DV Camera/Video Game Capture Help

Aeri · Post by **Aeri** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:44 pm

I've been wanting to capture footage from my Playstation2, but I'm not sure how to go about that. I looked into capture cards, but my hard drive isn't THAT big, and I don't have a whole lot of money on hand. I have a nice new DV camcorder that has a cable to connect it to the tv through AV jacks, and a firewire cord to connect to my computer (MacBookPro), but I'm stuck at the part where you get the footage from the television onto the camera...

I read through the manual, and while there's an AV OUT plug on the camera, it doesn't seem to have an AV IN plug anywhere, it doesn't say anything about recording from the tv. Any help would be much appreciated!

Org Profile · Post by **LantisEscudo** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:38 pm

What kind of camera do you have?

It may only be able to play from the tape on the TV, and not be able to take input from the PS2 to the tape/Firewire port.

Aeri · Post by **Aeri** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:06 pm

It's a Panasonic Digital Video Camcorder, Model No. PV-GS59.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of; it doesn't look it can take input through it's AV plug. Is there any way around that, or should I start looking for a capture card?

Oh yeah, do you know what kinds of cameras CAN take input to the tape? My father has a lot of camera equipment, and I can always ask at my university.

Org Profile · Post by **LantisEscudo** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:35 pm

Yeah, the GS59 is out only. A capture card or a DV-bridge (analog <-> DV converter box, many work both ways) would probably be your best bet.

I use either a Panasonic AG-DVX100A camera or a Canopus ADVC-100 DV-bridge, depending on my needs at the time. I believe Canon's GL2 also has AV In, but I haven't used one of them in quite a while, so I'm not sure.

The camera is not cheap (about $3000 USD last I looked), I got lucky to get mine secondhand through work, the bridge was about $250, IIRC, but has been discontinued in favor of the ADVC-110 (currently lists for $270).

I've seen capture cards as low as $80, but you'll want to do some research into whether a particular card will work with your system at the quality you want.

Aeri · Post by **Aeri** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:48 am

I've heard mention of a DV-bridge before, so I'll definitely look into that. And I'll ask around and see if anyone I know has access to those types of cameras. Thanks so much for the quick response, and all the tips!