The ezcap 273A is a hand held capture device that allows you to capture 1080p footage from HDMI and composite signals. It also allows playback of recorded videos and photos for approximately two hours on a rechargeable 3000mAh battery.
It’s portable which is a mega plus in my books.
It’s ideal if you’re a gamer.
If you are wanting to buy this for quickly transferring you’re old VHS videos, it will do it and do a tremendous job – but with the ezcap caveat.
In this ezcap 273A review I will go through the good and the bad of the device.
If you were to look at ezcap’s website, you can find two ezcap 273 listings. The ezcap 273 (which I’m sure was the original) and the ezcap 273A.
Both are identical except for one minor add-on and that is the ezcap 273A allows for recording from HDMI and composite sources making transfers from older VCRs a simple procedure.
The standard ezcap 273 will do HDMI only.
So I purchased the red one – because it’s faster.
I bought mine from Aliexpress and it did take at least a month to arrive. They are listed on eBay.com as well.
I do have to mention that ezcap seems to package their products in a neat presentable fashion.
Very nice to see.
Ezcap 273A – A Closer Inspection
The weight of the device is slightly heavier than a mobile phone, weighing in at 180 grams, so it’s not uncomfortable to hold for any length of time.
Along the front of the ezcap 273A there is a 3.5 inch screen
Along the right hand side there are the UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT direction buttons as well as:
MODE BUTTON (top left) – allows you to change between recording and playback.
RECORD (top right) – record button to start and stop.
MENU (lower left) – selecting this will open a new sub menu.
BACK (lower right) – go back to previous screen.
OK (center) – selecting this will confirm a choice as well as for taking snapshots.
The bottom of the device has the receiver for the infrared remote.
Along the top of the ezcap 273A there are:
PC/DC – A micro USB connection will supply the power and also the transfer of any recorded footage.
MICRO SD – The tests I performed were on a 32GB micro SD card. It will only read FAT32 or exFAT formats.
HDMI IN/OUT – HDMI recording in and output to monitor or TV.
AV/IN – micro 3.5mm jack for recording composite files.
HEADPHONE JACK – 3.5mm slot for headphones.
ON/OFF SWITCH – when the switch is turned to the on position it will allow you to record from a source. When it is in the off position you will be able to connect it to a PC and transfer the files.
Underneath the ezcap 273A are the speaker and an air vent.
Ezcap 273A – What’s in The Box?
As mentioned earlier the product packaging of ezcap 273A is great. The device itself is surrounded by a foam to stop it from rolling about in the box.
Below the unit itself are the extras supplied.
Considering the unit needs to charge and can be charged via electrical outlet, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t come with an actual adapter.
A micro USB is supplied which is a step up from ezcap’s older versions.
The device comes with a remote to allow recording hands free. I’m not a fan of remotes for simply copying old tapes. There doesn’t seem to be a need for them.
The C285 AVerMedia is the only device that made it mandatory otherwise it didn’t work.
There is an AV connection 3.5mm stereo to composite. YELLOW for video, RED/WHITE for audio.
It’s funny that the composite cable is supplied, but the ezcap 273A records full HD and no HDMI cable is supplied?
A quick start guide to get you familiar with the device layout and the buttons is supplied as well.
Ezcap 273A – Connections
Set up for the ezcap 273A is a breeze – consisting of connecting the composite RCA cables to the AV OUT to the AV IN on the ezcap 273A.
If you did have a HDMI device (like the VCR/DVD combo drive pictured above), you could use the HDMI out into the HDMI in of the device.
You could record from the VCR having the ezcap 273A not plugged into power and just running off the battery but that would be
When turning on the capture card for the first time you will be instructed to place a micro SD card to start. You can still access the menu settings without a card.
Along the top the home screen shows the date and time, FPS and video dimension.
In the very top right corner the remaining recording time will show.
A 32GB card gave approximately 3 hours of recording time.
- Ideal for Android-based smartphones and tablets
- Transfer speeds of up to 98MB/s**
Last update on 2023-09-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
This was with the recording set to Super Fine, which I’d be surprised if you ever did want to record at anything less.
The card is placed into the slot with the gold connectors facing up.
Ezcap 273A – Menu Walkthrough
Oh boy did I have fun, trying to get screen captures of this menu! I had to resort to simply photographing them.
When you click on the settings button (lower left corner), the main menu will open allowing to change the current settings.
Using the UP/DOWN arrows you will find there are three more options hidden from view. Personally, I prefer the ezcap 271 menu but that’s just me.
By clicking the (center) OK button will open each menu.
Power Save – will allow you to change the time the device will shut off.
Quality – Change the sharpness of the video being recorded.
For this test I did only keep it at Super Fine.
Date & Time – Change the current date and time for the device.
Language – 8 different languages can be selected.
Date Stamp – This will put the date and the time onto the finished recordings. This is on by default, make sure to change that.
Schedule Recording – This allows you to pre set a time, video length and start time for a future recording.
System – Allows you to factory reset, the system info and the card info (as in the free recording space left).
Format – will let you wipe the card and start clean.
Ezcap 273A – Composite Results
The composite results are typical of ezcap – high quality but broken up into separate files.
The test tape was a 40 minute VHS-C tape and as you can see once the file reached 3.8GB it proceeds to create a new one.
While this is ok if you are going to join them together in an editor, I can see it being a pain if you don’t have an editor and was hoping this was the final exported file.
Looking at the file details, the video is at 22000 kbps and definitely at 1920×1080 which of course will give a great video result.
But there is one thing to know if you will be recording standard definition footage.
The ezcap 273A will stretch the footage into the 1920×1080 aspect ratio regardless. This does need to be changed and resized in an editor.
The image on the left is the proper 4:3 ratio verses the right side image which was the imported clip from the ezcap 273A.
Conclusion
I like the ezcap 273A, but it really is ideal for gamers who want a portable capture device. It does capture footage at a higher rate than the ezcap 284, which I thought that device was excellent.
As far as anyone wanting this device to capture old VHS videos, it’s probably not ideal if you’re not willing to resize the video in an editor.
If you have an editor that can do that- you’re good to go.
When compared to the Clearclick Video2Digital 2.0, the Clearclick offers more recording options (USB or SD card) but doesn’t come close to the video bitrate that ezcap 273A offers.
It’s a good buy if you can get around some minor quirks.
