How to record your TV with laptop and HDMI cable

The title is a little misleading as you probably want to know how to record what is playing on TV with your laptop connected to if via HDMI, such as if you play on your console (xBox, PS3,…) and you have your laptop connected to second HDMI port. Well, you cannot do that! All the video ports on your HDTV are input ports. That means the video signal is coming in and not out. Unless you have a port that states “video out” on your HDTV (which I have yet to see) you will not be able to transmit video out of your TV via cable.

Gameplay, or any video recording (xBox, Playstation, Wii, DVD, VHS) with PVR (Personal Video Recorder) or game capture device

One on the most simplest and probably the cheapest ways of recording your gameplay footage, or really any video from anything connected to your TV, would be using what is called a personal video recorder (PVR) or a game capture device. Most such devices cost over a $100 but there is one that costs less than that and it is Roxio Game Capture. It is a little box 6.2 x 3.4 x 3.4 inches which you connect to your TV and to it you connect your xBox, playstation, Wii or any other game console or even any other video device such as DVD/VHS player. Out of that device runs USB cable to your computer and all you need to do is press record and play your game. The only downside is that Roxio Game Capture has component cables which support only 1080i resolution to your TV; which as a gamer you may not like (read this article on why). The second possible downside is that it will record only 480p resolution, which is not bad especially when recording from higher resolution source, but it is not really what I would call up to the standard.

If recoding in 480p is a deal breaker for you I have another recommendation, but it will cost you almost twice as much. It is called Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder and and it does exact same thing, but it can record you footage up to 1080i. You do however get extra features with this device for its price tag. It does feature S-Video and Composite inputs as well; for those older video devices you might use, so you do not have to get any conversion cables. It also features optical audio input which will allow for surround sound recording to go along with your 1080i video.

In conclusion I have not found any external device such as PVR that supports HDMI and 1080p recording as this time. Maybe down the line, expecially with USB 3.0 being out they might surface; however I can not imagine them being any cheap. The only way or recording true full 1080p HD video would be by using my below outlined method of "indirect gameplay recording with computer", but it is not really cheap.

Recording with TV tuner card

If you would like to record your TV to with your computer you can also consider purchasing TV tuner card or an external TV tuner device which will connect to your computer. This device will allow you to hook up coaxial cable line that runs to your TV, to your computer as well. You may need to purchase a splitter and extra few feet of cable line. (In some cases where you have to run cable over 50 feet you may need to purchase a signal booster as well.) Keep in mind that this set up will act as independent TV. If you switch a channel on your main TV it will not automatically switch the feed coming to the computer. Most TV tuner devices will come bundled with TV capture software which you can use to record your TV to your computer.

There are software providers that sell programs that will make your computer and TV tuner act as DVR or TIVO. You will be able to set channels, times, and shows you want to record and watch them on your schedule.

Indirect gameplay recording with computer

There is a way you can record your game play videos from your console to your computer while playing it on your HDTV. This method involves a splitter, extra set of cables and video capture card. Basically you take the cable that connects your console to your TV and run it through a “Y” splitter; where one end runs to the TV, while other end is connected to the video capture card. There are two ways consoles get connected to the TV’s. There are HDMI, and composite (yellow plug) connectors. Composite method will have to have additional audio cables (red and white plugs) as they do not support audio transfer through one wire like HDMI does.

HDMI will offer you the easiest and highest quality method; however it is the most expensive one. You will need a powered HDMI splitter and extra set of HDMI cables. From the splitter you run one HDMI cable to the TV while the other runs to the HDMI capable video capture card inside your computer. This card is very expensive and will be the deal breaker for most. Since audio is carried over HDMI cord you will not have to run any more cables.

Recording a game play with composite connector is almost the same but a lot cheaper, however it will not offer you high definition video capture. You will need a composite splitter and extra set of composite cables; if you don’t have any. As before you connect one cable to the TV while the other gets connected to the video capture card. Now you have more options on what kind of video capture card you can get. You can get an internal one for your desktop or external one for your laptop (works on desktops as well). The benefit of the internal card is that you will be able to use your computer as a TV and record it; however it costs more than external one and is not entirely portable. Now that you have found your video capture device, we still need to do something about the sound as it is not carried by the composite cable. You will need to get two more splitters that were listed earlier. To transfer the audio to the TV just get this simple audio cable, and you will need another one if you are connecting audio to an external video capture card. If however you have decided to go with internal video capture card you will need this audio cable.

All the cables recommended are at length of 6-feet. It is up to you to know how long of cables you need for your setup. Shorter the cables the better since long ones tend to lose signal quality over distance. If you buy any hardware make sure it is compatible with your computer system.

There are other methods of video capture that can be used such as DVD recorder, Slingbox or similar devices, but unless you already own one, they are expensive to buy.

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