of them either use a bt848 or bt878 chip. All new cards have a bt878 chip, of which some people say it performs slightly better, but the difference in picture quality is minimal. What's much more important is the software. Most tv-card software is crap, and you see a lot of scanlines , especially in games. Dscaler however, is free and uses filters to get rid of the scanlines, giving a much better picture. I dont know what the system requirements for Dscaler are, but I think it will run fine on most systems.

[sonicfoot]

okay, so i know the picture quality when using a video in.
since its impossible to take screenshots of the picture quality on a vga box, could someone at least describe to me the quality on the vga box.

[Samor]

just the same as a pc....
pick a pc game and set its resolution to 640x480. That's about what a DC looks like...however, the DC looks a little better in 640x480 than pc games since the DC games were optimised for that particular resolution, whereas pc games are often optimised for higher resolutions.

[Samor]

maybe you have a sega pc games? most of those run in 640x480, they give you a good idea of what it would look like...only DC games are newer and look better ;)

[sonicfoot]

okay, dreamcast i got the picture, but how about gamecube or ps2?

[Samor]

I have no idea what that would look like...

[sk8bloke22]

i hav a ps2 and a megadrive connected to a my pc (not at the same time lol). mmy pc came with a tv card, which had a normal tv aerial port, and a video in. for the megadrive u jsut plug it in like a tv, but the quality is terrible. for the ps2, as it comes with a scart lead u can use the video in. but u need an adapter that'll make the 2 audio jacks (audio L and audio R) to fit in a single line-in port on ur sound card. i got one for £3. the quality is good for my tv card, but no where near a real tv quality. i guess the rgb boxthat goes directly into ur monitor will give u the best quality. but with tvcard, u can like go on the net at the same time and play with ur pc, with the tv minimised in the corner. hauppauge tv cards are real cheap (u can pick them up second hand for like £20 ) and some even come with audio L and audio R ports for a true scart connection, but otherwise just get a cheap 2 phon --> 1 phono (i think its called that) at like any tv store. its quite funny playing dvds on my monitor with the ps2 minimised in one half of the screen, and my pc dvd player minimised playing a different dvd in the other half. i might get the rgb box as well...

[takwu]

as i said, the quality of "tv in" depends on the card.
if you get a cheap one as suggested above, it'll probably be worse.

the packaging of a tv capture card should tell you the frame rate and resolution.