Member Avatar for steosaur(oWn)

My friend has a camcorder with rca output jacks including s-video, I was wondering if there is some software that allows you to plug the camera into the computer and record on the computer what comes out of the camera.

I do realize that computers don't have rca inputs which is why my second question is: What piece of hardware at radioshack or somewhere would I have to get to convert the rca's to say a usb plug?

Or if someone could just educate me on if this is even possible that would be nice. :)

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Member Avatar for oalee

My friend has a camcorder with rca output jacks including s-video, I was wondering if there is some software that allows you to plug the camera into the computer and record on the computer what comes out of the camera.

I do realize that computers don't have rca inputs which is why my second question is: What piece of hardware at radioshack or somewhere would I have to get to convert the rca's to say a usb plug?

Or if someone could just educate me on if this is even possible that would be nice. :)

Yes this is possible, Im sure of that. I used to have a camcorder as a webcam. But that was way back in 1997. I had a pixelview video card with a tv tuner and an s-video connector. I just cant remember the software that i used. maybe i'll try and get back to you on this, i'll try and look it up. but you can try Camtasia. It's a software that i use with my yahoo messenger.

Member Avatar for Roberdin

Just get a cheapish TV card (about 30, which is approx $65 US) or a USB "break-out-box" thingy. They usually come with rudimentary editing software.

Member Avatar for TallCool1

My friend has a camcorder with rca output jacks including s-video, I was wondering if there is some software that allows you to plug the camera into the computer and record on the computer what comes out of the camera.

There are a variety of hardware/software combos that will do this, ranging from the barely-adequate to the ridiculously over-engineered. Some of your decision as to which road to take will be based on the computer hardware and software involved. If it's a newer computer with Windows XP and USB 2.0, a USB solution is suitable. If it's older, or running Windows 98, your options are more limited. USB 1.1 works, but quality and flexibility suffer.

As Roberdin pointed out, most TV-tuner cards (and some mid-line and high-end graphics cards, as well) have video-capture capabilities. Some even have separated video (a/k/a S-Video) inputs -- and come with video capture software. Win XP comes with a simple video editor, and you can also check out the video section on SourceForge for free software that might be useful to you.

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