I've been looking at Happauge tv tuners, and atm I'm considering the HVR-850, an analog/digital USB tuner device.
What I'm wondering is, since it takes analog input, could an Happauge tv tuner card like this one be connected to an 8-bit computer, such as a Vic-20, that has analog tv output, to provide said computer (or console, I guess) with a display?
Depends on what tuner software you can get hold of.
I have a few that this does work on. You just install the card/tuner software, turn on the device you want to capture, like a VIC-20, and then tell the tuner software to find a tv station.
As there is only the VIC-20 on the other end it will find only that.
I had a PSX hooked up to an old Win98 PC in exactly that same way for years on an ATi AiW
I don't know the HVR-850 but judging from what I've read in 2 minutes it's not for old analog television but for ATSC (which I don't know anything about because in Europe we have DVB-T).
What you need is a capture device for old analog TV signal, preferably with Composite or S-Video. I did some tests with an EasyCap USB.
In general that works but you'll run into some issues that affect the quality. Your display might have another refresh rate than the incoming signal and old home computers don't send an interlaced video signal but '240p'. The result is that your TV software combines the two fields into one single frame at half the original frame rate. It's ok but not perfect.
If your device can output composite video, then capture that. You only capture RF if you can't get the composite signal.
Tap off the modulator input if you have to - that's what I did back in the day with a ZX Spectrum (only had RF output, soldered a phono lead onto the modulator input with the screen connected to a convenient ground)
