Cheap RCA in for HTPC?

[cdh123]

Hi,

I need help finding a specific product. I am looking to get the standard yellow/ red/ white INPUT plugs for an HTCP build. I want to be able to plug in stuff to the HTPC like you can on modern TV?s-- like xbox or ps2 or dvd players etc. I would also like to be able to capture stuff onto the hard drive of the HTPC through these plugs.

I have looked around a bit on google and newegg etc. but I don?t know exactly what I am looking for. I have seen those Hauppauge cards at Newegg . Is this what I have to get? I mean these things are like $90 -$200! That?s half the cost of the whole HTPC! I figure there must be some sort of cheaper decent alternative? I do not need a tuner at all, and I do not need anything to be HD or anything; I just want some standard yellow/red/ white rca plugs to plug into. I am trying to build this HTPC on a budget so I?d like to find some cheap alternatives.

We are using this HTPC on standard tube televisions so as long as the quality was looked good on those screens, that?s all that would matter to me (I mean I don?t want the captured video to be out of sync with the audio or to have horrible video quality or anything, just standard regular def quality).

The mobo I am using will have a PCE-Ex1 and 2 PCI slots available. The case will have one 5.25 drive available (it comes with 2, but one will be the dvd drive) and there will also be one 3.5 inch bay available. I am using all AMD stuff in this build if that matters; a 2.1 Brisbane CPU and an HD 3450 256 MB ATI card. I don?t care if the plugs are in the front or the back. I am in the US and $$-wise= the cheaper the better 🙂 Any advice at all would be appreciated.

THANKS VERY MUCH!!!
:thumbsup:

 

[jackschmittusa]

A simple solution might be a vid card with VIVO (video in/video out). The video connection is often S-video, but there are cheap RCA?S-video adapters to be had easily. The red and white RCAs can use an adapter to convert to an 1/8" stereo plug for sound card input. Line out from the sound card can be converted the same way.

Both types of adapters are available from Monoprice.com for less than a dollar each.

 

[cdh123]

Fantastic! Exactly what I needed to know. I didn't know about Vivo; sounds like that'll do it and the adapters make perfect sense. Thank you very much for your help 🙂

 

[Zap]

Someone posted about this recently... $10 video capture card. I've heard that most capture devices aren't the best for hooking up a console to because they add a bit of lag.

 

[bigsnyder]

Many ATI Radeon cards feature VIVO.

 

[BassBomb]

What about the monitor having media inputs (alot do nowadays)

 

[bigsnyder]

Yes they do, but I am not aware of any that feedback to the computer. The ones I have seen are just for displaying analog sources.