How to Record Television Shows on Your Computer

VCRs are going out of date, digital video recorders are expensive, and many people find themselves wondering how they are to record their favorite television shows. Should they spring for a DVR? A TiVO perhaps? What about a DVD recorder? They are so expensive! And are DVD's going out? Are they being replaced by some sort of new high definition disk?

There's a simple and inexpensive solution to this problem: A USB capture card. A USB capture card is a device that plugs into your computer and your television, and converts the signals that would previously have been recorded on a videotape into a format your computer can understand. You can then record the video on your computer, and burn it to a DVD if you like. I'll explain how you can do this.

The first step is to find a suitable USB capture card. Although USB capture cards are cheaper than digital video recorders, it you should still expect to shell out about 40 bucks. Before you buy one, check the output on the back of your television. What kind of output does it have? Most televisions will have RCA output, colored two terminals with holes in a metal, one yellow, one red, and one white. Other televisions will use S-video output, and will have a small circular jack with a number of holes in it. Other televisions will only have a coaxial cable output jack. If yours is one of these, you might be out of luck. It might be time to start looking at new televisions.

If you have an HD television, make sure you look for HD compatible USB capture devices. Expect to spend a bit more money for one of these, and also expect to use a lot more hard disk space.

Buy a USB capture device compatible with your televisions output. Note that some capture devices will be able to plug directly and your television, while others will require a patch cable to connect them. Buy a patch cable if you need to. Expect it to cost around $10.

Hook the whole business up, connecting the USB capture device both to the television and to the computer. Obviously, this will only work if the television is close to the computer, or if you're using a laptop. Install the software that came with the USB capture device.

In many cases, the software will be able to do everything you need. You should be able to record video from any channel at the push of a button, and save the file in any format you like. The program should also be capable of doing time to recordings, as a VCR would, allowing you to record your favorite show while you're at work. Just make sure you leave your computer on!

Mess around with file formats. Using an MPEG file with the moderate degree of compression will probably be your best bet, but try other formats two. It is probably not worth saving files in uncompressed format unless you're working with an HD television. The picture is just not good enough in the beginning to make it worth it.

Save the files either to your hard disk or to a DVD. If you are saving files to a DVD, make sure you burn them in a format that is playable by your DVD player. Don't just drag and drop the files, unless you only want to be able to read them with your computer. Alternately, skip the DVD and save your recorded television shows to an external hard drive. Of course, in addition to being able to use your USB capture card to record video on your computer, you'll be able to use it to play video save to your computer on your television.