Seeking Capture Card for Windows 98 and Windows 2000

[FantasyAcquiesce]

Hello MSFN,

Today I am in search of a video capture card for my HP Pavilion a550y desktop and Dell Latitude D600 laptop. I need to find something that holds compatibility with Windows 9x and 2000. I am quite a newbie to this.

Normally, I would just use a screen recorder but doing so is pretty much impossible at a good quality on ancient hardware. I cannot record full screen, and if I do, I will severely lower the frames per second while testing game applications.

Alternatively, would it work in theory to plug in a VGA converter to a modern HDMI capture card?

If the oldest that can be found is a Windows XP capture card, then that's fine.

Please tell me your recommendations!

Edited December 1, 2021 by FantasyAcquiesce

[Gansangriff]

Maybe another device has to do the screen recording for you than your old Windows 98 computer. I did this once through plugging the Composite video output of my normal graphics card (ATI Rage something...) to my VHS player. And so the computer screen appeared in the television, ready to be recorded on tape. Probably you could set up a newer computer, being equipped with a good grahpics card that can recieve signals, recording the screen output for you.

At least I can say that working VGA-to-HDMI adapters do exist, so if the signal should arrive at your recieving machine.

[FantasyAcquiesce]

1 hour ago, Gansangriff said:

Maybe another device has to do the screen recording for you than your old Windows 98 computer. I did this once through plugging the Composite video output of my normal graphics card (ATI Rage something...) to my VHS player. And so the computer screen appeared in the television, ready to be recorded on tape. Probably you could set up a newer computer, being equipped with a good grahpics card that can recieve signals, recording the screen output for you.

At least I can say that working VGA-to-HDMI adapters do exist, so if the signal should arrive at your recieving machine.

Any good converter (preferably cheaper) recommendations are appreciated! I wouldn't have any issue using a newer PC to record the older one.

Furthermore, would a VGA splitter work? My Pentium 4 PC's only video card is a single VGA port, so I will have to use a splitter to duplicate the screen. I'm just not sure if the capture card would still work or not.

Edited December 1, 2021 by FantasyAcquiesce

[RainyShadow]

If you can output composite video, many old TV tuners had video input and could act as capture cards.

 

Or use a fast HDD/SSD and a software solution with fastest/disabled compression.

[FantasyAcquiesce]

13 minutes ago, RainyShadow said:

If you can output composite video, many old TV tuners had video input and could act as capture cards.

 

Or use a fast HDD/SSD and a software solution with fastest/disabled compression.

I am very new to this...I haven't used a DVD player, VCR, or any of these things in a very long time.

In theory, would performance be bad with recording if I used an I7 PC from 2015? The capture cards I've found so far claim to do 720 or 1080p.

Edited December 1, 2021 by FantasyAcquiesce

[Goodmaneuver]

If you got a monitor or TV that accepts a HDMI input? I bought a VGA to HDMI converter which is fairly cheap but you need to make sure you are buying a VGA male plug input type because there are converters the other way with VGA female output. When I tested mine it would really only display up to 1024 x 768 reliably even though it claimed 1080p. It was tough on my KVM box output I would think and did not work at higher than 1152 x 864. Now if you bought one of these to test it first, they are under $20, to see if it works then if OK you can get a HDMI to USB video capture device that runs on XP software. These look at about $80 but may be cheaper on eBay. Did you watch YouTube?

https://youtu.be/2a9E6Cx8Hgw

This next video is what I am talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvFtoIXaDc

This next one shows a pass through VGA dongle.

https://next-hack.com/index.php/2020/06/11/a-20-vga-to-usb-capture-system-and-more/

Edited December 1, 2021 by Goodmaneuver
Wrong link + added one