Hardware Best Way to Play Consoles Through Laptop Screen and Speakers

[GC64]

So I'm trying to find the best way to display my Wii on my laptop screen and speakers, but I don't know what the best and most updated way to do that is. I guess I just need something that can convert the Wii's standard AV output (using composite video) to display on my laptop's screen, and play through my laptop's speakers. I've seen videos on it but they're from like 2008, so I'm asking the community's opinion in case anything has changed in the past decade..

 

[CMDreamer]

Laptop video ports (VGA, HDMI) are outputs, not inputs, so you can't use them to receive video signal, only to send it to external devices.

In short terms you can't use your laptop screen to input and display video, unless you use a decoder card and disassemble your LCD to get it connected. And yes, that means you'd have to reassemble it to use it on your laptop.

 

[GC64]

Laptop video ports (VGA, HDMI) are outputs, not inputs, so you can't use them to receive video signal, only to send it to external devices.

In short terms you can't use your laptop screen to input and display video, unless you use a decoder card and disassemble your LCD to get it connected. And yes, that means you'd have to reassemble it to use it on your laptop.

There are plenty of ways you can connect to your laptop screen. I didn't say it had to directly be connected to the laptop's VGA port, it could use some sort of converter that inputs audio and video through the USB. An example could be like in this video (one of the decade old ones I was talking about)
Considering it is 10 years old, I just thought I'd ask the community if there's anything recent that can do it. So it is possible unless this video is fake, which it really doesn't seem like it.

 

[FAST6191]

Vanishingly few laptops will have any form of video input or screen bypass on them.

Any USB2.0 capture is not going to cut it for real time play. You are doing well if you can get one which suffices for capture (note I am not talking about standalone capture devices you plug in via USB2.0 cable which appear as a hard drive after the fact).

USB3.0 stuff might do but can be a bit pricey and still can be afflicted by a condition known as being junk.

PCMCIA ports, assuming your laptop has such functionality, is the best but prices for anything cool in PCMCIA form are usually crazy high. If your laptop has a docking station you might be able to put a PC style capture card in it (not all docking stations do this but some do).
There might be a way with the mini PCIe port used for wifi; most playing in that world use it to put a proper graphics card on their laptop but I don't see why you couldn't come the other way and do a video input from the same card form factor.

The god tier is you hack the screen to take your input. Depending upon the age of the laptop you might have one of a few different standards. Some panels then had adapters made to mimic the port they most closely resemble or otherwise use internally (embedded displayport can become regular displayport without too much fiddling). None of these will be component or composite video outside of maybe some very very old devices so you will need another device in the chain to convert that but there are good ones of those to take things from component/composite and go to VGA, HDMI and the like.

Sound wise. If your laptop can take sound in via a line in/mic port then you have that. USB capture options, bluetooth transmitters and more besides are also options here. Sound is easy and has not really changed in decades. If you are really bored and doing the god tier thing for the screen then you can probably also tap the speakers directly -- most do this sort of thing for their TV if they need a line in or a line out and the base TV does not do it but sound works the same either way.

For my money I would sooner find a laptop which can emulate games in dolphin at playable levels and use that. You can still use wiimotes if you want (will need some bluetooth and a way to power the sensor bar, or a third party one).

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Your best bet is trying to find an Avermedia Live Gamer HD Portable used on eBay or something. As long as you find something that connects via USB 3.0, it should display in real-time

 

[owek1]

i havent clicked the video yet but isnt that just an apple display monitor that has usb ports/peripherals where you could connect the mac mini as your actual "computer"? meaning, the thing has no cpu but just receives input? i remember they cost as much as an iMac..