Video Capture - I need help

[Julia Schult]

My director has asked me to find out what we need to capture
computer sessions and put them on videotape.  He has been
hearing and reading about video capture cards.  He was told
that besides the video capture card, you need a special
cable that does some sort of conversion on its own, and
those are expensive.  I immediately thought of SnagIt, and I
went to their page and found their product Camtasia, which
captures a computer session in .AVI format.  I looked into
that, and found that .AVI format can be converted to
videotape with a "scan converter".

It seems to me that the video capture cards sell for "less
than $1000 dollars" meaning around a thou.
Camtasia plus a scan converter seems to cost less than $400.

The conclusion seems obvious.

Am I missing something here?  Is there an expert out there I
can talk to about video capture cards, or Camtasia, or
converting AVI to videotape?

Please?

---Julia E. Schult
Access/Electronic Services Librarian
Elmira College
Jschult at elmira.edu