Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, mac_h8r1, Nemesis
The Wanderer wrote:I would like to instead be able to hook things up so that the video stream from the second device is displayed in a window on the desktop of the computer which serves as the first device, optionally scaled (or resolution-adjusted) to full-screen. (And the third device - if any - in a second window, et cetera.) However, I have no idea where to start.
What might it take to be able to do something like that?
The Wanderer wrote:I remember what I've read about video-capture cards as indicating that they are generally used, and in some cases may only be designed, for recording video - i.e., encoding and capturing it to file, or at most encoding and streaming live for remote viewing - rather than displaying it live and realtime (potentially without encoding/decoding first) in a local window. Nothing I've found in a quick search now seems to contradict that. Although I can see in principle how it shouldn't be impossible to do what I want this way, I'd like to ask: can you confirm that it has been and is done, using ordinary video-capture hardware?
The Wanderer wrote:As far as specifics goes, the scenario that got me thinking about this was wanting to be able to conveniently set up a gaming console in the same area as my computer, without need for another monitor or the like, and without having to go through annoying gymnastics to switch back and forth between computer and console - ideally, to be able to treat playing the game on the actual console much like playing in an emulator, except for having to use controllers actually connected to the console instead of ones connected to the computer (and/or possibly emulated, e.g. gamepad buttons mapped to keys on a keyboard). However, I'm finding myself also interested in (or at least curious about) the topic more generally.
The Wanderer wrote:Also, in case it's relevant and for whatever it's worth, I run Linux. Though that doesn't really bear on being interested in the more general topic.
The Wanderer wrote:Thanks for the information, and for being interested. ^_^ Please keep me posted!
I'll see about investigating Hauppage cards, and Linux video-capture support more in general, in the meantime.
The Wanderer wrote:Thanks for the information, and for being interested. ^_^ Please keep me posted!
The Egg wrote:You can look at some of the cards designed for "capturing game footage", but I think even those are going to introduce too much latency to be used for real-time gaming. I understand what you're trying to accomplish, but I don't know that there's any good solution for doing it without bad latency.
The Egg wrote:Most modern monitors switch between inputs fairly quickly and easily. I actually see switching the audio source as being the bigger hassle, and the one I might consider running though the PC sound card. Of course that means you'd have to jack around with software and such.
Glorious wrote:The Egg wrote:You can look at some of the cards designed for "capturing game footage", but I think even those are going to introduce too much latency to be used for real-time gaming. I understand what you're trying to accomplish, but I don't know that there's any good solution for doing it without bad latency.
I may not be as sensitive as a pro-gamer, but it isn't that bad. At all.
I've played Call of Duty online through the avermedia, I couldn't tell the difference.The Egg wrote:Most modern monitors switch between inputs fairly quickly and easily. I actually see switching the audio source as being the bigger hassle, and the one I might consider running though the PC sound card. Of course that means you'd have to jack around with software and such.
As someone who has routinely done exactly what the OP is asking one way or another since like 1998, you are vastly over-selling the difficulty.
The Egg wrote:You might also consider a dual-monitor setup. If you connect the console to the secondary monitor, you'll still have full functionality of the PC on the primary.
The Wanderer wrote:As I already said, given the constraints of my setup, having separate display devices is not practical. (Short of having the game console's display device be in another room, anyway, which would negate most of the benefit and which is my current setup.)
The Egg wrote:Depends on the person, but you must not be very sensitive to input lag/latency. When I switched from CRTs to LCD about 6 years ago, I noticed the input lag even on one of the fastest TN panels at the time (most notably with emulators where the timing of the games was hard-coded into my brain). I'd just hate to spend $175 on a card, only to find out the lag was too much for me
The Egg wrote:I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "overselling", but I regularly connect 2-3 machines to a single monitor (without a KVM switch) when I'm working on other computers. Hitting "input select" and waiting 1-2 seconds really isn't too much of an issue. As I said before, I see switching the audio source to be more of a problem. I suppose if he's willing to spend $175 on a card, that money could instead go towards a cheap receiver which can switch the audio input at the push of a button.
Glorious wrote:And, as you should know, the speed of the TN panel itself very likely wasn't related to your problem at all. It almost certainly wasn't the pixel driving that was your problem, but rather the display electronics. The more relevant question isn't panel type, but rather things like scaling and connection-type, as both of those can have a tremendous impact on latency even when the display electronics don't suck.
Glorious wrote:Additionally, It was probably about 10 years ago at this point, and I no longer remember the card involved, but a friend of mine played some version of beatmania IIDX through a capture card without any issue. If latency was always a serious issue with capture cards that simply wouldn't have been possible.
I'll agree that it can be an issue, but I am saying, with actual experience, that I have been doing what he wants to do, on and off, for nearly 15 years now, and I've rarely had a serious issue with input lag. I've probably had something like 6 or 7 different capture cards over the years, so it wasn't just luck either.
The Egg wrote:I understand; that's not quite how I meant it. I meant that it's a TN panel (which is generally faster than most other types to begin with), and it was known through testing to be one of the best models for input lag (at the time).
The Egg wrote:A capture card may very well work for him, but it's a $175 gamble (or whatever restocking fees would be involved). I'm more or less just trying to alert him to my concerns. Knowing myself, it probably wouldn't work for me.
The Wanderer wrote:(Though when I was trying this once before, using the "switch between monitor inputs" approach, I do recall having difficulty matching combo-sequence timing on Paper Mario... but that might have been due to also using a six-foot-plus controller-cable extender.)