Hi yall I'm a an obssessed gamer that would like to know if there is any way I can hook up a PSX2 to my iMac DV SE and use the iMac DV as my monitor? I don't want to spend a bundle on a cheap Tv that's gonna have a smaller screen size then my already small iMac. But hey, I don't know jack about these things. So there

[druber]

you have to have a tv tuner to use your imac as a tv screen, and unfortunately, that's only available as a hardware add-on, which requires a pci slot. sorry

[PsiPhi]

Not to be a jerk, but wouldn't something like this or this work?


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psiphi@mac.com
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Nothing yet. Damn.

[This message has been edited by PsiPhi (edited 09-22-2000).]

[PsiPhi]

I mean, sure, you'd have to plug the audio cables into something else, but I would think one of these (and they are not the only ones) would server the purpose well.

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psiphi@mac.com
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Nothing yet. Damn.

You know what? I emailed those people at Eskape Labs, and they said it couldn't be done with the MyTV, but then they were kinda passing my email along like 10 guys, before they settled on an answer, so I dunno if it works with either one. I wish i could try, but i don't think they will refund my money, if the product works for its given purpose, which playstation gaming isn't mentioned

[PsiPhi]

I hate to call those people liars, and I don't want to act like I know everything there is to know about those things, BUT it will work. I would almost bet on it. It has a composite video input as well as S-Video that should be all you need. It is a tv tuner, and I can't imagine that it doesn't have channel 3 or 4, I could be wrong on this, so I'll ammend my previous statement to say "It PROBABLY will work" But, yeah, it would suck to spend the money and find out it doesn't work. I'm sure it would, though.
I have one of those old apple-branded TV Tuner Cards (different, I know, but similar) in my old performa 6300 and I can play playstation on it...
Try and find a place that will take it back "No questions asked" maybe?

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psiphi@mac.com
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Nothing yet. Damn.

[The Godfather]

The XLR8 Interview is another Analog Video-USB solution. I hook it up to a VCR and I can use it as a TV monitor but at a horrible framerate (like 4fps). Do the other USB tuners have this problem too?

[MacOS761]

USB is just too slow to give acceptable full screen video. If you are really serious about doing this, I believe there are FireWire solutions, but they are probably pretty expensive.

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We're supposed to sing about piraty things!

[The Godfather]

Here's what confuses me about my XLR8: capturing video while not displaying it works awesome with my iMac/233. I get the advertised 30FPS@320x240. However, when I use it as a monitor, it $V<k$ @$$. I think it might be a CPU problem: having to listen to the USB and blowing up that video at full rate

So, USB is fast enough for video. I need a faster computer though.

Maybe the other USB tuners have hardware MPEG compression (why they are so big) and they just pass the compressed video comfortably (~200KByte/s) through the USB channel (1200KByte/s).

[MacOS761]

MPEG decompression would take more processor cycles than blowing up a video stream, I think. I did the math, and if USB were operating at its theoretical maximum (which it never does) you could get enough throughput of uncompressed video at 640x480, thousands of color (16 bit) for 20 fps. Unfortunately, I don't think you have very much control over those settings (do you?). The part that makes little sense is that 4 fps is nothing like 20 fps... maybe you were underestimating, or maybe all the other things the computer has to handle at the same time really do slow it down that significantly. I would expect to see around 15 fps (@ 640x480, 16 bit) if your capture module was the only thing on the USB bus (redundant, I know), but that would be assuming that the computer could handle the entire stream without a problem (USB streams have to pass through the CPU before they can get to the graphics card, just like other input methods, but USB is not given very high priority for large amounts of data - why? because it's slow). If there is compression done by the tuner and decompression done by the CPU, I would expect to see worse, actually - MPEG decompression is not the easiest thing in the world. 4 fps in unexplainable, but the combination of USB and CPU utilization make USB unacceptable for even average-resolution full screen video.

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We're supposed to sing about piraty things!

[MacOS761]

Sorry, I forgot you were talking about 320x240 video. In that case, the fps figures I posted would be 4 times as good - theoretical maximum of 80 fps, etc. However, after a little research, I found that these devices do compress video using Motion JPEG, and only claim to be able to do 30 fps, which seems to make sense. My gripe would then be, is 320x240 good enough for playing games (and furthermore, justifying the cost)? And if the devices do not, in fact, perform as they are supposed to, what good are they?

Like I said, there are FireWire solutions, but they are very expensive.
http://www.fastware.net/a0800/dvp1.html http://www.media100.com/product/Wired/firewire.html

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We're supposed to sing about piraty things!

I'm pretty impressed by the product link you gave me. However it looks more likea capture card, you know, capture the footage from a VCR and put it in an Mpeg movie or something. Did you ask if this firewire gig would allow full blown playback on the screen wihtout having to import it first?

[MacOS761]

To be completely honest, I don't know. However, I do know that you can be in a preview or playback mode with video editing software that would use these devices. Therefore, it is not impossible to get realtime video, but the question is whether there are applications available to display the stream as full-screen or not. That is where my knowledge of the topic runs out - but I would suggest doing some research at www.download.com and possibly the online Mac catalogs if you really want to give it a shot (and also check those links out more in case such a thing ships with the products - for the money, I would hope there is some kind of software included!).

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We're supposed to sing about piraty things!

[druber]

not to be a jerk, but i'd never heard of the mytv until i was surfing around today. i've got a lowly ixtv card in my j700, so that was my first line of thinking. also on-motherboard options are usually faster, even though the ixtv can get fairly cranky on its own. and seeing fps drops after paying for a psii would be rather disappointing. what's the countdown before it comes out, btw?

I think its somewhere around Oct 20-31. I dunno exact dates, but that's when most companies are going to recieve their shipments. My friend however, has already got one from Japan. According to him, there is a firewire port on the PSII. I'm waiting for him to return to his college dorm, to hook it up with his G4 and see what happens. Anywayz, if any body else can figure out some way, plz let me know.

[The Godfather]

Yo 761,

Your math matches my math. That's why I keep banging my head and not understanding why my XLR8 won't give decent FPS in the "Theater Mode".

The recording FPS is awesome. It is just when you display the video feed as my VCR plays it that it looks horribly slow. 4 FPS is what I get, no underestimation here. The problem must be in the software.

[MacOS761]

That does seem like a good explanation, I wonder if there are other factors? There are different ways to display things on the monitor - direct to screen or "standard", I dunno what the term for the standard way is. Direct to screen just throws stuff up there without making the OS aware of it. This is how the TV tuner cards worked in the old days, and I suspect how the record mode works with your setup. Standard mode is more CPU hungry because the OS has to think about it. I have suspected this has something to do with it all along, but I was hoping there was some other explanation, because the difference is so great. I don't know what hardware it works with, but have you tried using BTV? It's MacAddicts shareware pick of the month, so I assume it is pretty good. Find more info at www.btv.org.uk

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We're supposed to sing about piraty things!

Yeah I'm not looking for any option to actually run it off my computer. i just want that Cathode tube of a monitor to display playsatation Ii games. It's small but sharp crisp, better then most tv's out there. I figured, it would be faster that way without going through the CPU. That's why I'm looking hopefully for some options with this feature in mind.

[MacOS761]

OK - here's what needs to happen then... Godfather needs to download BTV View and test it out to see if he can get decent frame rates with that, or see if it works at all, for that matter (the ads say it works with *any* video input). Based on his report, hopefully we will be able to recommend the XLR8 Interview and BTV View. Otherwise, there is no solution besides the FireWire ones using "standard" hardware. It would be possible to get into your iMac and hack it up so that the CRT actually works like a TV when you want it to. If this is what you're interested in doing, we'll have to get Cash and some of the other Mod Mob guys in here to help you with that.

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We're supposed to sing about piraty things!

[ibookuser2]

Somebody mentioned a firewire solution, Sony does make a firewire to analog video converter for about $400 (although you could buy a pretty good sized TV for that price...)

Definately. $400 is a biiit too much. Don't worry, I found other solutions. If you have a firewire port, all you need is a Firewire to Analog converter and software like that BT View and that's it! I found some converters for lik $280 dollars. Still a bit pricy but just as good as the Sony ones. And the BT view is only $15 bucks, so that's pretty cool.

Hi...I thought you might be interested in this: http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0...110-404-126112

It's a box, made by Avermedia, you hook up to your monitor (nothing to do with your cpu) and uses it as a tv. I realize you have an iMac, but you might be able to hack something, or use a spare monitor you might have.

The only problem is that Avermedia doesn't make this anymore, but you may be able to find it on an auction somewhere.

Prolink also makes a box like this, but according to CNet, it's not as good (but they still offer it):
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0...110-404-127094

[The Godfather]

XLR8+BTW = a little better display mode than XLR8 theater.

[This message has been edited by The Godfather (edited 10-05-2000).]

[jaguarandi]

Originally posted by thewhoopimen:
I think its somewhere around Oct 20-31. I dunno exact dates, but that's when most companies are going to recieve their shipments. My friend however, has already got one from Japan. According to him, there is a firewire port on the PSII. I'm waiting for him to return to his college dorm, to hook it up with his G4 and see what happens. Anywayz, if any body else can figure out some way, plz let me know.

Tried it - does nothing. Ditto with putting a PC-card Hard Drive adaptor or a CF card with adaptor in the PS2's rear PC card slot (which is being removed for the US version).

USB Keyboards and mice, however, do work. There is a silly little game in Japan that comes with a mouse, but normal USB mice have been reported to work.

btw...the US release date for the PS2 is October 26th. If you haven't already pre-ordered one, your chances of getting one will be very slim, as Sony has just halved the initial production run for the US due to 'component shortages'. Smells like N64 all over again....

/e

[This message has been edited by jaguarandi (edited 10-05-2000).]

Aww, that's too bad the iLink won't hook up... Did you try it with BT View? The program that supposedly does this stuff for normal RCA jacked VCR's DVD's players? Maybe it can display whatever the Sony PSII is outputting. the program is only $15 dollars.

[jaguarandi]

Originally posted by thewhoopimen:
Aww, that's too bad the iLink won't hook up... Did you try it with BT View? The program that supposedly does this stuff for normal RCA jacked VCR's DVD's players? Maybe it can display whatever the Sony PSII is outputting. the program is only $15 dollars.

Not sure what you mean, but the iLink on the PS2 is not meant to be any sort of video output. I was just trying to see if maybe my G4's HD or anything else would come up in the PS2 browser, or if the PS/PS2 memory cards I had in the slot would be viewable on my Mac.

/e

[eep!]

did you put the mac into target disk mode?

What does that do? And does anybody have a PS2, now that its out? How do you set it that way? Thanks!

[eep!]

ok, power up the ps2, leave the mac off, connect up the firewire cable and power up the mac holding down the t key, it should have a firewire logo on the screen and maybe, just maybe it's visible to the ps2.
has anyone tried to connect a firewire or usb disk to a ps2?
if it could see a hard disk do you think somebody would port linux or one one of the bsds to it?

Hey so who has a PS2 and can try this out? If not somebody get BTVIEW with their PS2. Its only like $15 bucks, and according to the author it can be used to pick up signals outputted by most electronic devices, dvD, VCR, maybe PS1, maybe even PS2!!!........Now that I think about it, I doubt anybody with a PS2 right now would bother with this forum... Not with so many kewl games to conquer hahah!

Qw4S?¬riginally posted by thewhoopimen:
Hi yall I'm a an obssessed gamer that would like to know if there is any way I can hook up a PSX2 to my iMac DV SE and use the iMac DV as my monitor? I don't want to spend a bundle on a cheap Tv that's gonna have a smaller screen size then my already small iMac. But hey, I don't know jack about these things. So there [/QUOTE]

This is really not that difficult (or expensive)... with the proper video card. Unfortunately, the iMac's built-in video is *not* the right video card.

Any Mac with an available PCI slot allows the ability to install a card with V-in/out and any of the older beige AV-equipped PowerMacs (8500,8600,7600, etc) already have these ports preinstalled.

You need only hook up your PS2 to your VCR and your VCR to the audio/video in jacks on the back of your Mac. Launch Apple's FREE Apple Video Player application and you can display and/or capture still frames and video from any source.

For under $1k i had a PM8500 attached to a VCR, surround sound mini-stereo, and Sony 20" monitor. The monitor's clarity is great, but it won't do you much good for video game consoles intended to display on an NTSC monitor - the picture quality is no where near what you get with a game written and designed to operate on a CRT to begin with (ie: output = VGA for Mac games vs. NTSC for game consoles).

Speed