How to Capture & Stream VGA Video from a Vintage Mac or PC for Under $75

This is a question I get asked often. "How do I record or stream my retro computer's video signal?" While those proprietary solutions can be expensive I'll share a DIY option that won't break the bank. This lets you record, capture, and stream your VGA or analog-capable DVI computer screens with OBS or QuickTime. And it'll work with your Mac, Windows PC, and probably even Linux!
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Thanks to ‪@ActionRetro‬ for the cameo and ‪@ComputerClan‬ for conjuring the spirits of conversion technology.
Parts needed:
- VGA Duplicator / Splitter
- VGA to HDMI Scaler
- USB HDMI capture device
- Plenty of cables
The model of USB HDMI capture device I purchased on eBay:
www.ebay.com/itm/224753274588...
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[@farooqakhtarahmed]

What I learnt today- capturing video from vintage computers and Steve has a rabbit.

[@curtis]

Great video Steve! Love seeing these kinds of bridges with tech.

[@RetroSwim]

A great scaler to look out for is the Startech VGA2HDMI Pro. Specifically the first model, not the v2. Almost every oddball resolution I've thrown at it has been handled flawlessly, even some weird modes used by PC scene demos! It hasn't been made in a while, but comes up inexpensively on eBay from time to time. The v2 model doesn't seem to support modes >60Hz, somewhat of a regression, but maybe not important for Startech's actual target market. OTOH, if you already have a scaler, there's a generic $8-$15 HDMI capture device on Amazon that's seemingly bulletproof. Even handles the not-quite-standard Line3x and Line4x modes on the OSSC like a champ. Great video, man! :D

[@UserOfYoutube338]

Super handy video!!!

[@RudysRetroIntel]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@RichsRandomRetroReviews]

Great video Steve! I have a similar setup. I use a VGA splitter that goes into my Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus. I then go from DVI to HDMI into an AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable Lite and into USB on my capture PC. The audio is nice and simple, I just plug cable with a 3.5mm headphone jack into the speaker out on the computer I'm capturing from into the mic in on my PC. My setup cost me about the same. The VGA scaler was about £15, the scaler I got 2nd hand from eBay US for $40 (I use a Zip drive power adapter or else I'd have to use a step down transformer) and the HDMI capture was about £40 second hand from eBay UK. My scaler has an almost identical menu layout/font to yours.

[@EricsEdgeVideos]

Thank you!

[@BollingHolt]

Great video!!! Very informative and useful! Thanks! ... and loved the rabbit haha :)

[@rioSica]

Great video and a wonderful channel and resource … I was able to pick up a pro 5 scaler, similar to yours, but with a dvi input and dual hdmi outs for a great price, but the capture device you used isn’t available anymore. Any recs for a powered one that will play well with our scalers? Thanks so much and keep the great content coming. I also love what you and the others did with tinker different! I have several restoration and enhancement projects to vintage macs (one that I’ve kept running for nearly 25 years, which used to host my hotline server), and new places for the vintage community to share ideas and knowledge are great. Here’s to you!

[@alextirrellRI]

I have had good luck with the Onten VGA to VGA (pass-thru for monitor) and HDMI with audio inject into a cheap HDMI capture stick. To my surprise it worked great with my LC475 -- it's not even rated for 640x480 but worked and scaled correctly somehow.

[@KazyEXE]

I got a $25 adapter from Aliexpress that does VGA to USB, which provides an input into OBS. Slightly crunchy, but it works for cheap!

[@RyanMartinez]

I usually use cables as short as possible or even a male to male inline adapter to keep the rat's nest down to a minimum. That way, if needed, the only long cable you need too run is from the devices to the source. I did this once while zip-tying devices to a pegboard. Kept everything in one place.

[@beardedgaming3741]

finding these parts these days is hard. im trying to set this up from a g4 to thunderbolt capture card. need to buy everyting still.

[@AdamPreset]

Neat!

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

Dang! How many cables the rabbit have to eat to get that big?! Mine ate quite a few cables, but didn't reach anywhere near that bunny-girth.

[@mjmeans7983]

What I'm looking for is a device would need a VGA D-Sub HD15 connector and an Ethernet port. You would connect it to any computer with a normal VGA/HD-15 monitor cable. The interface would need to implement the DDC pins 9, 12 & 15 and report itself through as a VESA generic monitor, etc. The PC would think it's just any old standard monitor. However, it would work like an IP-camera, with a web interface and a few RTSP stream profiles, and perhaps also with ONVIF support. A more advanced version would also have a header to be able to connect to the power-led and power-sw pins on a computer motherboard (opto-isolated input and output). And audio capture header to connect to the motherboard's pc-speaker and sb-audio out. And PS/2 keyboard and mouse support. Does such a device exist?

[@GarthBeagle]

I just got a AT-LINE-PRO5-GEN2 so thank you very much for this video 🤘 I do have existing working setups using various adapters/scalers, etc but having it consolidated will help. And I'm curious to see how it'll scale "strange" signals like Apple II composite or maybe even Amiga RGB Also, I think your model has s-video input instead of a 2nd composite and VGA instead of DVI. S-video would be useful but can be converted..

[@i80386sx]

I found a cheap VGA to USB capture device from Amazon. It works fine with almost everything. The lone exception was the Compaq LTE Lite.

[@kivikall]

Do you happen to remember what device exactly? I'd like to buy one too :P

[@steaker-gi9uw]

How well do these scaler devices handle the weird 67hz of some macs?

[@Mac84]

In the video I demo it working beautifully with my Mac which is outputting at 67Hz. Works like a champ!

[@peporgan]

Hi Steve, would you know how to capture microphone audio from a PlainTalk microphone, and send it in a similar way to a modern Mac? As you probably know, PlainTalk microphones have a longer tip, and can't be used with Macs after the G4. I want to see if I can get real-time audio from a PlainTalk headset into a modern Mac!

[@Mac84]

I don't think this type of functionality is built into vintage versions of the Mac OS. You may be able to do this with a 3rd party consumer / professional software package, but I'm really not sure, as I've never tried it before. I understand you may just want to tinker around, but for G4 Macs, a standard microphone or PCI/USB audio device may yield better results.

[@peporgan]

@@Mac84 Thanks for the reply. I thought about this a bit more. If I had the PlainTalk mic play back its own received audio through my G4 in software, then wouldn't I be able to transfer that audio to a modern Mac using just a male-male audio jack?

[@peporgan]

@@Mac84 Hi again. I can confirm my solution works perfectly. I had the plaintalk mic on the G4 playing back its audio, I then fed that audio with a male-male audio jack into my 5,1 Mac Pro, which picks it up as a line-in device and can be recorded and heard through software!

[@karldagreat]

How do I use the Atlona AT-HDView? Does it have a menu that allows me to change the display settings so the image isn’t stretched?

[@Mac84]

You’ll have to refer to the manual to see if it can do that.

[@karldagreat]

@@Mac84 It unfortunately can’t, so how is it still a good choice?

[@Mac84]

It may work better for other applications. Thankfully there are plenty other scalers out there and most of them have their manuals online.

[@Mac84]

It may work better for other applications. Thankfully there are plenty other scalers out there and most of them have their manuals online.

[@k9cj5]

Anyone capturing video with a scaler have issues with their capture card claiming it's from a hdcp source?

[@janpedersen9120]

does this also capture from computer /pc turn on through bios boot and into like dos / windows 3 or only the graphics mode

[@Mac84]

On the limited PCs I’ve tested, it captures the BIOS and everything.

[@janpedersen9120]

@@Mac84 you know of any sellers that support sending to countries outside us ;)

[@Mac84]

Just keep looking, I’m sure you can find one somewhere! Plenty of brands out there too, good luck.