Recording PS2 Matches and Capturing Video

[srt4mike]

Here's the story. My 3s group has been trying to find good way to record matches. First things first . . . as we all know, replays on the US version on PS2 hardly ever work right. We have been playing on the Japanese version to combat this problem. Basically we are trying to find a device that we could plug the PS2 into to convert the video into an mpeg, avi, etc. format to record our replays. I have successfully used the media center on my PC to record a few matches, but the format (something like dvr_ms) it uses is not editable with any basic editing software and will not upload on to youtube. The quality of the picture suffers as well since my only input is through coaxial (yay crappy RF switch). I guess in a perfect world, I wish there was a device that would have component video inputs that would record into mpeg-4 or avi. So far I have not seen such a device. I have seen plenty that will do s-video. I've looked a lot more into devices instead of actual PC capture cards. I guess my questions are: What suggestions do you guys have? What do other people use to record matches? How could you record and play at the same time (this is a whole other can of worms, but I would love to know) It sucks that we also have a pretty small budget. Here a couple of the things we have been looking at. The SanDisk V-Mate would be awesome if it worked (I would just copy the files off of the memory stick), because I work at GameStop and it has been clearanced out at $50 bucks and I would get discount. Well thanks for any info. Sorry for all the questions. And please feel free to troll my newb ass with comments such as: Just buy a nice capture card for your PC scrub!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3427259&Sku=P121-9008&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&CMP=OTC-GOOGLEBASE

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/ProductInfo.aspx?ID=2171

[ShinAkuma204]

A DVD recorder (no hard drive) and some rewrittable DVD's is an easy and cheap way to get the job done.

[V4MPIRO]

A DVD recorder (no hard drive) and some rewrittable DVD's is an easy and cheap way to get the job done.
Do you recommend any brand?

[MegamanXZero]

Try GameBridge from Adaptec:

www.adaptec.com

[statikeffeck]

I personally use a plain ol' VCR to record a session onto VHS tape... then I hook the VCR up to the computer using a PCI-based capture card and get the good matches. In my case I use "V-Stream DVD Maker PCI Card" - http://reviews.pricegrabber.com/video-capture-devices/m/6635245/

works fine. after capturing to your PC you can convert the video to any number of different formats.

[Tetsuosan]

Check the essential thread at the top of the page magnetro has a great thread about capturing video.

[ShinAkuma204]

Do you recommend any brand?

I use a Toshiba and have gotten excellent results. On mid setting you can capture 4 hours of almost DVD quality video on a single rewritable.

I say use whatever brand you can find cheap. I don't really think there should be much difference between the major brands. I picked mine up for $50.