Here is a device that claims it can capture full HD at 1080p and is compatible with most capture and streaming kinds of software.
I knew I would eventually come across a complete rubbish item.
And this is it.
The HD Capture (I guess that’s what we’ll call it as there is no name) is a USB 2.0 capture stick that has a HDMI input at the other end.
In short, this capture card will downgrade any HDMI input into a composite video signal.
It does the exact opposite of what it claims.
This won’t be a long review, more like my encounter with it.
To be honest, when I started this website I wanted to do reviews (if you could call them that) of the cheap and nasty plug in USB type cards.
But what was happening was that some were better than I anticipated, so I thought I was over reacting.
I mean these small capture cards are all over eBay, Amazon and the popular Chinese warehouse style websites. So they couldn’t be that bad?
The plastic build quality is really shoddy.
What’s In The Box?
I purchased this from eBay, thinking Oh Wow! HDMI capture card at a cheap price? How’s that possible?
It’s not possible.
I love how the packaging has no company name at all. There’s no one to blame this poor product on.
And yet it’s available to buy. This device has to be coming from some crappy warehouse.
The USB 2.0 HDMI Capture card comes with the cheaply made stick, a driver CD and and extended USB cable.
The USB cable is 2.0 and extends out about 30cm.
I try not to use those on my computer personally but I can see that they can come in handy depending your USB slot on your PC.
With the above photo I have the Samsung DVD combo HDMI out going into the USB 2.0 HDMI capture card.
I’ve been able to do HDMI from the Samsung into the AVerMedia C875 so I thought there wouldn’t be a problem.
Installing The Drivers and Software
Plugging the capture card into my PC, it installed the drivers as OEM.
Next was the CD software itself.
Wait, this looks familiar. The software supplied is Honestech TVR 2.5.
Out of junk software supplied with cheap capture cards, TVR 2.5 is the rubbish of the lot.
I posted a review with this exact software a while ago.
At this point there was something not making sense while this software was (re)installing.
I never remembered anywhere about this software being able to input via HDMI?
And I was right. It doesn’t.
Then I was given a nice F U by the USB 2.0 HDMI capture card for calling out its HDMI software lie.
Thanks.
Thinking this might be human error, I decide to try to get this to work yet again.
Nope. Same thing.
Installation Part Two
Not to be outdone, I decide to use this AV to HDMI converter.
It requires a mini USB to be powered as well so cabling will be everywhere if you are using a PC to plug in all these USBs.
The CM401 can output as 720p or 1080p via HDMI. I had it on 720p.
I used the composite signals from the VCR into the CM401 and used the OUTPUT from the HDMI and into the back of the capture stick.
USB 2.0 HDMI Capture Results.
The results are on a Windows 7 laptop.
I managed to get a video to work through OBS but only recorded ten minutes to see if it worked.
Could the issues earlier be from the HDMI signal from the Samsung combo player?
Maybe, but what’s the purpose of buying an extra connection to make the capture stick work in the first place?
Either way who cares?
Conclusion
This thing is junk.
There’s a YouTube Video of a channel doing a teardown of the device.
He too thought it was crap.
Whatever you do, do not but this!
