Getting video from the TV to my computer

March 18, 2014 7:21 PM

I like to make gifs. What kind of device and setup do I need to pull live video off of television and onto my computer?
posted by cashman to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: Cnet has a fairly good breakdown on how to do this.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:44 PM on March 18, 2014

I have a feeling most people make gifs from recordings of their favorite shows that appear on YouTube or torrent sites. You are creating a lot of work for yourself just to make gifs!
posted by AppleTurnover at 8:14 PM on March 18, 2014

Best answer: I have a feeling most people make gifs from recordings of their favorite shows that appear on YouTube or torrent sites.

The secret to this, by the way, is GifCam. Rips gifs directly off your screen, out of Netflix, YouTube, etc. It's beautiful. Not as elegant as actually running your video through a real video program but it's so easy.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:33 PM on March 18, 2014 [9 favorites]

for what it's worth, and to actually answer your question directly about capturing live video... all the local thrift stores around me almost CONSTANTLY have composite or component video USB ADC boxes. They're a dumb ripoff of $40-100 new, but i see them at thrift shops every time i go for ~$6

seriously, i see them as often as i see non-widescreen old LCD monitors.
posted by emptythought at 10:45 PM on March 18, 2014

Best answer: I use this Hauppauge USB device to record local news -- works great, setup was very easy, no complaints on performance. The files it creates can be pretty big, depending on how much you record, but there are other programs that will let you compress/shrink them to more manageable sizes. Screen-caps from the recordings are a breeze.

Unrelated -- holy cow, that GifCam thing is awesome - thank you BungaDunga!
posted by davidmsc at 10:51 PM on March 19, 2014