Many of these devices have a hardware encoder onboard, as some of the easycaps do - for example I have one which encodes video as MJPEG(which was also common on capture cards decades ago, include high-end models), so a lossless codec doesn't help. MJPEG is just a series of jpeg images, it's very good for editing though, as only changed frames need to be re-encoded. Some capture software allows the data to effectively pass-through so it's not re-encoded, which is the best option when they have this hardware.
Like for the Chile part :) Also, any idea how any of these would compare to UTV007 chip-based capture devices? I'm looking to buy one to convert old VHS tapes, and possibly capture input from sony digital cameras. Is any of these easier to set up on linux distros?
Hi, and thank you! I haven't really stumbled upon a UTV007 EasyCap. You never know which model you will get each time you find an EasyCap in the wild! It seems the UTV007 might work on Linux, as per this article: www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Easycap
Very informative video and the side-by-side comparison is very helpful indeed. Your source material is of much higher resolution than these capture devices are meant to capture though, which gives them an unfair disadvantage. You wouldn't bother with using composite capture if you already had a digital camera producing digital video files, isn't that correct? My opinion is that a comparison should be based on some VHS material as source, because now all captured films are much inferior to the source. But other than that, great presentation and thank you!
Hi and thanks for watching and commenting! I wanted to use the best source material available since some people use these capture cards for game consoles, security camera footage and other non‑VHS pictures. If the source material is high-quality, each device can demonstrate its potential.
@@mvShooting Oh, thank you for your answer. I don't disagree with you as a principle, that you use the highest source you have to compare the abilities of the devices, I am only saying that a source that only outputs via RCA or S-video (which is what these devices were intended for) will never hit 1920x1080 res, meaning that neither of these devices should be required to handle such a high resolution source. They will obviously downscale. A "true" test for them would be to feed them the highest resolution the manufacturer says they support and see if they manage to handle it properly. That's what I would do, if I had the means. Again, don't get me wrong, I think your video was indeed helpful and very well made. I am merely pointing the fact that your scenario is outside the "mission parameters" for these babies, they weren't designed for this I believe. And btw, after seeing your video, I bought the EZmaker 7, to digitize my old Video-8 tapes. So, thanks again! :-)
I'm glad to have been of help! The market is quite convoluted nowadays. I've also tried another cheap option: an AliExpress HDMI grabber + a composite-to-HDMI converter. The results are not too bad, but the HDMI converter has an horrendous deinterlacer filter.
Que buen video tengo la Easycap ni idea que otra marca, pero he pensado en adquirir otra capturadora RCA para ver si aumenta la calidad, pero veo que no hay taaanta diferencia en calidad (auqnue me parecio que la Avermedia si tenia mas calidad), pero si en el precio. Buen video y ...eso es Chile!!!
El tema con las Easycap es que hay diversos clones con chips distintos. También algunas no reaccionan muy bien cuando hay interrupciones en la señal (por ejemplo, si capturas una cinta VHS con cortes o problemas). ¡Me alegra que te haya resultado útil! Los videos los grabé en Puerto Natales, el parque nacional Torres del Paine y el glaciar Perito Moreno (Argentina).
I have an "EasyCAP" device but not sure the version... or is the STK1160 vs SomaMagic refer to the firmware that can be flashed onto it? I'm interested in capturing audio only.. is there any particular hardware/software you'd recommend?
The different EasyCAP devices have different hardware, it's not a firmware thing. Regarding audio capturing, you can use your computer's own line in to record. No need for something like this.