Get screenshots and videos from video games consoles to PCs

[Nicholls]

I need a solution to a problem I have been having. I'm currently working on a video games website and I think it could be improved tenfold if I could get images and videos from the actual video games. For PC games there are a number of ways of capturing screenshots and videos, but does anyone know how I could connect a video games console (hopefully of any type, but if not I am mainly interested in connecting the Wii and the Gamecube) to the PC in order to take screenshots and videos?

Thanks in advance

[aussieNickuss]

You'd most likely need a video capture card or a TV tuner card that excepts auxiliary input. Usually with these, you plug an RCA video lead into the card and the software then lets you view or record the input to disk.

[Nicholls]

Much appreciated. I found something online that fits that bill, but apparently I might need one male and two female RCA leads to improve the response time between controller (input) and the game (output).

[Jams]

You'll need a pretty beefy video capture card, ideally one that accepts HD (progressive) input (720p or more)

The main obstacle, like you said, is going to be latency. Unfortunately your choice of cable isn't going to make a difference on that. The latency is caused by the buffer(s) on the card itself. Generally better cards have lower latency.

Another problem you'll likely face if you use a standard video capture card & analogue signal, is that the screenshots will be interlaced. You can solve that by running them through something like Photoshops 'deinterlace' filter.