need budget USB capture device recommendation

[muffinman123]

my cheap ass EasyCap DC60 already lost the ability to do NTSC capture after one year of casual use. it's busted, and I am looking for replacement. I might have some ideas on what to get, but I want to hear from you guys.

I am recording from a game console, and I have composite(no s-cideo), component, and hdmi cable for it. I considered getting usb component capure device, but those are usually quite expensive and barely any one reviewed them.

so far I know I might get the updated version of easycap, the ezcap, but I am having reservation on spending 30 dollars on a product that might only live for one year.

similar idea for kworld and diamond vc500. they are cheap, but it seems they have infamy of short life time.

a lot of forum pages recommended Hauppauge, but it's 60 bucks minimum. if it's really good, I might consider it, but if there are cheaper alternatives, let me know. the software seems to be troublesome, but I uses virtualdub anyway so I should survive.

[hech54]

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_usblive2.html

http://www.ezcap.tv/

[muffinman123]

can you give some reasons for mentioning them and some comparison between these 2 options? is ezcap a significant upgrade from easycap in terms of quality and durability?

[hech54]

can you give some reasons for mentioning them and some comparison between these 2 options? is ezcap a significant upgrade from easycap in terms of quality and durability?

Your "easycap" is most likely a fake. The internet was(and still is) plagued by cheap knock-offs of that thing.
I own the Hauppauge one...it's VERY nice and works with a variety of software....NOT just the one it came with.

[muffinman123]

ezcap is about half the price of hauppauge no matter where I check. if hauppaugeis is significantly better, I may consider that.

[jagabo]

There's nobody at Hauppauge anymore that knows anything about video. Hauppauge does little more than buy OEM reference designs and puts them in a box (the same as all the other cheap Chinese manufacturers). I doubt there's any significant quality difference between an EzCap and any Hauppauge device. Be sure to get the genuine EzCap, not one of the $6 EasyCap clones if you need to capture PAL60. Ie, don't get this:

http://www.amazon.com/EasyCAP-DC60-Creator-Capture-High-quality/dp/B002H3BSCM

[hech54]

ezcap is about half the price of hauppauge no matter where I check

WRONG
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116048

http://www.amazon.com/EzCAP116-Camcorders-Recorder-Satellite-playstation3/dp/B003YGJLW...1033643&sr=8-1

[muffinman123]

ezcap is about half the price of hauppauge no matter where I check

WRONG

not every one get those american deals. canadian newegg sux balls. if I want to get anything, it's either amazon canada or ebay or those bestbuy chainstore

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116048
50 bucks plus 10 bucks shipping

[hech54]

ezcap is about half the price of hauppauge no matter where I check

WRONG

not every one get those american deals. canadian newegg sux balls. if I want to get anything, it's either amazon canada or ebay or those bestbuy chainstore

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116048
50 bucks plus 10 bucks shipping

And the EZCap you are seeing is one of the fake, cheap knock-off ones.
This:
http://www.ezcap.tv/
Is the ONLY real "EZCap" device....the rest are fake.

[usually_quiet]

The EzCap116 is availble from an independant Amazon.ca seller, Home Living Dream, Inc. Amazon.ca itself doesn't sell it. Is this item a genuine EzCap product? I don't know, because according to EzCap, the EzCap116 is now being couterfeited too. All I can say is the item and its box look like the genuine device as it was packaged last year. There is a new box this year. Home Living Dream, Inc. prices the EzCAP116 at CDN$ 59.50.

In your shoes would get the Hauppauge USB Live2 from a reliable source like newegg, and quit screwing around with cheap toys and items that have to be purchased from a source that might be untrustworthy.

[Edit] This is the real EzCap116 on eBay, and they ship to Canada. http://www.ebay.com/itm/EzCAP-116-easycap-DC60-XP-Vista-Windows-7-/200623434994?pt=US_...ht_3916wt_1144
The price I saw was USD$ 32 but I'm sure with shipping to Canada, the cost will be significantly higher.

[muffinman123]

ezcap is about half the price of hauppauge no matter where I check

WRONG

not every one get those american deals. canadian newegg sux balls. if I want to get anything, it's either amazon canada or ebay or those bestbuy chainstore

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116048
50 bucks plus 10 bucks shipping

And the EZCap you are seeing is one of the fake, cheap knock-off ones.
This:
http://www.ezcap.tv/
Is the ONLY real "EZCap" device....the rest are fake.

you are confusing, dude, I was clearly linking to canadian newegg to show you the price of hauppauge usb-live2 to prove to you that I can't get hauppauge for cheap here in canada, yet you are telling me about ezcap being fake. are we even on the same page?

I know where to get ezcap legit, I already looked before I came here. ezcap tv has account on ebay uk and amazon.com, and only amazon usa can ship for free, not in canada. their ebay uk store ships to canada for about 8 bucks, but the overall price is still really decent.

I actually opened the easycap that people say are counterfeit, but it contains the same chipset that the official themselves said to be legit, if that's the case and it broke off in one year of use, how am I supposed to trust the newer version of it?

[hech54]

This is what the Hauppauge is capable of - MPEG2 capture with LPCM audio:
https://rapidshare.com/files/1841344781/Haupp_USB2_sample.mpg

[usually_quiet]

I actually opened the easycap that people say are counterfeit, but it contains the same chipset that the official themselves said to be legit, if that's the case and it broke off in one year of use, how am I supposed to trust the newer version of it?

The real EzCap company stopped making their DC60 and DC60+ models a few years ago. If you bought one a year ago for a few bucks, it is a copy. The build quality for the counterfeits may not be the same as the real thing even if you think they are using the same chips inside.

The counterfeits don't come with drivers or software that work nicely with Windows 7 and there are no updated drivers or manufacturer support page. You have to go rummaging around the internet to find drivers for Windows 7. You can only find working Windows 7 compatible drivers because the chips used in the copies are also used in inexpensive capture devices made for companies other than the maker of the real EzCap.

The real EzCap company eliminated support for their discontinued models because of widespread counterfeiting. I can't really blame them. Providing even minimal support costs money, and the fakers just leech off other parties instead of paying the cost associated with supporting their wares.

[muffinman123]

I actually bought it quite a while ago, I just started using it a year ago when I finally need to use it.

by inspection of the quality of the casing plastic seems to be the real deal according to pics/video comparison of real vs fake easycap.

but that's in the past, if current ezcap owner can convince me the quality of ezcap is good, I will give them another go.

[hech54]

Well.....since your story is changing by the minute, and you have not yet realized that NOBODY wants to watch you play the same video game already owned my MILLIONS of other people besides yourself....
Goodbye.

[lordsmurf]

Don't use an EasyCrap.
Get an ATI 600. Import it from USA Amazon.com (used from $40 currently).
Most "new in stores" stuff is now garbage.

[usually_quiet]

@muffinman123 Well, lets see. You don't like KWorld DVD Maker USB, Or the Diamond VC500. The EzCAP116 is suspect because you bought a counterfeit of one of their earlier models and it was junk.

The SABRENT USB-ECPT and StarTech SVID2USB23 don't have many reviews, and the majority are unfavorable, so I'm reluctant to recommend them.

The Happauge USB Live 2 is good, but is overly expensive. ...so the Elgato Video Capture won't be acceptable either on account of price. It has few reviews so quality is an unknown, but Elgato has a good reputation. The Pinnacle Dazzle is both expensive and not very good. The SIIG JU-AV0012-S1 gets too many bad reviews and is too expensive.

That leaves the ENCORE USB Audio/Video Grabber ENMVG-2 and the AVerMedia DVD EZMaker 7 MTVDVDEZ7. The ENCORE USB Audio/Video Grabber ENMVG-2 has uneven reviews and is likely another cheap piece of crap. I don't know if the AVerMedia MTVDVDEZ7 is any good. I could only find one review, which was favorable, but one review isn't much to go on.

The ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB is a good device, but not cheap, and works best with a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC.

[lordsmurf]

The ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB is a good device, but not cheap, and works best with a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC.

And Windows 7.

[usually_quiet]

The ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB is a good device, but not cheap, and works best with a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC.

And Windows 7.

Tell that to the fellow that I (and other VH members) tried to help last year. He could not make it work with Windows 7 64-bit using Vista 64-bit drivers, or the alternative 64-bit drivers. Did he have a defective unit? Was he not up to installing drivers manually? Was there some weird problem with his system? Who can say? ...but the point is, from personal experience, those trying to install the device in a Windows 7 PC are more likely to have some problems doing it.

[yabel]

StarTech SVID2USB2 (but not SVID2USB23).
This device works perfectly well if you use it with the correct softwares. Don't use the device's driver from the product's CD but download it from this site:
http://www.videohome.com.tw/eng/support-dl.php?kind=&p_id=&o_id=8&level1_id=18&page=2
(The file to download is GrabBee Driver eMPIA_BDA_20110307, 2011-04-22, 26.9 Mb)
And don't use the GrabBee Capture software, since VLC 2.0.3 can detect the device and do a far better job. I get very clear videos using VLC's MPEG-2 NTSC 29.976 fps, 720x480, 6000 Kbps (with audio mp2, constant 256 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo) without a single frame dropped, even when using it with my cheap laptop (Dual-Core 1.7 GHz, 4 Gb RAM, Win 7, USB 2.0).

EDIT: You can also use VirtualDub 1.9.11 to connect to the device and record uncompressed (or lossless compressed) avi on an external HDD and then use the best MPEG-2 or H264 encoder to achieve optimal compression.