Let me ask you this: Is it a good idea to invest in a TV Tuner to get my footage and then capture that footage with Virtual Dub Mod? Also, where would I plug the TV Tuner in and how can I get it to record the footage?
Ok first you have to know that there are two different types of hardware for getting footage, there are TV Tuners and Capture Cards. TV Tuners are generally meant for just plugging in cable and being able to watch cable TV on it. Even though it is meant for cable, you can sort of trick it to record game consoles. You can either use an RF adapter for your Cube/Wii (I don't think they sell Wii ones), or hook your system into a VCR, and connect the VCR into your TV Tuner. The quality is nice, and you get the added TV functionality (which I had needed at the time since the cable port on my TV is broken), but it's a pain because of needing special wires, or even a full VCR. Also, TV Tuners have poor compatibility, and most likely won't work with Virtual Dub Mod.
I recently invested in a capture card which definitely works much better. Capture cards are normally meant for capturing any type of A/V from devices normally using the standard composite (yellow red white) cords. Capture cards have very high compatibility, and should work with any standard program you want to use, such as VDub Mod (I personally prefer Windows Media Encoder). The only problem you will run into is recording the audio. Even though the capture cards do have red and white audio ports on them, most programs (such as VDub Mod and Win Media Encoder) aren't able to record audio from these sources, but the video will work fine. The audio however will work fine when you record with the program that comes bundled with the hardware. To get around the problem and have the audio record fine in any program you want, you can buy a cable that has male red and white plugs on one end, and a small headphone like plug on the other end. (
Example. but don't worry, you can get them as cheap as like $4, just not the Monster brand). You can plug this cable from the audio of your game system into the microphone port on your computer and record the sound through there. If you need additional information on hooking it up, just ask.
For connections, it depends on if you have a desktop or laptop. For desktops, you can get internal PCI capture cards or internal TV tuners. You can also get USB ones, which I say are the best because you can also connect them to laptops or to a differ computer easily if you want to use it at a friends house, or on a future laptop you may purchase. There are also a couple laptop only options such as expresscards (this was the type of TV Tuner I had btw).
Ok that was a long post, and I guess a lot of it wasn't needed lol. Get a USB Capture Card, they are awesome. If you don't mind the money, I highly recommend this device:
LINK
