My friend has a camcorder with rca output jacks including s-video, I was wondering if there is some software that allows you to plug the camera into the computer and record on the computer what comes out of the camera.

I do realize that computers don't have rca inputs which is why my second question is: What piece of hardware at radioshack or somewhere would I have to get to convert the rca's to say a usb plug?

Or if someone could just educate me on if this is even possible that would be nice.

Yes this is possible, Im sure of that. I used to have a camcorder as a webcam. But that was way back in 1997. I had a pixelview video card with a tv tuner and an s-video connector. I just cant remember the software that i used. maybe i'll try and get back to you on this, i'll try and look it up. but you can try Camtasia. It's a software that i use with my yahoo messenger.

Just get a cheapish TV card (about £30, which is approx $65 US) or a USB "break-out-box" thingy. They usually come with rudimentary editing software.

Thanks I think I found just the thing.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=3761
Lemme know if that looks good.

There are a variety of hardware/software combos that will do this, ranging from the barely-adequate to the ridiculously over-engineered. Some of your decision as to which road to take will be based on the computer hardware and software involved. If it's a newer computer with Windows XP and USB 2.0, a USB solution is suitable. If it's older, or running Windows 98, your options are more limited. USB 1.1 works, but quality and flexibility suffer.

As Roberdin pointed out, most TV-tuner cards (and some mid-line and high-end graphics cards, as well) have video-capture capabilities. Some even have separated video (a/k/a S-Video) inputs -- and come with video capture software. Win XP comes with a simple video editor, and you can also check out the video section on SourceForge for free software that might be useful to you.

Yes, something like that would work well, since it uses a standard-and-well-supported video chip.

thanks