Question / Help Recording an external monitor via VGA?

[thefado96]

First of all, hi everyone. This is my first post on these forums so I wanted to say hi to the community.

Then on to my problem. I figured I'm probably missing some hardware but anyway:

I have an HD monitor which I use to play with a console connected via HDMI cable. I tried to connect that monitor to my PC via the VGA cable, thinking I could somehow record the external monitor from the PC. But of course it doesn't work because the VGA just plain outputs the video from my PC's screen to the monitor and if I try to record the external monitor I either get my PC's sceen or a black screen (if i don't duplicate the screens) as there's nothing there.

Am I missing hardware (such as recording cards) or is it possible to record an external monitor with the only use of a VGA cable?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question

 

[Harold]

You do need the capture card.

 

[FerretBomb]

Plugging the VGA cable in to try to capture video from your TV is like plugging a blender in during a power outage to power your house.
It's not a two-way link; video only "flows" in one direction. From the video source (PC) to the receiver (TV).

You MUST have a capture card to capture video on your PC. Think of it like a TV tuner for your PC; it provides the PC with a receiver port, whereas most only have source ports.