I have a cheap Mintron camera. I wish to display the video output of that camera on a window. The video output format is PAL. If its possible how do i do it? Thanks in advance

Hi there,

so it's a traditional analog camera.

You need suitable hardware for that. For instance, a video grabber or a TV card that features an analog input (Composite/CVBS, I guess).
They're becoming rare these days, as is analog video. But without that, there's no chance.

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Hi. Most external NTSC /ATSC /QAM / HD / Etc... TV recorders\tuners have hookups for VGA, S-Video, HDMI as well. You could probably find old ones cheap (new maybe) would help if it's supported well by Linux tho? Then something like VLC or Me-TV. Best wishes and have fun.

hi, thanks for taking the time to reply. Assuming I am able to convert the PAL to VGA or any other format how do i display it. I wish to display video output in a linux window. How will linux recognize the raw video. How do i make it appear in a window, resize that window, pause that video? Thanks

Cheese may be an option plus VLC or Me-TV?

Hi there,

it won't help you at all to convert the CVBS PAL signal to VGA. That way, you can display it on a PC monitor instead of your Linux desktop, but not integrated into it.

To display the video in a window of your PC desktop, there is no other way than converting it into a digital stream - into computer data, not just electrical signals. I already mentioned the type of hardware that would do this. An analog video signal, as your camera seems to produce it, is very different from a digital data stream that conveys video data, as a USB webcam would produce.
Imagine you have an old photograph as a paper print, and you wish to use the image as a desktop wallpaper. Sure, you could use some scotch tape and stick the photo to your monitor - but to integrate it with your desktop you need a scanner or a digital camera that converts the photo into a digital representation like a JPEG file, for example.

It won't. Linux may recognize a video capture device if you connect one to your PC. A program like VLC can receive the video stream from this device (like it was an internet video stream) and display it in a video window as usual. But there's no way around capturing (or "grabbing") the video signal and converting it into a common digital video stream, like MPEG2 or MPEG4.

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I use both (separately: a time laps) VCR and old sony handy cam through my external TV tuner, works well.

:Edit.