How to play a console on a laptop (NTSC Only)

In this instructable I'll be showing you how to play a game console on any decent laptop with 1 free usb port. Im sorry but easy cap does not work with PAL only NTSC

You can do this with a tower but there is a more effective way to do it if you don't need to capture and ill be posting that instructable soon.

Also im going to post an instructable on how to do this with s- video because it gives you a better video quality.

video instructions

Demo

Please rate if you like this instructable. If there's something wrong or its not working leave a comment.

Step 1: My system

this is the tec specs of my laptop. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the better it is the better it will run. I have about 1/8 seconds of video lag. It is not enough to effect gamplay or be noticeable on its own but if you have your system running on a TV and computer you can sort of see a very slight lag.

Windows Version: Windows Vista Home Basic
manufacture: Dell
windows experience rating: 3.1
Processor: Intel(R) Pentuim(R) Dual CPU T2370 @ 1.72 GHz 1.73GHz
Memory(RAM): 3062 MB
System Type" 32-bit operating system

Comments

[youiswho]

I Have an easycap from a friend but he lost the install disc awhile ago where can i get new install files???

[kwn_lin]

juz wonderring but can easycap work with PAL now?? not  too sure..cuz i saw this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/EasyCAP-Audio-Video-Capture-Adapter/dp/B001BWU8US/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272740855&sr=8-1

[1161858]

easy caps have a settings button on the studio software, you can switch between ntsc and pal

[NYPA]

Easycap Sucks. All I hear is FFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

[bugolf]

I used VLC Media player. but i had to enter a formatting code.

[MrCantThinkOfAName]

My laptop has a HDMI input on the side, so yeahh. This is good though, i just need a software for it, there wasnt any put on my computer, as far as i know

[jamiespark]

avi is sexi beast

[Chowmix12]

i see no difference between AVI and MPEG

[daiatlus79]

i have a gamebridge which is pretty much teh same thing.. it does the job.. got it for ten bucks still in the package on my local facebook flea market.. some sites i see selling it for a hundred bucks.. by the way any one else having issues with their gamebridge remote? cause mine dont work and if it did it would make my tv obsolete.  right now i use it to tivo some shows that i dont get to watch while i am at work

[punkhead58]

This setup works, but is very complicated, try this instead. It's much easier.

[ArthurCarvalho!]

My screen just stays black? HELP PLEASE

[Hycro]

I get the same problem from time to time when using my webcam to capture video, and I use Ulead Photo Explorer 8.0 SE Basic, since that's what came with my webcam..lol.

[abun1991]

"You can do this with a tower but there is a more effective way to do it if you don't need to capture and ill be posting that Instructable soon." When were you planning on posting that Instructable, if I may ask?

[hcaz-301]

can you email me the software please

[Hazy Chief]

Can you get this stuff in HD, for example like RGB component cords

[Numb-Nuts]

is there a way to disassemble an old laptop and use the screen as a dedicated unit for my 360?

[josh92176]

I have the same capture card and I think you could achieve a better frame rate and with no video compression (like you get with ulead video studio) with vlc. vlc is a free media player available here. Also you would get audio through vlc. Try it!

-josh

[Houdinipeter]

good idea. Then you wouldn't need splitters, a rca to 1/8 jack, or any rca extenders unless you really want them.

[sleeplate18]

i got all the cables and stuff set up properly.... installed Ulead Video Studio - tried following ur directions but its not working! what am i supposed to do with the properties tab? i keep on getting a "cannot capture" error message!

[tigraki]

I have already done that 2 months ago but the problem is that there is a big lag. You can see the movements of the control after 1 second.

[victorbacani]

I just bought this unit (Kworld TVbox 1920). I bought this in order to play my wii on my HP dv2000 special edition laptop. It came with a wii cable. I connected the wii cable to the unit, used an external speaker and plugged it to the unit, used its vga cable and plugged it in my laptops S-video and finally plugged the unit in outlet. All I got was the sound of the wii on the external speaker but no video on my laptop. Im guessing my laptop S-video is to send data out and not in. Im feeling sick to my stomach on buying this unit and not really researching thoroughly. Do you think I should just get an USB TV tuner like yours to replace this?

[victorbacani]

Hi somerockenguy, I followed your instructions and got to hook my wii to my laptop. Everything is working fine except that I had used Cyberlink Power director for my video capturing software and its preview screen does view full screen. I tried downloading Ulead VideoStudio v11 and all I could see on the video capture screen was my face looking back at me. This is since it used the webcam on my laptop as source. Looking back at your instructions I noticed that this version of Ulead does not have the Options Tab. I'm wondering if I have the right version, can you clarify?

[luching]

what game is that?

[sonyhacker95]

im using my gamecube to play on my laptop and the quality is pixely and the screen isnt full screen its like a little box inside the screen.and when i plugged my ps3 in to the easy cap the quality was bad and it was still a little box inside of the screen could you please tell me the settings you have so i may fix this?

[tomonto]

If my laptop has built in speakers, do I still need to split the rca jacks? (sorry for any apparent noobishness.... :\

[somerockenguy]

you still need speakers there is not audio monitoring in this capture software so you need external speakers. even if there was audio monitoring it would raise you chance of video lag.

[sonyhacker95]

im using my gamecube to play on my laptop and the quality is pixely and the screen isnt full screen its like a little box inside the screen.and when i plugged my ps3 in to the easy cap the quality was bad and it was still a little box inside of the screen could you please tell me the settings you have so i may fix this?

[recneps]

You should not need to split the audio if you are using the built in speakers.
The capture software should be able to route te sound over your sound card.
I do this all the time with my tv tuner card.
(You don't need a capture specific card, any tv tuner that accepts RCA/svideo input should do the job.)

Also, I've found the EasyCap on a reliable webstore I use. They're legit, if you're worried about using ebay and want an alternative. That, or any tv tuner card with RCA/svideo input options, as I said.

[tomonto]

Ok, thanks a lot, I do worry about things being legit so thanks for that too :)

[junits15]

you could skip the connectors and just use the headphones

[atk000]

Will this work for a PS3 on an HDM1-in only laptop?

[evanbetti]

is there any way you can just use the easy cap usb?

[Capt. Fat]

would this work for a Wii and a Compact presario laptop?

[somerockenguy]

wii yes but idk if it will work on that laptop i dont own it.

[brian2012]

hey, i saw this instructable and decided to buy this, i bought it, did all that u said, but when i use it every thing is very blurry, idk whats wrong, plz help!

[somerockenguy]

check your quality setting it automatically adjusts the quality based on your computers performance.

[calpul]

yay i got it to work i changed my xbox 360 display from pal 60 to pal 50. its now in colour but i cant play all my games coz some of them are pal 60. but ow well. just a question is there anyway i can make the easycap run on pal 60??

[somerockenguy]

not that i know of im not in the uk so i use ntsc even if i found some update that says it will make it work i would have no way of testing it because every thing i have is ntsc

[calpul]

is there anyway i can use pal with this anyway at all everytime i change the pal settings on the easycap i get a colour picture but its a frozen pic it just freezes. is there a update or soming that i can get to allow easycap to run in pal. anyway if easycap runs ntsc and pal why does the pal not work. why is there a setting for pal if it dont work??? if there is no way of doing it using easycap is there any other usb capture cards out there that are cheap, the same quality as easycap and will work with pal??? plz help me im a dumb &#@% when it comes to this stuff.

[calpul]

hi there thanks for showing me how to do this i have just bought All the stuff i need to make this work. im still waiting for easycap to arrive. got it of amazon.com for £15. bargin!!! just wondering is there a lag i mean a lag that will effect my game play.

[somerockenguy]

as long as you only have ulead studio running there should be no lag. it all depends on your computer but most people should be fine because my laptop is very low end.

[blzzrd]

Hey just got my easycap and it works great except the way you have it hooked up to the speakers, my speakers are in my monitor. I bought it to record xbox more than to play it on a laptop. I was wondering, if i were to buy 3 RCA splitters and hook one set up to easycap and other set up to TV would it all still work fine?

[somerockenguy]

ya it wil work just make sure you plug them in the right way xbox to rca splitters to easy cap and TV. you might need 3 female to female rca plugs because the in side of my splitters are male and the out of my xbox is male.

[blzzrd]

alright thanks

[rockthisway654]

Hey, good job on the video. I was just wondering: I own a MacbookPro. Most of the stuff on your list would be compatible, and since it's just the monitor being used I wasn't sure it would matter. Is there any way at all for me to do something like this with my computer?

[somerockenguy]

the only way that i know of is this and the gamebridge. idk for sure if this is mac compatibly but i think it is and the gamebridge is like $80 and once again idk if its mac compatible.

[timator6]

can you buy an easycap at best buy?

[timator6]

if so can u link?

[somerockenguy]

you cant get them at bestbuy but i have an amazon.com link in step two.

[Mighty Mackinac]

is there any lag? I know that with a lot of capturing cards there is a lag between the screen and the controller...

[somerockenguy]

nop i have no lag as long as you dont have any big programs open you should be lag free

[Mighty Mackinac]

hm...i'll have to try this out once i can afford something like that...

[waluigi1]

I got a Pinnacle TV tuner for Christmas just so I can play my 360 on my laptop but I can't get it to work. I'm not even sure how to get it to do anything. I tried looking at the instructions but they weren't very helpful...The software for it doesn't have a capture section like the easy cap. Any ideas?

[somerockenguy]

iv never used the pinnical tv tuner before i dont even know what the software looks like.

[Th3H4rRy]

How did you customise your Xbox theme?

[somerockenguy]

i have an instructable on that. you do the same thing for NXE also

[Wuxingwarrior3]

Hey Somerockenguy, This tutorial is great but i really don't think you should condone using easycap because contrary to its name, it's really not that easy to setup and install. I'm using vista X64 and much to my chagrin it's not compatible with this OS. I found this out of course after purchasing it and receiving it. The manufacturer has discontinued the item and there is no tech support. I'm out approx $40 now. Is there any other hardware that can take care of video input like easycap? Especially any with a component in?

[somerockenguy]

there is a thing called dazzle but that runs about $60 and idk if that would work like this.

[madank]

picture always coming in black and white, i messed up some setting, now picture is always b.w even in ulead and virtualdub help!!!

[somerockenguy]

what settings are you using? have your tried unplugging then plugging back in the easy cap. since its happening in two programs try reinstalling the driver.

[huhster]

Is it really necessary to use the RCA Splitters? I mean, does the EasyCap USB 2.0 hardware require an audio line-in to detect the video line? Basically my question is: Is it possible to just bypass the audio into the EasyCap USB 2.0 device and just run it straight to the RCA to 1/8 converter? Or is there a hardware restriction that demands the audio line into the EasyCap USB 2.0? By the way, great job. Keep up the great work!

[somerockenguy]

no you could do it like that i just showed it this way because this is how i have it set up and i would not get anyone asking why there is no audio in captured video.

[madank]

all is good, works perfectly... but sometimes i do get the picture in black and white, any idea y????

[somerockenguy]

i have never had that problem i just played with the settings and could not get anything to do that that weard u using NTSC?

[madank]

cool man, i got the easycap this week and was fiddling around with ulead, but thanx to ur guide im set... kind of But i did have some lag issues, coreduo2 2ghz, 2gb ram. but i was on battery mode, is it because of that. also is ther any other software i can use for live video, something more efficient if my laptop is too slow

[somerockenguy]

most laptops put less power in to the cpu if its off battery so it will be slower on battery . the only other program that i know this works with ia adobe premiere but thats like $800 and hogs resources so it would be slower than ulead. i have a intel core 2 duo also so its probably just the battery or you might need more ram because i have 3gb.

[madank]

yea must the the battery issue, will chk that in the evening. the lag was present only in the full screen mode too... regarding the software, wut i was having in mind were those tv tuner card capture software, those should be light as they are mostly meant for display. I used to have a pinnacle card b4 with pctv software, but i left that back home half way round the globe :), are there any such freewares

[somerockenguy]

i have never looked for any i have sling box so i never have looked for tv tuner software.

[bdoyle159]

this would've been alot easier if you just plugged in the xbox to the easycap, then plug your desktop speakers into the computer. why do you need the audio coming out of the computer and the speakers?

[somerockenguy]

no audio comes out of the laptop thats why you need extra cables. i have splitters on it because i want to be able to hear what im playing but when i capture video i want audio the captured video. there is no live audio but when you play back the recorded video there is sound

[XeroForever]

Ok if you have a USB capture card what is the point of all the other cables just plugin the 360 cables to the capture card and use any Video editing software to capture the video and then start playing easy as that no need for the other cables. Now what we want is a way to plugin ur gaming console to the back of the laptop where the plugs like s - video and DVi/HDMI plugs are. Make those backward compatible and then use some sorta software to view your game that way... if only...

[somerockenguy]

its so you can get sound. when you play through your laptop you get no sound unless you use external speakers also i don't know about your laptop but my speakers aren't loud enough or have the bass i want for gaming. trust me if there was an easier or better way i would have done it a different way. i have to say this so much and so many people think they can just plug there xbox in to the VGA OUT port and have it work. If you tried this you would get why this is the easiest way to make it work.

[nobody394]

is there any video lag? it is going through a usb and, maybe, being slowed down by a slow computer.

[somerockenguy]

if you have a shity computer than there will be lag but i have a dell inspiron 1525 and there is no lag

[gregrunt]

what is the thing you had in your youtube video that said radioshack on it and had like 3 sets of 3 RYW females?

[somerockenguy]

its a splitter for old tvs. say you have a dvd player and a blue ray player but only have one input on your tv you could plug both in to that then that in to the tv the buttons on the top switch between the two ports.

[gregrunt]

dude nice the line 6 toneport ux1 lol i want the ux2 :D

[somerockenguy]

ya i wish i bought the ux2 my friends were going to pay me $30 a song to record them but i cant record them all at once with the ux1

[ajpricefamily]

It works!!! I got the easy cap thing plugged it into my computer ( Vista ). Installed the software, changed some settings and BOOM! I'm playing XBox 360 on my laptop. There was one thing tho, when I changed the settings I had to select " Video Composite " as the input source. I know your probably thinking duh? But hey I'm just a dumb redneck. LOL

[somerockenguy]

glad to hear its working one thing that might improve the performance is got to options then video and audio capture property settings then the capture tap then advanced and change it from variable bit rate to constant bit rate. if you have a powerful enough computer this will help but if you have a not so powerful computer it will make things worse so play around with it.

[collard41]

incidently, i just bought the easy cap USB thing off ebay before reading this instructable. it works great, no lag. i plug it into my ps2 (PAL) and use Adobe Premiere Pro (not the bundled Ulead)because it upscales it a bit. the new EasyCap ones support windows vista, PAL and NTSC, 720x576 @ 25FPS (on pal)no lag. all i need is the easycap thing, ps2, controller, computer and thats it. no splitter needed because it does audio to.

[Rbuchanio]

For some reason the software provided (ULead 10.0) says it doesn't pass the Cyclic Redundancy Check when I run it through my computer. The CD is fault I'm thinking. Also, I've installed the drivers and whatnot, but when I plug the Easycap into the USB connection, the green light doesn't turn on even though it is hooked up properly to the PS2 and the PS2 is on. Could this be a fault capture device or does the green light on the easycap only go on when you start capturing?

[somerockenguy]

the easyscap's light should turn green when plugged in. going to guess you bought a fake because there are some on ebay and the device and cd are not working.

[Rbuchanio]

I bought it from Brilliantstore.com..and their hours state 8-5:30 yet they're not there now. I have emailed them a couple days ago and am yet to get anything back from them. Anyone know about this site?

[somerockenguy]

i combined collard's and your comment together i thought you got it off ebay. i don't know the site but i would ask them if you could exchange because your is faulty.

[Rbuchanio]

Yea, hopefully I can get a hold of them. If not, BBB will be paying them a nice visit :)

[Bilzac]

Hey, just wanted to check...this is a question to both collard41 and somerockenguy...i just bought EasyCap...and i have a pal ps3..u think it'll work since ure ps2(pal) works fine?

[somerockenguy]

since it worked for him i would think it should work for you. i use ntsc so there is not way of me testing that for you though

[somerockenguy]

glad to hear it worked. my laptop speakers are so quiet i would need exturnals anyways. i think i have the same on as you though. mine works with vista and its version 2.0 you might have got a different driver than me.

[mrten31]

I have a HP dv7-1130 US entertainment notebook pc, how can I play my x box 360 on it. I have an HDMI cord, plugged it in both the laptop and X-box with not response. I want to be able to play directly from the X-Box 360 to my laptop, without going through a t.v., is this possible? Am I way off track using the HDMI cord the way I have been using it? Thanks!

[somerockenguy]

thats what this does and ya the hdmi thing would not work hdmi ports on laptops are outputs not inputs

[ajpricefamily]

I was wondering how to go about doing this. I knew there was a way and if I dug around long enough I would find out how. I'm on the road alot and I love to play my Xbox 360 so I'll get this " USB thing " and try it out.

[peraza21]

Alright I finally got it working. Took a while because my DVD drive was acting weird. The DVD worked flawlessly though. Thank you so much for helping me. However, I'm unsure how to make the quality good. Do you know how using an S-video cable would be any different?

[smudge90]

Hi Ive got the same PC with the same specs but i have 2 GB of RAM. Would it still be alright or would you suggest getting more RAM? Thanks

[somerockenguy]

ram is not that expensive so i would upgrade but whether or not it would slow this down i dont think so. all ram is for is remembering what your doing and unless your capturing long videos it should not make a difference. personally i would get more ram because its all ways better to have more but the main think you need here is a good processor.

[peraza21]

Hey I just bought an EasyCap capture card from Amazon and I put in the CD, and autoplay says it's a blank CD. Can I download the stuff somewhere else?

[somerockenguy]

i cant think of any sites that have the stuff if you want i can try to put the contents of the disk on a free file uploading site. i dont know if the files will be to big or not and i don't know how you would install the driver but if you want ill play with it and try to find somthing.

[peraza21]

Well, yeah I would greatly appreciate that. I don't know how else I would be able to use this adapter if I can't get those drivers. I also don't have the Ulead VideoStudio software, is there anyway I can download something like it? I checked Ulead's site and the software costs about $100, I don't know how it would be included with this thing.

[somerockenguy]

did you buy the software version? thats the one i bought and it came with it. do you have any other video editing softwear that supports video capture? also what are you using for a computer? i have all the stuff ready to upload the whole disk but if it is not freeware i dont want to deal with copy right stuff. i can give you the driver but thats it.

[peraza21]

No I didn't buy the software for Ulead, the little slip we get with the CD has a key though, doesn't it? I downloaded the trial from their site, but I'm not sure if I can enter the key into the trial. I downloaded a program called "Debut" that apparently supports video capture, maybe I can use that?

[somerockenguy]

trial versions are normaly the same thing download the trial and see if you can then register it using the code if not i can give you the softwear i just did not want to give out my cobe because thats what i would get in trouble for. when i said the softwear version i ment the softwear version of easy cap. the link that i gave is to the softwear version amazon has another version for $2 less that does not have the softwear

[peraza21]

Well, mine does say that it should include the software. When I put the CD in however, it's completely blank.

I tried inputting the code for the software when I got the trial, and it didn't work.

I downloaded drivers from this website : http://www.digital-devices.co.uk/downloads.php

I got STK1160 and I tried using a program called AMCAP to play my 360. When I turned it on, the picture was blank. However, I turned my headphones on and I could hear the sounds the Xbox 360 dashboard makes. Really don't know what to do now.

[somerockenguy]

i can upload my disk to a website for you and you'll have to burn it to a DVD and then is should work. im not going to give you the serial number because of copyright stuff but if you have a serial number you should be fine

[peraza21]

Alright, thanks a lot man. I know this is a lot to ask, especially since I'm someone you haven't met before. Can you tell me what website it's going to be on? I don't think you'd get into any trouble for putting that file up because it'd be pretty much the same thing as the trial without the key. I'm not quite sure if my key will work, however. Either way, I am pretty the other capture programs I have would suffice.

[somerockenguy]

PMed you the download link

[somerockenguy]

im woking on getting it on file frount.com ill give you the custom url once it uploads. it crazy windy here and the power keeps on flickering so it might not be today.

[cormac3050]

I have the same laptop as you!! Inspiron 1525.

[somerockenguy]

its a great laptop my only compliant is you can't upgrade the video card but thats what the xbox is for. what color do you have mines the red one.

[cormac3050]

I've got the jet black one. Yeah, its a pity about the graphics card.

[The Expert Noob]

I hear that the "fake" easycaps happened to be the drivers for some. The video on mine works flawlessly, but the audio portion of it seems to not work at all on my desktop, but I used different drivers on my notebook and both audio and video worked?!? I used different drivers on my notebook and now i dont remember where I got them (not from my CD) SO..... Can you post a copy of your drivers from your CD?

[somerockenguy]

the driver i use is from the cd and it does not let you do audio through the computer thats why you need external speakers. if you find the driver that you have on your laptop plz tell me ill add it to the instructable

[allEn.wrEnch]

Do you have any sort of lag between the system and your laptop; assuming we have the real capture card? For instance, when you hit jump and the action occurs a second later on the laptop monitor.

[somerockenguy]

no lag with the guitar hero lag calabration the first time i got 0ms the second i got 1ms and the 3,4,5 and 6th i got 0ms.

[tomonto]

One more question :) does it have to be a capture usb or can it be a usb to rca cable and then, use female to female adapters to connect the rca cables of my xbox to the usb? yes, i r n00b

[somerockenguy]

i did not know they made usb to rca i don't know if that would work or not. that might work but i don't know because my easycap has a circuit board in it and i would think they could cut the price in half if it was that easy.

[tomonto]

(to anyone) would vga to rca cables work, with something like
this
and
this

[recneps]

Your laptop only has VGA-out, so that cable is only for sending video signal out ;)

[somerockenguy]

tha is so you can desplay your laptop screen on a tv or projector

[tomonto]

I don't know either, it might because you're "capturing" the video instead of just showing it on the screen...

[akaski]

They might work, but I'm not sure, to me it looks like it would be to send video out (like for a tower to a tv screen instead of a computer screen), I'm not any near expert for this field, but I do not think most vga ports have incoming information.... but this is all just a hunch

[DanAdamKOF]

As cool as this is, if you were to redo it, you may want to invest in a S-Video capable capture card at the least. S-Video has a rather sharp (though standard-def) signal. If you can get one with component (though I know they're expensive), even better.

If you really want to be hardcore, check to see if your capture card will work with DScaler, an excellent capture card display program.

[somerockenguy]

easy cap has s video in i just did only rca because it would be less confusing