Capture Set with DVD Recorder

[mrwhisk]

Hello Community.

I have a DVD recorder and would like to use to it to capture my sets. This seems like a more complicated task than I had first thought and would love to hear from those who have achieved using a DVD recorder for this purpose. i.e. What is the best way to connect my VGA signal to the DVD recorder?

Laptop: Dell Precision M4700
DVD RW: Sony HXD890

I can't afford a blackmagic box, but I understand there is cheap equipment such as this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0694924311

Not sure how good it is, but I want to stay away from the limitations on resolution of S-video, however the above item claims to support RGB.

Any ideas and help would be greatly appreciated as to the best (and most cost effective) solution,

Many Thanks

[He2neg]

If you want to record the same Signal, witch you are sending to the Projector then you need to somehow duble this Signal.
Laptop --VGA--> | 1->2 |--VGA---> Projector
...................................\---VGA-->Recording



And then you can convert the Signal for your recording to whatever you need with whatever works

[thedawjones]

The Kramer tools hardware is overkill for this purpose.It also has no composite out. So
then you would need to buy an additional piece of hardware.
Does he need signal amplification? ...............
Lastly,it is expensive, and the op is looking for a cheaper alternative as stated.


I have owned one of these generic vga converters.. It was lost in a move and then I bought this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Generic-PC-to-TV- ... dapter+rca

They both work, but the resolution tops out @ 1280x1024,60fps if that is good enough for your needs then it is a quick and cheap capture option.

With one vga input ,you can output to three different sources simultaneously. (vga,s-video,composite) so it works as a splitter/doubler/tripler as well.

The one I own now it does picture in picture and still frame capture as well.
It has performed solidly.
All for under $20
good luck

[Joris]

Is the DVD recorder a Blu-Ray recorder? Otherwise I'm not sure why you'd want to avoid s-video or composite. It seems you cannot record higher than PAL/NTSC resolution anyway?

[mrwhisk]

Thankyou all for your time and replies,

@He2neg: I already have a four way VGA splitter. I bought from ebay at a good price, however it makes this annoying buzzing sound - grrrr......

@thedawjones: I have been looking at this box. Great to hear from someone who has actually used one! So when you say it tops out at 1280x1024,60fps - is that input, or output? Surely the s-video out is limited to 480i / 576i - is it downscaling on the fly? Really glad to hear that its performance was solid for you, it's hard to get reviews on these things.

@Joris: It's a DVD recorder with 160GB hard drive. I'm pretty sure you can record to the hard drive at whatever resolution the input RGB feed as at - i.e HD.

Wow, so much good advice. I think I'm going to give one of those magic boxes that thedawjones posted... How else are others recording their sets without a really expensive capture box?

Also, on a related note. When using a DVD recorder in this way - what's the best way to monitor it? The player has a HDMI out, could I use a converter to switch that to VGA, to use on my monitor?

Thanks again for all the time and energy,

Cheers,

Jamie

[thedawjones]

That is the output resolution.
As far as monitoring, there are three outputs, vga,composite, s-video
You can use all simultaneously.
e.g. -Composite to dvr and vga to external monitor.
Good luck.