Is there a way to connect a CRT TV to HDMI capture card to stream?

[scoobypercent]

So this may seem like an odd/pointless idea, but I was thinking it might be cool if I streamed games using my CRT. My capture card uses HDMI and have converters for most of my retro systems so I was wondering if you could use a SCART to HDMI to plug the TV into the capture card or something. I'm not sure if that would work though, so I'm up for suggestions.

[tripredacus]

I don't understand the question. Unless you have something special, a TV only has inputs and not outputs. So if you connect the input on your TV to the input on your capture card (using any sort of adapters) you aren't going to get anything.

[scoobypercent]

Sorry I could have worded it better. What I mean is instead of modern TV to capture card to laptop if there would be anyway to use the CRT instead. Thanks for info you've giving though.

[Cartagia]

Your question still doesn't quite make sense.  You don't stream from the TV.  You stream from the capture card.  The line goes: console -> capture card -> SPLIT out from the card -> to whatever TV you want AND ALSO the computer you are streaming from.

You can play on whatever TV you want and it will have no effect on your streaming.  Several retro streamers I watch play on CRTs, but you could never tell because the stream source is the capture card, not the TV.

[scoobypercent]

Right! I see my mistake now. My apologies, I find trying to word things online very difficult sometimes ^^; I would like to play games using the CRT TV instead of the modern TV while streaming. My capture card only has HDMI inputs and outputs.

[Cartagia]

No worries!  You'll need to buy an HDMI to RCA adapter.  You can get cheap ones, but they can be laggy sometimes.

[scoobypercent]

Thanks a bunch! ^_^

[tripredacus]

There are some caveats. It depends on the age of the television. Some CRT TV can display a widescreen image and others may not. Anything going out through HDMI (on consumer products) is going to be widescreen by default even if it doesn't look like it is. Your CRT may show this image in widescreen (postage stamp) or smushed (with black bars on side aka pillarbox) but you aren't going to know unless you try some things out.

I made an Imgur post about using a PS3 to play a BD on 4:3 displays, one supported widescreen (consumer Trinitron) and one that doesn't mention it (PVM). It isn't exactly related to what you are asking about but it will show what some 4:3 CRT will do with a 16:9 video signal.
https://imgur.com/gallery/bluray-on-4-3-displays-dYkYh

There may be limited options in the TV OSD to handle this, such as having a zoom option but it may not work as expected or at all.
4:3 HDMI does exist, but it is additional equipment that is not documented because they are all for industrial/commercial. I've known about them for awhile but haven't gotten my hands on anything to play with. In any case, you want to be able to get the 16:9 into 4:3 which will require an external device and then the signal can be converted to composite or whichever. I don't think it matters which happens first, the aspect ratio or connection adapter but it may matter if a quality loss occurs.

[scoobypercent]

Thank you! That is really interesting and helpful information. I look forward to trying it out myself and working through any problems (if they come up). My CRT is 4:3 so I am expecting some widescreen shenanigans.

[aliensstudios]

Your question still doesn't quite make sense.  You don't stream from the TV.  You stream from the capture card.  The line goes: console -> capture card -> SPLIT out from the card -> to whatever TV you want AND ALSO the computer you are streaming from.

You can play on whatever TV you want and it will have no effect on your streaming.  Several retro streamers I watch play on CRTs, but you could never tell because the stream source is the capture card, not the TV.

How would you split from the capture card if it captures a digital signal? Wouldn't you split before the capture card and have one analog out go to the CRT and one into the converter/scaling device that's going into the capture device?

Just split your raw analog signal, have one output go into your CRT with zero lag (maybe a touch of noise due to splitting the analog signal) and have the other output go into the scaler device and into the HDMI device for stream or digital capture, probably the easiest way to do it. Why would you convert analog to digital then split said digital signal, then convert it back to analog? (If I'm understanding your idea correctly)

[Cartagia]

Your question still doesn't quite make sense.  You don't stream from the TV.  You stream from the capture card.  The line goes: console -> capture card -> SPLIT out from the card -> to whatever TV you want AND ALSO the computer you are streaming from.

You can play on whatever TV you want and it will have no effect on your streaming.  Several retro streamers I watch play on CRTs, but you could never tell because the stream source is the capture card, not the TV.

How would you split from the capture card if it captures a digital signal? Wouldn't you split before the capture card and have one analog out go to the CRT and one into the converter/scaling device that's going into the capture device?

Just split your raw analog signal, have one output go into your CRT with zero lag (maybe a touch of noise due to splitting the analog signal) and have the other output go into the scaler device and into the HDMI device for stream or digital capture, probably the easiest way to do it. Why would you convert analog to digital then split said digital signal, then convert it back to analog? (If I'm understanding your idea correctly)

You're right.  I hadn't set-up an analog stream in a while and forgot that it was best to do the split before the capture.  I was thinking about digital capture cards that do the pass-through / "splitting" themselves.