Can EyeTV 250 record gaming?

[Philo86]

I'm sorry if this is obvious, but I'm very confused about how EyeTV 250 works and what it's capable of doing. It says on the homepage it can record tv-shows, but can I record Playstation 2 gaming?

The only thing I need to do is to record the Ps2 gaming on the Macintosh harddrive on the same time as I play the Ps2 on TV.
Also, I have a G4 500 mhz laptop computer. Does it have enough power to record it?

And if there's any other product that does this better (or cheaper) I would be happy to hear about it.

 

[Counterfit]

It can certainly record it, I just hope you aren't planning on playing through there too.

 

[apunkrockmonk]

I don't believe it has enough power to record gaming (your laptop that is.)

For two reasons:

a) When switching to "gaming" mode, the Eye TV switches over from hardware encoding to software encoding. So instead of the Eye TV taking care of the load it then puts it onto your computer which I'm not sure is strong enough to handle the load. (I do believe it is strong enough to just view the gaming though.)

b) Don't even worry about your laptop being powerful enough if it doesn't have USB 2.0 (I know it didn't come stock but maybe you have a card that added it). The Eye TV works fine in hardware encoding mode over USB 1.1 but USB 1.1 doesn't have the throughput needed for software encoding.

Hope this helps.

 

[Philo86]

b) Don't even worry about your laptop being powerful enough if it doesn't have USB 2.0 (I know it didn't come stock but maybe you have a card that added it). The Eye TV works fine in hardware encoding mode over USB 1.1 but USB 1.1 doesn't have the throughput needed for software encoding.

I appreciate the help. But I don't intend to play the game through my laptop. Just record there and play the game on my TV. So I don't think I need to put the gaming mode on if I don't view it on my laptop but just record there?

I don't know the difference between software and hardware encoding. So how does USB 2.0 help with recording?

If my laptop is too weak for even only recording with EyeTV 250 can you recommend some else video capture program for me?

Edit: I know it's a whole bunch of questions

 

[apunkrockmonk]

I appreciate the help. But I don't intend to play the game through my laptop. Just record there and play the game on my TV. So I don't think I need to put the gaming mode on if I don't view it on my laptop but just record there?

I don't know the difference between software and hardware encoding. So how does USB 2.0 help with recording?

If my laptop is too weak for even only recording with EyeTV 250 can you recommend some else video capture program for me?

Edit: I know it's a whole bunch of questions

The main difference between software and hardware encoding is software encoding is done on your computer and uses lots of processor power and USB bandwidth.

Hardware encoding is done by the Eye TV it self, requiring little USB bandwidth and processing power. Hope that helped a bit.


You are correct about only needing to use gaming mode if you want to play it on the laptop, the reason for this is, hardware encoding causes lag that makes it impossible to play games, software encoding doesn't cause lag.

I'm not sure of any other programs other then Eye TV 2. I am also not sure how well your laptop will work.

Also, I'm not even 100% sure if you can record gaming mode.

I do not actually own an Eye TV 250 but I do intend on buying one, I just know a lot about them.

 

[matticus008]

You probably just want a DV bridge. It's just a box that has composite and S-video inputs that plugs into a USB or FW port. It's used for digitizing video from camcorders or VHS tapes, etc. I haven't looked at any prices lately, but you should be able to find them for $40 (you could a few years ago).

 

[ITASOR]

You probably just want a DV bridge. It's just a box that has composite and S-video inputs that plugs into a USB or FW port. It's used for digitizing video from camcorders or VHS tapes, etc. I haven't looked at any prices lately, but you should be able to find them for $40 (you could a few years ago).

$40? Where? I bought a Miglia Director's Cut a few years back for like $400.

 

[matticus008]

$40? Where? I bought a Miglia Director's Cut a few years back for like $400.

Those are unnecessarily fancy . There are plenty of free capture programs (iMovie might also be able to do it, but I'm not sure), so the expensive software bundles aren't necessary. A simple Dazzle one used to sell for about 40 bucks (but they have sketchy quality).

Here's one I found in a 10 second Google search; there are probably others:

Amazon - $52.99

 

[GFLPraxis]

It can certainly record it, I just hope you aren't planning on playing through there too.

Why? The EyeTV 250 has a game mode that turns off the hardware encoding so you can play games lag-free. It advertises it this way on their web page.

To the OP:
I emailed the company a couple weeks ago and they told me that you can record while playing in game mode.

 

[apunkrockmonk]

Why? The EyeTV 250 has a game mode that turns off the hardware encoding so you can play games lag-free. It advertises it this way on their web page.

To the OP:
I emailed the company a couple weeks ago and they told me that you can record while playing in game mode.

He has a powerbook G4 500 mhz laptop which is too slow to encode it in software encoding AND only has USB 1.1.

 

[Philo86]

Here's one I found in a 10 second Google search; there are probably others:
Amazon - $52.99

Thanks a lot. But is there a big difference between the quality when recording with that or EyeTV 250, which one is better and by how much? I also understand EyeTV 250 comes with some pretty decent editing software?

Anyway, those are not my major concerns. If someone could only answer this. Does my computer have enough power for EyeTV 250 to record with normal software encoding (thanks to apunkrockmonk I finally understand the difference), not turning the gaming mode on?

I don't want/need to play through my computer screen so I don't need to turn on the gaming mode.